In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’ve teamed up with Erin @ His and Hers, Kelly @ View Along the Way, and Carrie @ Hazardous Design for four fun days in which we’ll be celebrating DIY life with our husbands.
**Did you miss the first posts of the series? Check them out here and here !**
I am the host today and the topic is “What Home Improvement Would Be Like Without Our Husbands”.
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Erin from His and Hers: Home improvement on my own would no longer equal home improvement, I’m afraid. It would equal “home burning down” or “home wrecking” or “home going into debt because of all the professionals I’ve had to hire.” I can handle the sewing machine and a paint roller, but put power tools in my hands, and you’ve just handed Amelia Bedelia a weapon of mass destruction. And building things? Pfffft. There is no way I could have built our vanity, our desk, or our closet shelving without Rick. My attempts would have resulted in rickety furniture akin to that made by a careless Girl Scout who just wanted her woodworking badge because it had a cute beaver on it. Seriously. I’m slowly learning how to use power tools as Rick sees fit to teach me (in other words, as Rick sees fit to trust me with his expensive toys), but I am in no way ready to use them in the ways that he can.
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Kelly from View Along the Way: If I didn't have a husband who DIYs, I would eat ramen noodles for every meal and sell my firstborn child to pay for a professional carpenter to cater to my every whim. That's option 1. Option 2 is that I'd attempt the projects on my own. You guys can picture a crazy, wonky fun-house with no 90-degree angles, right? That would unintentionally be the end result of all my projects.
I'm thankful that my husband not only loves the DIY mentality, but he also cares that things turn out right, with right angles and other pesky inconveniences. As I like to say, sometimes it pays to be married to a math teacher. (Just usually not financially. Word.)
I'm grateful to have a husband who DIYs because it means I get to keep my firstborn, and I'm getting kind of attached to that kid.
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Carrie from Hazardous Design: My idea of DIY before I met Chris was pretty much limited to paint and no sew sewing projects. I like to think that eventually I'd work up the nerve to purchase and learn how to use some power tools on my own, but really, who are we kidding? That probably wouldn't happen. More likely I'd avoid power tools all together and attempt projects like hanging crown molding using a hand saw and adhesive. Or I'd go broke hiring someone else to do it. One way or another, projects around here would certainly be compromised if Chris wasn't a DIYer. 
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Michelle from here: It pains me to admit this publicly on this very popular and highly influential blog but here it goes...without Nate there would be very little home improvement going on at Decor and the Dog (other than some painted furniture). I like to take credit when it isn't do. I come up with the crazy ideas and drag my poor husband into my madness...and then make him do a lot of the work. Don't feel too sorry for him though. He likes it. Seriously. I think. No, he does.Without Nate there would be 100,000 partially completed projects. I start projects thinking I am the queen of DIY and then fail miserably/have a melt down/get hangry (hungry + angry..it happens). Nate then swoops in and saves the day. Our powder room would be partially stenciled because I would still be bawling my eyes out under the sink. Our guest bath would have a corner that was tan because I'm not tall enough to reach. I wouldn't have a pretty farmhouse table to eat off of. Our headboard would would definitely not be a West Elm knock off....more like a headboard after an earthquake knock off. Man, I am going to kick myself for this post...let's hope Nate forgets to read today...
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There you have it. Home improvement just wouldn't be the same without the dudes in our lives. Sorry feminists of the world. We tried.What would home improvement be like without your partner in crime? Tell us all about it! Seriously. Tell us. It's going to be a long day at work and I need entertainment on my lunch break...
Most of my projects I do alone, but my partner in crime if I have one is my sister. We are both very creative and like to order each other around with the other one hardly ever following the orders. No man necassary for this DIYer, all my power tools are my own...
ReplyDeletethis was SO fun to read! like jennifer i do mine alone for the most part.... i would just be living on the edge because i would be using power tools with no one else home in case i get injured. :)
ReplyDeleteY'all are way too cute for your own good. Seriously. Can I just borrow your husbands for all my DIYs? Although Katie's husband makes a good alternative and he lives a lot closer. :)
ReplyDeleteYou girls are hilarious! I think all our rooms would be blue (since my husband has to gently remind me that there are other colors), there would be no molding of any kind (except maybe beadboard wallpaper) and I would be living with the peeling laminate flooring that was originally in our house. Thank the Lord for handy men!
ReplyDeleteOh man, without the hubs I would be a mess. There would be half-built IKEA furniture everywhere, I would have to trick friend into carrying heavy things for me, and I think that all the walls would also be half painted (hey, it's a very tiring job to do edging and THEN paint again!). Good thing he's around :)
ReplyDelete"Home wrecking" ahahaha :) I love what the rest of you wrote. Kristen had a great point about the half-built ikea furniture too. While in ikea, I feel invincible, but then I think my brain stops working as soon as we get the box home and opened.
