I had a conversation with my neighbor Sharra yesterday. We got to talking about DIY and flooring. We both have three kids and a dog. We also both have the same unfortunate carpeting in our homes: carpeting which is eight years old, was almost white at one time, and is just plain cheap. Cheap, light-colored carpet is hard to clean and maintain. We were eye-balling our kids (who were swimming) while trying to wrangle up some solutions to our icky carpeting dilemma. Did I mention that we also have a broke-momma budget for said project?
I was wrestling between the choices of cleaning ours (yet again), or just simply lighting it on fire.
Sharra seemed to have a slightly more sensible situation. She was toying with the idea of ripping hers out and staining the concrete subfloor. Her friend did it, so she knows it’s possible. But it also took her friend a week, and was a whole lot of work.
After I came home, I revisited our conversation. I am happy to tinker with lots of stuff. Messing with furniture, accessories, wall paint, etc…no biggie. But projects that require terms like “ripping out, gutting, or demolition” just make me nervous. Don’t get me wrong. I’d LOVE to destroy a thing or two in this house. I think ripping out our poorly built and leaky shower stall would be thoroughly therapeutic.
But then what?
Once it’s gone, there’s no going back. What happens when your great DIY plan hits a snag? Once you’ve ripped out your filthy carpet, what happens when your brown paper bag flooring doesn’t work out? Or what if it does work out, but then you try to sell your house two years later…and no one else sees your vision. I can hear it now, “oh my…um, those are nice paper bags you have glued to the ground. Next!”
Or the painting of my formica countertops. I am >>this<< close to pulling the trigger on it, but I am deathly afraid. At some point, you reach a point of no return. If it sucks, and you don’t have funds to ‘fix’ it, then what?
I admire those who don’t seem too bothered by that sort of concern. I generally regard them as courageous. They are the Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man [or Woman] in the World” of DIY projects. Nothing phases them, and things work out just fine. But then I see DIY shows where everything backfires and I find myself with a krinkled up forehead wondering what were they thinking???? There is no cheap way to fix the mess they find themselves in now.
Which is partially why we haven’t done anything ‘major’ in our house. But it’s coming. Necessity and the marching of time will guarantee that. We will be heading towards ‘bigger’ projects soon.
Somebody hold me…
Anyone have any DIY stories they’d like to share? Nightmarish, awesome, or otherwise? It might lighten the mood some.
