Friday, September 28, 2007

Renovate or Restore?

When we first bought this house I had dreams of restoring it to it's original condition using the finest materials, architectural salvage, and the sweat of my brow. What I didn't figure was that finest materials cost money and the sweat of my brow was exhausting to produce. Seriously. I don't know..I really love the idea of a complete historical restoration but I am not sure that I can do that. Given that my abilities with power tools are severely limited (I can cook anything, sew a dress? No problem. I can spin wool to make yarn to knit my own sweater..but power tools?) I am not sure I can do this. I have read really cool articles about women building their own homes, restoring their own homes and all of that..and I am looking at the trim wood on my porch wondering where to start. I htink I need to reevaluate my priorities. Or maybe take some classes!

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It can be overwhelming for sure. I try to do a little something on the house everyday but some days I just can't. I'd certainly take care of the porch and things exposed to the elements first, after fixing anything dangerous like electrical. Not everyone can do it all right now, do what you can and don't get overwhelmed. Just paint and cover problems up with wallpaper until you can get to them. And you are not alone. There are so many of us in the same boat. One day at a time. Home Depot and Lowes do give classes on a lot of repairs.