Home Improvement: Before
(Click on photos for a larger version.)
Home Improvement: After
Wedding Day: August 25, 1996.
Deka-Annum
This was a big year of 10 year anniversaries. We celebrated 10 years of marriage. I celebrated 10 years at my yoga center which closed shortly thereafter. (The two events were not related.) And my webpage debuted 10 years ago. It's hard to believe 1996 was a long time ago.
Don't Try This At Home
I attempted home improvement and repair with questionable success.
There was that clogged drain that I decided couldn't be that hard to fix. Who wants to spend all that money on a simple home repair? I found an online article about how to clear a drain and it said not to beat up on the pipe too much or you'll break it and cause yourself a bigger problem.
Well, that would have been helpful information an hour earlier. A qualified professional eventually was called in to complete the project. And money well spent, I say.
The next project started when I wanted to put up some shelves and ended up removing wallpaper and patching holes and painting my room.
We have never tackled any home improvement and my best idea for a reason why is that we don't want to.
I peeled wisps of wallpaper off the walls for hours until my arms felt like they were going to fall off. Then I apprenticed with the joint compound and the patching and spackling. I really wanted to do a good job but it seemed like more and more problems emerged. Cracks where there shouldn't be cracks. Stuff chipping off metal. Crackly paint that didn't behave. I began to understand why people do a half assed job on stuff like this.
Then I started the sanding. It would have been helpful to know how magical the Joint Compound is and how responsive to sanding because I could have saved a lot of time from my meticulous application. Sanding makes everything smooth. It also would have been helpful to know that bathing would be an absolute necessity after sanding. I had to wash my hair twice one day.
I thought I hated removing wallpaper. Later I learned that was the fun part. The painting was also harder than I expected. Is there any part of Home Improvement that doesn't make your arms feel like they're about to burst into flames?
My final conclusions:
Joint Compound, which I call Magical Compound, is my friend.
Everything takes longer than you think it will.
Everything looks crappy before it dries.
