Any good at DIY?

[Alan]

Hi,

How good are you at DIY (Do it Yourself)? You know when you do a job in your house instead of getting someone in to do it for you and you pay them to do it. Well, I've shown quite a good fist at it over the years. Wallpaper of mine tends to stay looking straight, shelves I've put up have stayed put up and, though I say it myself, I'm quite a dab hand at a spot of tiling. I do emphasise 'spot' because I've recently asked a bloke in to tile the whole of the bathroom. I thought attempting to do a job like that myself was a step too far. The tourble is that people who come into your house tend to leave a lot of mess and sometimes don't quite finish off the details. I'm expecting my tiler to finish off today. My only contribution to this refurbishment was removing the bathroom cabinet form the wall and electing to paint the sides. I thought well I would be capable of that. Removal from the wall was a piece of cake. Painting the sides likewise. But this is where vanity took over. Before the wretched paint was dry, I turned it over on to its front to admire my handiwork. Oh and I forgot to mention that the two doors have mirrored fronts. As I turned the cupboard over, it slipped and it ended up with one perfectly mirrored door and one sad looking door with a cracked morror. I removed the cracked mirror, wrapped it carefully in newspaper and hotfooted it to my local glazier, a very friendly cove who took pity on me and told me to return the next day. I did. The cloned morror had been made. He carefully wrapped it up, handed it to me and I paid up. As I said, he was a friendly cove and as I waited for the change, I started telling him how the accident happened. Being a rather gesticulatory person in the telling of the story I knocked the new mirror on the counter and it cracked again. The glazier laughed, fortunately for me, and told me to come back the next day and he would make another one. By the way I'm asking the tiler to put the cabinet back on the wall!

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a stately home owner

[Yankee]

My own DIY ability is fairly respectable. Mounting things such as shelving, wallpaper, mailboxes, wall and ceiling lights (including the wiring), etc. isn't a problem. Painting walls is fun, but I'd rather let someone else do the ceilings. As a result of innumerable moves in the past, assembling and disassembling furniture is practically second-nature to me. I've also refinished the wood on quite a bit of furniture. Most electrical devices have a warning that the device should not be opened by anyone except authorized personnel if the device needs repair. I always consider myself "authorized". Even though I often cannot fix the problem myself, sometimes I can. Once I decided to buy piano-tuning tools so that I could tune my piano myself. That particular DIY endeavor proved to be well beyond my ability -- the piano was even more out of tune afterwards and I had to call a professional to repair the damage. When the piano tuner arrived, he just shook his head in disbelief.

On the more "feminine" side, I've also done plenty of sewing, knitting and crocheting. One of my most prized possessions is my crocheted bedspread. It took ages to make, but since the design was my own and I made it myself, it was not only exactly what I wanted, but also fit(s) my bed and decor to a T.

[Conchita]

Luckily, there are enough do-it-yourself enthusiasts in the family, since personally, I prefer other kinds of around-the-house activities, like cooking or baking.

I also used to enjoy knitting, crochet and embroidery (before the computer became part of my life, of course...).

PS: Alan, thanks for treating us to another of your funny stories.

[Abr4xii]

Yes i've done my share of home renovations and fix-ups...I've painted the inside of my house so many times I swear the rooms are smaller.
My wife is always suggesting changes, and i'm being kind when I say "suggesting". I break out in a cold sweat every time she watches a home decorating programme on tv with pencil and paper in hand.
I mostly enjoy cabinet work. My most ambitious task was making the furniture for my daughter's bedroom.