DIY seems to sit neatly alongside the manly pursuit of BBQing; “No help required thank you. Just stand back and let me show you how it’s done.”
It is hard to ignore the manly instinct that tells us DIY is good and we can do it without professional help. Maybe we just want tools, or perhaps its some kind of homo sapiens nest-building urge, but we do need to recognise our limits.
I recently went to do a bit of work in a friends house, and it took a lot of persuasion from his wife to convince him to call me in to help. He is very handy himself and could have easily managed the jobs I did for him if he had the time. A new job and a second baby doesnt leave much time for DIY sadly, and although it was a slight dent to his pride to get me in, I know it was a great relief.
I was in the same position myself recently, confronted with a large DIY job at home which I just didnt have time to do. It is funny how a small job can slowly gain momentum and snowball into a huge one. The light bulb blew in our landing light and we decided that wed change the light fitting we had been thinking of doing this for some time, and the bulb blowing was just the catalyst required to push us into John Lewis lighting department. The only problem was, the light we bought looked rather good, and made the crack-filled, scuffed landing look even more unacceptable
now we needed to redecorate.
Changing a light bulb swiftly turned into a full redecoration job and all went well. That is until, after stripping away the wallpaper, I realised that the entire hallway needed lining paper prior to painting. At that point things ground to a halt. We were by now quite accustomed to the walls in their rustic if rather unfinished state. My mother-in-law said they looked quite Provencal which was perhaps stretching the truth a touch, but at least she didnt say they had character. Suffice to say, I surrendered and the decorator was duly called to finish the job.
There are lots of reasons why people need help with jobs in their properties, and it isnt always a lack of know-how, but often simply a lack of time or a realisation that time could be better spent doing what we know best and letting other people take the pressure off.
Joe White works full-time for Accommodation Windsor Limited as Maintenance Manager. If you require help with maintenance, redecoration or design advice at your property, please do not hesitate to contact us at www.accommodation-windsor.co.uk on 01753 833747.
