Are you a do-it-yourselfer?

When I was in college, I covered a cheap IKEA chair with fortunes from fortune cookies.

Yup, but it does help that my dad is a contractor. We redid my whole house. I diy as much as I can. I recently took an old window painted the glass with chalk board paint any the wood with crakle piant and now have a cute chalkboard.

@eenerweiner Could you describe the chalkboard process again, please? I am interested but didn’t quite understand what you did.

I am a huge DIYer. Probably got a lot of it from my dad, who used to do furniture repair and was always on the lookout for rescuing items from the trash. A year or so back, I needed a small bookshelf or cabinet that would fit a very small space. Amazingly enough, within a few days I had found a perfect candidate just sitting in the trash area waiting to be disposed. I took it home, removed the doors and associated hardware, cleaned it up, and voila, I had a good-as-new bookshelf which fit my exact dimensions. We took it when we moved, and it’s now hanging out in a closet, holding tools and supplies.

For that project, I did not have to buy anything. All it took was my time and effort in getting it from the street corner into my apartment.

I took an old 6 pane window, painted the glass parts with chalk board paint, takes about 3 coats. On the wooden part of the window I painted a base coat of orange let it dry, painted on crackle medium let it dry then painted the top coat which pulled apart showing the orange… you can get chalkboard paint as spraypaint or by the gallon just make sure the glass is super clean and sand the wood as needed before you start and tape the glass off well after you paint it and it has dried well. Then I had my husband hang it on the wall in the kitchen, its great for making grocery list.

My idea of doing it myself is opening my OWN can of beer while I watch the contractors I paid do the work.

For small furniture and whatnot, yes. It’s fun. I feel a sense of accomplishment. Painting, sure. Plumbing and electricity? No. Even though I learned how to fix wiring in middle school shop class (and had to do small fixes in emergencies), I won’t do it if I don’t have to.

No, unless….by do-it-yourselfer, you mean someone who gets other people to do stuff for them, then yes I am.

Am I a DIYer? YES!

If I had the choice? NO!

Man I wish I could AFFORD to have a plumber do everything for me…instead, it costs me 1/4 the price or less, but twice the time.

Last weekend I replaced my tub spout due to a naughty diverter not doing its job. Then I spent a couple hours cutting out caulk, and replacing it with some nice new silicone caulking. Such fun. My hands still ache.

In December, my husband & I spent one entire weekend replacing our kitchen faucet and snaking all of our drains…Oh the JOYS of home ownership! :)

I’d love to own a plumber for a month or so, then an electrician, then a carpenter for about half a year…

For now, I’ll DIY it, though.

All the time. I like to rescue old lovelorn objects.
Our storage is chalk full of orphaned furniture.
They just need a little love.

Yeah, I did paint a table and a couple of chairs and stools some years ago.
Then, I painted refrigerator from outside.
These things are the ones that I did myself, and which I seem close to furniture.

Other things include some mending job of painting on walls.

Anyway, how did you feel? Did you enjoy do-it-yourself?

@prasad I did a lousy job, and the kids made fun of the drips on the side. But it felt good and invigorating, and it made me realize how kinetic I am. Now I know what they mean by “several coats”, water and oil-based, how much time it takes to paint, the tools needed, the “touch” required, et al. It was quite the learning experience on many levels. Thanks.

@Zen I agree to you that it’s quite the learning experience. Wish you happy time!