-Some Background-

First, I should say that my tool belt was a gift from a very dear friend who was my housemate in my first fixer-upper. Brave girl.

Our current house is a split level built in 1975. It's the youngest house I've owned and the house is in good shape but things need to be updated. Our last house was built in 1920 and needed some real updating, we did many, many projects there. My first house in California won the prize for fixer-upper, in all categories. It was a good price, I was single and it was LA, not a cheap market but two good friends lived two doors down and I knew it would be a challenge worth undertaking. The kitchen was scary, the base cabinets weren't even attached to the wall or floor and the counter top was held down only by the sink plumbing. I hired a contractor to put in new cabinets and a tile counter top. I wanted a mosaic red tile in a swirl pattern. I was told that would take too much time and my budget didn't allow for it so I decided to try it myself. That was the first really big project. I rented a tile cutter wet saw from the Home Depot and had it for a short 24 hours. The neighbors were less than thrilled that I was cutting tile on the back stoop at 2am. That counter top came out beautiful and it's been "I'll try it myself first" ever since. My theory of Home Remodeling is if you are fearless and a little handy, and have a clear-ish picture of what you want to accomplish- there are so many resources out there- you may as well try to do it yourself first and if you get overwhelmed, then call in the big guns. There are limits to this, specifically, anything that can kill you if mishandled (certain electrical projects) and anything that affects the safety of your home, and of course, anything that crosses the line to uncomfortable or scared shitless. I will admit, that line has steadily drifted as I tackle new projects, but one should always be safe, especially when playing with power tools while home alone. The dogs just can't dial 911 yet.

So I'm willing to throw my brain at almost anything I want to fix or change in the house, figure out how to do it, the best and most frugal way to do it and then, DO IT!