After Gabe put his foot through the ceiling, I stopped asking him to fix things. Luckily my friend Dave at work is really handy and into home DIY projects so I started asking him for advice. Actually, I would offer to pay him to come to the house and just do whatever I needed done. When that didn't work, I resorted to begging. But being a didactic Ph.D. (in some obscure field), he insisted on me learning how to do things.
So his first consultation job was when we had to install the baby gate at the top of the stairs. He taught me about studs and whatnot. The gate is now very secure and the toddler is very safe.
My next project was hiding the computer wires and accessories on my desk in the kitchen. The backstory behind why I moved my computer from the office upstairs to the kitchen is that Gabe hated when I disappeared into my room to be on the computer. I would forget the time and the meal that he cooked would cool. He asked (actually coerced) me to move the computer down to the kitchen so we could talk while he cooked.
So anyway, I have a PC desktop and all that goes with it. It was very unsightly and offended my feng shui. I wanted to move the tower and wires somewhere but that would involve holes in the cabinet and/or the granite countertop. Dave at first suggested running the wire through the back of the cabinet and behind the wall. Uh, no.
We compromised on drilling a hole on the side of the bottom cabinet (despite my protestations about it being a problem when it came time for resale but he said I could just cover it with a plate) and just running the wires up onto the counter. He brought in his circular saw for me to borrow but made me practice first. I admit at one point during the practice I screamed.
Notice the splinters? I didn't do a very
clean job, but this was my first time!
No more clutter on the counter!
So his first consultation job was when we had to install the baby gate at the top of the stairs. He taught me about studs and whatnot. The gate is now very secure and the toddler is very safe.
My next project was hiding the computer wires and accessories on my desk in the kitchen. The backstory behind why I moved my computer from the office upstairs to the kitchen is that Gabe hated when I disappeared into my room to be on the computer. I would forget the time and the meal that he cooked would cool. He asked (actually coerced) me to move the computer down to the kitchen so we could talk while he cooked.
So anyway, I have a PC desktop and all that goes with it. It was very unsightly and offended my feng shui. I wanted to move the tower and wires somewhere but that would involve holes in the cabinet and/or the granite countertop. Dave at first suggested running the wire through the back of the cabinet and behind the wall. Uh, no.
We compromised on drilling a hole on the side of the bottom cabinet (despite my protestations about it being a problem when it came time for resale but he said I could just cover it with a plate) and just running the wires up onto the counter. He brought in his circular saw for me to borrow but made me practice first. I admit at one point during the practice I screamed.
Notice the splinters? I didn't do a veryclean job, but this was my first time!
Things didn't work out as planned because the shelf in the bottom cabinet was built in. I ended up putting the computer stuff in the upper middle cabinet and then drilled a hole at the bottom (perfect for my fears of ruining the resale value if I had a hole at the side of the cabinet). Gabe looked at me with the drill or saw, or whatever you call it, and suggested that this was a weekend project. I did it anyway and now look!
No more clutter on the counter!