We’ve all heard it said before, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But quite frankly, if your household was anything like mine growing up, the amendment to that little adage should read: and if it is broke, please still don’t fix it. In fact, it may be broken because you tried to fix it.
These days it seems everyone is DIY crazy. Pinterest has awakened our inner carpenter with endless streams of foolproof evidence that we can just ‘do it ourselves.’ In fact, research shows that when it comes to passing on the family toolbox, Oupa need not worry. Gen Y is dominating the DIY market, as evidenced by a disproportionate investment in saws and router bits, power and pressure washers, and (surprisingly) wallpaper. The assumption is, why pay someone to do what YouTube can teach you in a 10-step easy tutorial?
The problem is, that 10-step tutorial probably looked more like 36, if you count all the fudges and retakes in the unedited version.
Take our home, for example. A few years ago my husband adopted woodworking as his midlife crisis remedy of choice. Within a matter of months he moved from innocuous veggie box building to believing he could rearrange our roof construction. One day he told me to stand on a stool and hold the ceiling. Next thing you know, a saw was carving out a perfect square around my hand, sending a barrage of rotten thatch and God-knows-what-else onto my head.
The illustrious ‘loft’ project has been 5 years and going, and more than anything, is still an ode to think pink, sinusitis and shoddy roof construction from 1975. Floors are mismatched levels, and an exposed boiler threatens grave danger, much to my boys’ delight. There are ugly cables running between beams and twisted together to form steel knots that could be used as medieval weapons. (The plan was to remove them, but whether we like it or not, everything about its shady engineering seems to say, it’s all hanging on you, little cable! Best not to touch it.) All in all, what started as an innocent vlog on YouTube seems to have opened up Pandora’s Box. We’re in over our heads and out of money to fix it.
We’re also out of space to contain the junk goods required to accomplish our DIY goals. For example, walk around our property and you might think we’re sponsoring a movement called ‘pallets for Africa.’ They’re everywhere. And no matter how many have been deconstructed, there are always still enough to begin the slow and steady process of decomposition in the piles marked as “to be used for something some day.” The planer and circular saw pump out sawdust piles that end up as little footprints on my living room floor, and family paint projects can be traced by following the globs on the bricks outside.
Let’s face it. DIY is not only costly at times; it’s darn messy.
Sometimes it’s just better to pay the professionals and get it done right. That extra bit you saved on doing it yourself, may not end up being a savings in the end. Our loft just goes to prove it. I can think of nothing greater than handing our half-baked mess up over to the guys in Kitchen Frontiers and making it their problem. And I can guarantee you one thing: when it’s done (and done WELL, as I know it would be) I won’t lose one minute of sleep over the few extra bucks I had to pay. And with all that time I wouldn’t have to spend on sweeping sawdust, I’d put towards a glass of bubbly with my man – toasting to all the slightly less ambitious projects we plan to tackle tomorrow.