Home Surprise!
I love being a homeowner. It is seriously kick ass to sit around my house and think that I can do laundry whenever I want, clean the house whenever I want and when I invest money in the house there is a good chance I will get it back in the long run (ok, not until the housing market picks up - but someday!) The only problem is, I'm not as fearless with my own house. I want it to look perfect! I avoid projects because the ability to achieve perfection is difficult (ok, impossible) and I don't want my house to look stupid. However, I have been trying to get over myself. I am making myself do projects around the house even when I may have no idea how to start. I do give myself some leeway. I can read up on a project on the INTERNET. I can check out a book from the library. I can start random conversations with other customers at hardware stores or find another salesperson at Home Depot when the one I'm asking questions of looks at me like I'm an idiot. I can ask a lot of really stupid questions without prefacing it with "this might be a stupid question but..."
This has allowed me to finish painting the garage (without too many threatening letters from the city and the lovely help of my awesome friends). To put in a new screendoor (yes, I still need to add the handle, but I either need to rent a drill, borrow a drill or find a 9/16 bit that will fit my current drill). To install a new toilet.
Each of these projects has come with its own surprise. The garage siding was also the garage wall and you can't just replace a splintered board because they haven't made that tongue and groove siding for years so you copy the previous owner who affixed a piece of aluminum siding over the old board and then paint over it. Not perfect, but good enough. Since I used a heat gun to get off the paint the garage looks lovely. Should it start to look like crap in the next few years I will put up non paintable siding over the top of the old stuff because using a heat gun to scrape the garage again will kill me dead.
The back screen door installation pointed out that the edging around the door might just be plastic or lightweight aluminum but it looks just fine from far away, so I'm not worrying about it. It also made me realize that I am reluctant to ask others for help and thankful for my neighbor across the alley who offered it anyway. Amazing how quickly a door goes on the hinges when there are two people hoisting it up there.
The toilet was another interesting project. I've hated the old toilet since I moved in and was super excited to put the new one in. Of course this couldn't just be simple. I had to discover the old toilet was bolted to the wall and that behind the toilet was exposed lathe - no plaster or tile there. Just lathe. Also, the screws were attached to the floor, so I had to saw off the secondary screws just to put the new toilet on. Add to that what looks like a ceramic soil pipe that is starting to crumble and my future bathroom renovation just increased in price. Awesome. Since I do plan to renovate the bathroom in the next year or two, I'm putting bead board over the hole and adding shims where needed to make sure it's balanced and running well. And so far nothing has exploded or leaked.
I think the most important part I've learned by jumping in and trying to do home repair is that I try my best to do it right, but still enjoy the final product even if it's not perfect. I also realize that the longer the project, I start to re-evaluate just how perfect it needs to be and finally settle for "good enough." I don't want to be paralyzed by perfection. I want to be creative and inquisitive and learn how to do it myself.
This has allowed me to finish painting the garage (without too many threatening letters from the city and the lovely help of my awesome friends). To put in a new screendoor (yes, I still need to add the handle, but I either need to rent a drill, borrow a drill or find a 9/16 bit that will fit my current drill). To install a new toilet.
Each of these projects has come with its own surprise. The garage siding was also the garage wall and you can't just replace a splintered board because they haven't made that tongue and groove siding for years so you copy the previous owner who affixed a piece of aluminum siding over the old board and then paint over it. Not perfect, but good enough. Since I used a heat gun to get off the paint the garage looks lovely. Should it start to look like crap in the next few years I will put up non paintable siding over the top of the old stuff because using a heat gun to scrape the garage again will kill me dead.
The back screen door installation pointed out that the edging around the door might just be plastic or lightweight aluminum but it looks just fine from far away, so I'm not worrying about it. It also made me realize that I am reluctant to ask others for help and thankful for my neighbor across the alley who offered it anyway. Amazing how quickly a door goes on the hinges when there are two people hoisting it up there.
The toilet was another interesting project. I've hated the old toilet since I moved in and was super excited to put the new one in. Of course this couldn't just be simple. I had to discover the old toilet was bolted to the wall and that behind the toilet was exposed lathe - no plaster or tile there. Just lathe. Also, the screws were attached to the floor, so I had to saw off the secondary screws just to put the new toilet on. Add to that what looks like a ceramic soil pipe that is starting to crumble and my future bathroom renovation just increased in price. Awesome. Since I do plan to renovate the bathroom in the next year or two, I'm putting bead board over the hole and adding shims where needed to make sure it's balanced and running well. And so far nothing has exploded or leaked.
I think the most important part I've learned by jumping in and trying to do home repair is that I try my best to do it right, but still enjoy the final product even if it's not perfect. I also realize that the longer the project, I start to re-evaluate just how perfect it needs to be and finally settle for "good enough." I don't want to be paralyzed by perfection. I want to be creative and inquisitive and learn how to do it myself.
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