To DIY or not DIY?
Have you finished your summer projects around the house yet? July is nearly over, and I’m happy to say we are nearing the finish line with the final fixer-upper project on my list. It seems like there’s always something to be done around the house, whether it’s trimming hedges, touching up paint or, my least favorite chore, cleaning.
The big home-improvement project we took on this summer isn’t really that big, but it involved quite a bit of elbow grease and plenty of paint. Years ago, my dad added a sort of mud room to the front entrance of our house, complete with a front door that has sidelites (apparently that’s the term for those little windows on each side of the door). Over the years, the bottom of the door started to rot away, leaving it looking less than desirable. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and decided we’d either fix it or replace it this summer. Replacing it seemed easiest, until I saw the price tag of more than $1,000. We opted to fix it instead.
It sounded easy enough: strip off the layers of old paint (too many to count), sand down the door and slap on some new paint. How hard could this be? I watch those people on HGTV do it all the time. I was about to become a “DIYer” (Do It Yourself-er). I was excited to get started using all sorts of sanding and paint-stripping power tools my brother supplied. That excitement started to fade as I tackled the old paint in the little crevices and trim on those sidelites. I soldiered on even though my arms and hands were tired and aching. Luckily, the din of the power tools drowned out my muttering. “Whose idea was this?! This is the worst job ever! I’m never doing that again! Those HGTV people must be nuts. This is way too much work!”
After way too many hours, I finished stripping the sidelite paint and moved on to the main door, which was much easier. My brother cut out the rotting part of the door, mixed up some magical potion of goo that patched the holes and sanded it down to a smooth finish. By the time I got around to the actual painting, I had lost all of my enthusiasm for home improvement. Fortunately, the painting has been fun and oddly therapeutic. After all of the effort it took to strip off the old paint, brushing on a fresh coat was a breeze. Hopefully, the second coat will be on by the time you’re reading this.
I do feel a sense of accomplishment and think the door looks pretty nice. I’ve even gained enough confidence that I’m starting to think about remodeling our old bathroom. Or maybe I can just pay those cute twins from that “Property Brothers” show to do it for me instead.
Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.