Recently I wrote about my quest to become the top Moderately Ambitious Handywoman at next year’s HGTV Spectator Awards (I think it airs right between the German ESPY’s and the Tween Choice Awards).
I’ve always been called crafty. But let’s face it, even for all the super-chic craft blogs out there, crafty still implies you wear cardigans with Santa Claus and leprechauns hand-emblazoned on the front.
Please shoot me if it comes to that.
Handy, on the other hand, makes you think of tool belts and furniture and general bad-assery.
So I want to be handy with some crafty fries on the side.
If you are in the same boat and looking to become handy, this Internet thingy is amazing: there are lots of awesome women showing off their approachable construction skillz on the web. And they write blogs for girls (or people) like us.
Try Ana White and she’ll lead you to others. Also there’s that Pinterest thing. Doing a search for “funky pallet table” was quite productive for me.
It also really helps to buy a house next to a contractor (thank you, Chris!), and be friends with your own contractor (thank you, Aaron!) who both let you ask lots of questions and is willing to give demonstrations of mundane skills.
Here’s the first project I completed from scratch: $10 picture ledges from Ana White. They really did cost $10 each.
And then I made a table for our deck out of a pallet that conveniently showed up at our house. I don’t own power tools–only wood glue, so I could not have completed either of these without help from our neighbor Chris, who happens to own a saw and possess vast professional knowledge.
I need to find a board to fit the middle of the pallet table, but for now I’m pretending the opening is intentional.
I would love to hear about other web resources you’ve seen for do-it-yourself projects! In particular, I’m planning on building garden planters next…
Okay, off to hand-wash my seasonal cardigans.
momsicle 