random curiosity

[ratcreature]

I enjoy looking at DIY and home-improvement tips, also I find tv shows with that sort of thing (like home makeovers with cleaning and renovating tips and such) fun to watch in the right mood, but somehow that never translates into realizing any such projects.

It's like I'm house proud in a theoretical way, in that I'm interested in knowing cleaning, renovating and decoration techniques, and even sometimes envision their application to my home, but in practice I haven't even bothered for example to replace the bare light bulbs hanging from my ceilings with proper lamps in over fifteen years now (except in my kitchen and bathroom, where I found properly placed lighting important for practical reasons).

So now I'm wondering how many among the audience of that genre are like me, and (almost) never actually apply any of the gazillion DIY tips they collect on their Pinterest board or such. hence a poll:

Poll #13657 house proud?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 23

View Respondents

What describes your approach to improving/maintaining your living space best?

View Answers

I pay others to make sure my home is nice (cleaners, decorators etc.) but don't enjoy spending time and effort on it myself. I rather occupy myself with other things.
3 (13.0%)

I enjoy home improvement/maintenance in a theoretical way (collecting bookmarks with tips, watching DIY shows etc.) but not so much the practice of realizing any such projects outside of fantasy.
10 (43.5%)

I regularly do projects to improve/maintain my home, and enjoy media and online tips as actual inspiration and for help.
2 (8.7%)

I like the practice of improving/maintaining my home myself, but have no interest in engaging in this through media or online tips to find inspiration.
0 (0.0%)

I'm not into home improvement/maintenance beyond the bare necessities, and don't seek out media in that genre either.
8 (34.8%)

Comments

[busaikko]

My biggest house problem is too much stuff, so most of my house upkeep involves getting rid of the toys, games, clothes, mountains of papers, et.

So many DIY and interior design shows feature great ideas which... look good because they're done in a tidy, uncluttered environment. One chair with chipping paint (http://www.paintplace.com.au/sites/default/files/Shabby%20Chic%20Chair.jpg) looks really stylish in a simple setting. But the same chair in a cluttered house (http://bobdavisrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Cluttered-House-300x225.jpg) just looks like one more thing to clean up....

Someday when the house is clean, I might do some DIY improvements!

[ratcreature]

That is very true about clutter. I recently replaced my desk, because I got my father's old drafting table -- which is quite cool, in that it has a large drawing board that you can pull out and put at different vertical angles, without having to remove all the stuff on your regular desk surface -- and in the process threw out several garbage bags worth of papers and stuff, and it's still not uncluttered. :/

[lilacsigil]

I selected "I regularly do projects", which I do, but depending what it is, I sometimes pay other people to do it. For example, we designed a raised-bed garden but hired people to clear the old garden and install the beds. Then we looked after it. I frequently sew things like oven mitts or doona covers though, and do problem-solving stuff like nailing down carpet and putting on new taps.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I think most people pay for some such services, especially when DIY would be difficult or not all that much cheaper in the end. I meant more the general approach, whether you'd rather pay professional to not be bothered by this stuff and just enjoy the nice end result, or generally do these things yourself because you like spending time on your home not just money.

[lilacsigil]

That's good - I picked the correct answer then! I just finished my first actual quilt today, made out of various scraps!

[ratcreature]

Congrats! I like quilting, though I don't do it often, and thus I'm not all that proficient. Another problem is that I don't really have a use for smaller blankets myself (like the lap or baby blankets size) and my regular sewing machine is not practical for really big ones, that I could use on my own bed.

[goss]

Bit of 1 and 2:

I *LOVE* home improvement shows and ideas, but actually hate cleaning, and rather someone else do it for me. :b

ETA: I guess my interest lies in the Design aspect, but not the Execution itself.

[ratcreature]

So your home improvement mostly happens in your imagination too? I can relate.

I have an odd relationship to cleaning. I like organizing things, at least in principle, and I like that cleaning gives immediate, tangible rewards, but otoh it takes a lot of energy, is quite boring, and you have to do it again and again so that it seems quite pointless. Like my thought process tends to go "Why clean my bathroom sink of gunk when it'll be the same again in a week? I might as well just clean it next week..." Of course that way lies total squalor. So at some point I do clean, but haphazard rather than just doing it a regular chore.

That is not helped by these odd spurts I get, like I get the idea that I really ought to clean and reorganize the insides of my kitchen cabinets, but not as part of a general spring cleaning or something, but just because I finally noticed that they are getting grubby or whatever. Then I do that, plunging my kitchen into total chaos for a while, and in the end I'm exhausted, and won't clean all the rest of the kitchen, so I have like really clean cabinets, but never got around to mopping the floor or doing the dishes, both much more visible dirt.

[goss]

HAHA. Yes, I totally relate. To ALL of it.

[astridv]

I just installed a new door handle but that was just because the old one was coming off and it needed done. Fixed the sink earlier this year. I do find that kind of work satisfying, but I wouldn't go looking for projects beyond the necessary. And I hate things like painting my room, because it's such a hassle to move everything first. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd already have gotten rid of the damn carpet and have Laminat.

[ratcreature]

OMG yes, I never do big projects, because the hassle is so enormous. And I just don't have anywhere to put all my stuff if it wasn't in it's place. The logistics would be nightmarish, and it wouldn't even matter if it was DIY or I'd pay someone to do it, because it would still be basically like moving if I had to empty my rooms (and if all the stuff from one room was crammed in the other I couldn't use that for anything). The only way it would be somewhat tolerable would be if I had really a lot of money to throw at this kind of problem and would basically pay someone to move my stuff out, go on a vacation for the duration (though there'd be the problem of my rats) and move back in once they are finished.

[domarzione]

When I bought my apartment, I did the painting and furniture assembly and storage design and most of the bathroom renovation myself (with a friend) not because I enjoyed it, but because it saved me hundreds of dollars and I could do it.

I'd love to have someone come in and clean, but again, it's something I can do (even if I don't do it as often or as well as a pro) and I have other things I'd like to and need to spend my money on.

I pay attention to websites and stuff for design and efficiency tips, but not out of entertainment.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, it's different when it's just a necessity and you would rather get a service doing it, but do what is needed yourself. I'm not sure I would get someone else to clean, even if I could afford it, because I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be having others in my space. I mean, I really hate having repair people come in too.

[madripoor_rose]

My answer would be a little off-poll. I have tons of things that need to be done to the house, but can't get my father who actually owns it to agree to any of them. And I'd pay professionals because though I'd enjoy doing the work myself, I know I don't have the skill/a little paranoid because half of what needs to be done is fixing previous DIYish remodeling that was badly done.

[ratcreature]

Heh. You are a real optimist though, to expect that professionals will do a job properly. I've seen them do horrible and lazy things...

[madripoor_rose]

Ha, yeah. One of those shows, Holmes On Homes I actually had to stop watching because it was scaring me, entirely a decent guy fixing what other contractors had destroyed in people's homes.

But I'm assuming that someone I check out on the Better Business Bureau/Angie's List/has references has to be better than that friend of Dad's from work who left us with baseboards just kinda leaning against the wall. I seriously think my mom was already having some small strokes while she was starting that 'remodel' or she never would have hired him.

I dunno. I watch those shows to remind me that other people don't have to live with peeling paint and wallpaper, rotting carpet, cracks in the walls and windows you can't see through because of the algae between the panes. I just have to nag Dad enough to DO SOMETHING.