House Firsts: Stuff We've Done So Far

Sunday, January 30, 2022


My dad once built a car with his own two hands, but I have always called the landlord at the first hint of breakdown. I've never been particularly handy, & I think it's fair to say that Mike hasn't been, either. It's why we thought we'd always be apartment people.

But then we bought this house, so... I guess we're house people now. Which means we've got to at least try to be handy.

It's going OK, I guess? I live in fear of things going wrong because I don't know how to do anything, in terms of, like, fixing or creating or solving. But we're relatively smart people, & there's a YouTube video for everything, right? God bless the Internet.

Here are some of the house firsts we've experienced (& accomplished) so far:

  1. Sealed a leaky dishwasher: I've never lived anywhere with a dishwasher, exciting! Except the first time I ran ours, a giant puddle appeared on the kitchen floor. For the next few rounds, I just put a spare towel beneath it, but then I ordered waterproof putty, & Mike sealed it all up, & now it's as good as new.
       
  2. Unplugged a stopped-up pipe: Given our past laundry crises, I was panicked to discovered standing water in our basement less than a week after moving in. Mike stuck his wholllle arm down into the muck & discovered a rusted-shut pipe cover that was blocking the washer from draining properly. 
      
  3. Applied a privacy film to the doors: This project was a real bitch, but it also felt extremely satisfying to complete. Our front & back doors are both very windowy, so I used privacy film to painstakingly cover things up. Not that anyone was looking in, but now they can't, which feels better.
      
  4. Wallpapered a bathroom: I started on the privacy film because I assumed this project would be harder... but it was actually the much easier of the two! I used peel-and-stick wallpaper from Target to cover one wall in our downstairs half-bath, & I am now fully obsessed with it. 
      
  5. Hung an absolutely enormous piece of art: I had nothing to do with this, which is probably for the best. Mike's dad brought over his extra-good tools to help him hang a giant print of the Cleveland skyline, one that required some serious skills. It'll look great over our new couch when it finally arrives.
I know, I know. None of it is all that impressive or major — but when you've basically never tried to repair anything in your entire life, every little thing feels both impressive and major. I mean, I am praying that nothing actually-major actually happens anytime soon, because we are not emotionally or physically equipped for that yet, but... yeah. I'm feeling good.

We did it. We live here. And it feels pretty damn good.

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