It was Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S.  Many families headed to overcrowded beaches.  Many dads saw the extended weekend as an opportunity to get stuff done around the house.  Many folks sat around and did nothing.  I was one of those people who saw the extended weekend as an opportunity to get things done around the house.  Tools in hand I launched into a paver patio and pergola project. 

I’m originally from Brooklyn, NY.  I come from a long line of apartment dwellers.  In 1990 I moved to Philadelphia, PA, where eventually my father purchased our first home.  It was a rowhome in Lawncrest.  I vividly remember the insurance company that covered his homeowner’s policy doing a drive-by and pointing out a tree that was lifting up the sidewalk.  The company said either fix the issue or they would cancel the policy.  My father had the stump ground, planted some grass seeds for the little patch and bought a weed-whacker to cut his future grass patch.  The patch never grew.

When the Mrs. and I finally decided to buy a house we were so pumped to finally have a place of our own.  We searched the city for a house that would grow with us.  We wanted potential, but didn’t want a dump.  We found that in our 1926 American foursquare.  The time between the accepted offer and the closing seemed like it took forever.  The house was vacant so we camped out in front of it and admired its beauty.  [Creepy!]

I remember the day we closed on our home.  We were so excited.  We signed all the papers and waited for the drop ceiling to open up and balloons and confetti to fall on us.  Well, that never happened.  Instead we headed to Lowes to celebrate.  We painted our bedroom deep into the wee hours of the morning.  Such behavior was common with us.  On our wedding night we were starved, so we headed over to the Wendy’s drive-thru announcing to the cashier that we just got married.

We entered the house with paint rollers in hand and eventually upgraded to saws and air tools.  We have done a lot to the house since we bought it back in 2006.  First on the agenda was to replace the windows.  That was hired out.  Our full on dive into D.I.Y. started with mini-makeovers of rooms and eventually moved onto a full-scale renovation of the kitchen.

I am not the handiest of guys.  Most of the time I have absolutely no clue what I am doing when it comes to fixing or renovating things around the house.  It usually takes me 4-5 times longer than it should to complete a job.  Thanks to HGTV, DIY Network and, if you want to go back, TLC’s Trading Spaces, well, that planted the seed in me and gave me confidence to do some work around the house.  One of my favorite tools for figuring out how the hell to do something is YouTube.  I will watch hours worth of videos relating to the particular project I am currently working on.

So why do it yourself rather than hire someone out?

Two main factors here:

Save money: My uncle would say, “You think my last name is Rockefeller?!”  On my kitchen renovation I was able to score some  craigslist deals on some used items.  I even used salvaged cabinets that I scored on craigslist for an amazing price and customized them for our kitchen.

Pride: I walk into my kitchen each and everyday and am amazed by what I have done.  I think back to my long line of apartment dwellers and give myself a pat on the back.  I also want my kids to think there is nothing that papi can’t fix.

Working on your home is scary.  It terrifies me each and every time.  I look out to my backyard now and see the dirt pit I made in preparation for the paver patio.  It freaks me out!

I posted on Twitter the other day:

Try and fail enough times, you’re bound to learn something along the way.

It is those lessons that you can take onto the next project.

So why D.I.Y.?  Cause for me, it is all I know.  I refuse to back down from a challenge.  Is there stuff that’s over my head?! Absolutely! Know your limits, but try something new every once in a while.  Push your limits (safely) when you can.

You’ll be a better man for it.