DIY
Plan First

My ex-wife was always starting big diy (do it yourself) house remodeling projects when I was at work. She took a fiendish delight in doing this. I can't even count how many times she called me at work and said she had an idea for the house and what did I think about it.

I would usually say it sounds nice, but that I would need time to think about it because it sounds like it will be expensive and difficult and that it will take a long time and a lot of effort.

When I'd get home, she'd have the project started. A messy, chaotic, money draining number of months would ensue.

I'd be mad at first. But what could I do? She would have half the walls down, now what? We were young and in love and I would do anything for her.

The only way I could stop the cycle of this endless remodeling was to leave her.

It seems she could have listened to me once in awhile and cared what I said.

Any house project will be very difficult and expensive.

I am not saying never to do a house project, just go into it with your eyes open. I'm warning you.

Spend plenty of time planning your diy project.

Spend more time thinking if you should even do it. The mess will be frustrating and it will take all your time and extra money.

Make sure you have a lot of money and credit available.

My mom and dad did a lot of house projects over the years. They just approached it in a different manner than my wife did.

They spaced out the projects as they could afford them and to minimize the disruption to the home.

They would do enough planning to make sure it worked. This was not elaborate planning either. They never hired an architect or drew up scaled plans. The planning was my mom making some sketches of what she wanted. They'd take some measurements, record them and do some shopping to see how much it would cost.

This is the classic way. This is what anyone should do at a minimum.

It is what architects, engineers and developers do all the time. And they do it all the time because it works.

My wife just started without any idea if it would work and how much it would cost.

The funny thing was that she was good at research, shopping around and finding good deals.

The few times when she took plenty of time for a diy project things turned out fairly well.

Here is a great site called diy-place.com to check out that specializes in do it yourself home improvement ideas and resources. This site also has all kinds of other good ideas on doing things yourself.

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