Speaking of tools and remodeling. When I got divorced in 1990 I moved into a small seasonal lake cabin, left the big house to my X. It was such good therapy to insulate and pound and lift paneling into place. Since then I have bought and sold several houses. I buy an ugly house for a really good price in a potentially great location and set to work remodeling inside and out. My turn around time is from 8 months to 4 years. Too bad I have to live in the mess, but I probably would not do the work if I had to drive to it. I love the design part, and even though I do most of the work myself, I do work with carpenters for the grunt work of plumbing and heavy-duty stuff. I have nearly finished painting the entire outside of this house I bought last summer...a huge job. I will finish the inside this winter and sell it next summer. I have built everything from decks to tongue and groove to stone work...I love stone work outside. Not tile though, never wanted to tackle that. My specialty is working with the personality of the house and landscape to make it "fit in" so people will instantly want to buy it.
This house was painted orange..really, with dark brown trim and cement steps..you get the idea. Cut up rooms, no traffic flow. The location is just beautiful with dozens of trees and a huge lot on the edge of town and vacant land across the street that will never be built on. I painted the outside a very soft greenish gray with wheat colored trim and clay colored accents, tore out the cement steps....jack hammers really suck, the old steps were reinforced with rebar, ugh. Now there is a big deck with a jutt out and the railings are all white birch. It's starting to look rather lovely around here with rock gardens and flowers. People always say, my god, you bought THAT (ugly) house? And then they say, how can you LEAVE that house, it's so wonderful. It's fun to do transformations...house therapy of sorts. I think the houses always seem so happy to be all polished up...suppose I am a little bit crazy.
Wow I am impressed. Sounds like you have a real talent and found a good way to apply it.
I am pulling my hair out with the simple kitchen remodeling we are doing now. Just putting in new cabinets and counters. But.....the countertop was cut wrong, and its supposed to have been in for a week and a half now, I had to call the contractor again tonight and postpone....arrgh, I'm ready to go back to renting! No not really, when its done it will be worth it. And we got to chew out the manager of Lowes, it was actually kind of fun.
Oh, the counter top stories......very familiar. Once I ordered a top that was 11.5 feet long. I made sure it would be cut from a 12' piece....it takes FOREVER for countertops anyway, and then they unloaded it and there, two feet from the end is the ugliest splice I have ever seen...well, almost the ugliest. So, back to the mfg and another 6 weeks without water, stove, etc. Nightmares, I've had a few. A truck was unloading a full load of concrete to pour a basement and both back wheels on one side fell into an unmarked septic tank....oh shit is right. A little hairy there...cement is not so stable and very heavy, but the guys managed to get beams under it and wiggle it onto firm ground. There was a sort of moat around the foundation and a plank to get into the house. During a heavy rain a skunk tried to walk the plank and fell into the water...it was pretty funny. Takes my mind off the recovery process to think about all these adventures, it's a welcome diversion.
I just wanted to say that I truly believe doing physical and creative work like that just really helps. It is a great thing...the way the mind works with our bodies...keep it busy and it is it's own reward. The sense of accomplishment and well-being is amazing! And when you see the look on others faces, the smiles, it just makes you feel warm & fuzzy all over! So very healing. Yep...the best therapy if you ask me. As my IC said to me "there is a reason why Jesus was a carpenter"
