Hey, Ask Lemmy, we all know that people love to talk about themselves, and I’d love to hear about some of your pleasant experiences. So, please, no matter how big; no matter how small, tell me something that you are proud to have made :)
Hey, Ask Lemmy, we all know that people love to talk about themselves, and I’d love to hear about some of your pleasant experiences. So, please, no matter how big; no matter how small, tell me something that you are proud to have made :)
Back in the 90s, we bought an 87 year old house that had been neglected for decades, but the neglect was what we liked. That meant that nobody had “upgraded” or modernized it.
We spent the next 7 years renovating it, fixing every wall, repairing plumbing, installing a cast-iron woodburning stove, etc.
When we were done, we had turned the ugliest house on the street into a museum piece, and sold it for far more than any house on the street had ever sold for.
Nowadays I barely have energy and time to cook and maybe go to gym. Was it easier back then regarding work life balance?
We had more free time back then because there was no Internet, no streaming. You have no idea how much time people waste today, just sitting and scrolling for hours every day. Also, back then, people didn’t need to have multiple jobs just to pay their basic bills.
Music was still big (way bigger than it is today) so you’d just put on some music, and start painting.
why did you sell it?
We loved the house, and our neighborhood, but we hated the city we lived in. I was self-employed, and could do my job from anywhere, so we sold it and moved to Florida, when Florida was still a nice place, and not MAGA HQ.
Turns out it was haunted.
I wish it were true, but we never had any hint of haunting.
I’ve been making plans to do something like this for a while, if only to build something that satisfies my own eccentricities. I’d love to know how the process was for you.
It was a blast. My wife made most of the design choices, which was cool with me, we generally have similar tastes, and I was enjoying learning how to use tools, and fix things properly. It was like a college degree in house renovation.
Most of the time it didn’t feel much like work, except for that one room that had five layers of wallpaper, with several layers of paint between them, and wallpaper on the ceiling with several layer above that. Scraping all that garbage off the walls and ceiling was one of the most unpleasant jobs I’ve ever done. Once it was all stripped, though, the rest seemed easy.
I considered becoming a Flipper, long before that was a thing. I wish I had done it.