ReplyDeleteI joke and say I do everything around the house (because I am handy in most things), but really there are some things that wouldn't get done without hubby.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to pretty much echo all the sentiments of you lovely ladies above...I am *wicked* awesome at painting, sanding, cleaning, and more painting, and of course, coming up with the ideas...but power tools? Anything remotely complicated that involves plans, exact cuts, and measurements? Not.so.much.
ReplyDeleteWithout Brad all of my larger framed art piece would be crooked. Dude is a pro with a level. I'm trying to talk him into building some stuff. I'll break him down. It's only a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteSeriously! You guys have me laughing out loud! So very cute. Michelle - I am with you, sister. I am the idea-dreamer-upper, and D is the fix-whatever-Amy-started-now-guy. But I like to take all the credit anyway. ;)
ReplyDeleteHaha, I've been loving this series! I think my house would look like a carnival if it wasn't for my husband bringing me back down to Earth..
ReplyDeleteI love this post! Most of the time I come up with an idea and Jesse refuses to help, until he sees me struggling and then he comes to the rescue. He hopes that by telling me to do it myself I'll give up, but I'm stubborn and he loves me too much to watch me crash and burn lol.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I love this! We wouldn't have running water in our house. Our a garage. Our bathroom would still be gutted and we'd have no tile floors or functional kitchen. Other than that I think I'd be ok.
ReplyDeleteW/out Dave our kitchen cabinets would be painted shut, I'd probably be electrocuted, and all of my pictures/art/mirrors would be sitting on the floor underneath their "spot".
ReplyDeleteW/out the hubs, DIYing would take a gazillion times longer than it does. I never would have had the courage to DIY our kitchen reno without him by my side. I'd still be tackling projects, just smaller scale ones. Oh, and I probably would have lost a finger by now. There was that one small incident when I put a rotozip through my arm.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like our husbands need to start blogs and/or take over ours. Since they are really the reason we can have blogs, after all...
ReplyDeleteIt actually works out quite nicely that way.....you go and work on your blog and actually give us husbands time to get the project done! But, it turns out to be a vicious cycle which goes something like this: Brilliant idea from wife; excellent follow through from husband; all while the wives are dreaming up the next big project.
DeleteBesides, someone has to elegantly put pictures and descriptions together. If I were to write a post, for example about our closet, it would go something like this: I cut the wood, and nailed it together and now we have a closet. The End. Thanks for reading. So here's a great big round of applause to the wives that dream up our projects and occasionally give us credit for them. :-)
bahahaha the last thing I expected to see when I scrolled through these comments was a comment from my husband....
DeleteHahaha I love this!!! It's all so true, I'm sad to admit. I love taking all the credit and acting like a brilliant DIYer but really, I just think up the ideas and trust that my husband will figure out a way to make them work. He's the real brains behind every operation. So many times I'll get us into a project and at the precise moment that we've reached the point of no return, he turns to ask me how I'd planned for us to continue/attach this/make this happen...and I shrug and say, "I dunno, I just knew we'd figure out a way somehow. It can't be that hard." And then the poor man has to sit back and figure it all out because I'm totally clueless. After the last time that happened, I told him to always, always ask me for my detailed plan first to make sure it makes sense before trusting in my overconfidence and ripping a light fixture down from the ceiling....we're still waiting on him to have time to rig something up to make a light fixture I DIY'd work, and it's getting pretty dark in the living room.
ReplyDeleteI really have to hand it to my husband because he is so patient with me and makes sure all my ideas come to fruition, then he sits back and lets me look brilliant. love him.
So funny - and I must say you are SO lucky! My husband is not a big diy person and would rather just pay someone. Having said that, when I want a project done he complains that it will cost too much! Needless to say I "attempt" a lot of things on my own and don't get very far...
ReplyDelete-Shelley
That last picture gave me the giggles. I love all of your thought bubbles.
ReplyDeleteI would complete nothing without Ryan. I'm not even sure I would paint. I'm an imposter.
My eyes are watering - great post! Seriously, I can't imagine home improvement without my second half. One day my blow dryer overheated - as it usually does because my hair is so thick and it takes for ever to dry. So, I threw it way (I mean come on... $20, right?) Next thing I know - he's got it out of the trash and taking it apart! "What on Earth are you doing? It's broken - it doesn't work anymore!" He smiles at me and says. "I'm fitting it for you".... and he did! I love this man!
ReplyDelete