Each DIY Project Will Require Three Trips to the Hardware Store
Some of you are naturally programmed to excel at DIY home improvement projects. You enjoy the chaos that rips open a carpet, builds a barn, or blows down a wall to achieve the coveted “open concept” layout.
But for those of us scared of a weekend full of color and setbacks, the answer to our stress may be that we try too hard to prepare. We’ve looked at several different tutorials – they all claim that this project (any project) is very easy if you just follow these 5 easy steps – and we’ve put together our detailed list of materials. We’ll put together what we need and then mount our flat screen TV or new crane without incident.
The reason we’re about to get upset is because we don’t live by my father’s Golden Rule of Home Improvement:
Trip 1: Preparation
You enter with your master list. Tools, paint, equipment, or whatever you need to get started. Perhaps at this stage you are still discussing finishing options or you have a couple of technical questions for the professionals. It’s a trip where you think through (heh) these details.
If you forget something, that’s okay. In fact, if you’ve just realized that the last thing on your list is waaaaay on the other side of the store, just leave that. Will you come back soon.
Trip 2: I Didn’t Expect IT
Your next trip happens about halfway to the end of your project, when you find yourself in an unexpected disruption that you could not have foreseen. The “standard” faucet base is inexplicably huge compared to the hole you’re working with. Oooh, look, there’s hidden water damage! Wait, how could you run out of washing machines ?
Back at the store, you go a little frustrated and sweaty to get your new supply list (plus the item you forgot to get on Trip 1, so it’s GREAT because you had to go back anyway).
Trip 3: Remind me why I thought it was a good idea?
Trip 3 is by far the most annoying of all the trips to the DIY hardware store because it’s one you really didn’t expect. You were sure you got everything you needed on your last trip – just in case, you even had items of different brands and sizes. But then some damn piece broke, and of course it’s a vital piece, and without that little piece it’s all a waste of effort.
You’d love to send your partner to the store while you’re drinking a quick beer and / or meditating, but they have no idea what you mean when you make weird hand gestures and say something like “screw with a really wide base in trash can at the bottom / middle of the aisle, right to the left of the bathroom! “
So you go back to that last little bite and by now your hair is all disheveled and you meet the same store employees from the previous two trips and they look at you with love in their eyes and pity in their eyes. their hearts. “Are you still in trouble?” – they ask, and you scream a little about the damned broken thing, and they nod grimly. They’ve seen this story a million times already.
The good news is you did it! Your project is complete, even if your sanity is slightly out of order. But if you think about it next time, if your new mantra is, “Each DIY project will take three trips to the hardware store,” you will learn to confidently and steadfastly tackle home improvement projects.