Yes, it’s DIY gone mad, gone doolally in fact. I wrote recently about having a number of projects on the go rather than one big one. As you will shortly discover I’ve managed one big one as well as all the small ones I’m about to provide photographic evidence of during these unusual retirement times.
These are all as I’ve said DIY type projects and the therapeutic effects of DIY. Not to mention its role in helping us stay at home. It is, however, to be hoped that this lockdown ends soon because I’m running out of things to fettle as we say in this part of the world. Every piece of furniture that doesn’t move gets repaired. Whether it wants it or not.
And these repairs with all that timber I’ve kept all the years with people scoffing and telling me to throw it out. Nay, lad, it’ll come in. Even I’ve doubted this at times. But here we are in those times. Not laughing now, are you?
The one at the top might just be the one I am proudest off. I made this chair (and another one that’s lived indoors) maybe 15 or more years ago. This one has been out in the garden and had gradually rotted away. I couldn’t bear to look it in the face and year after year it just lay there in a forgotten corner – dying. But now thanks to the virus I have brought it back to life. I couldn’t save all of it, in fact very little of it, but I’ve saved what I can and it looks pretty smart.
This next one had no history, just a bench bought cheaply somewhere. But it was right by the back door and again you could see it falling to bits and, a disadvantage for a bench, you couldn’t sit on it. Well, you can now. True it’s rustic but it’s fairly sturdy. And look at that recycled timber.
And if you think that’s rustic, take a look at these two cafe chairs. They’re made out of metal and my DIY skills are limited, so no metal. I’ve repaired it with some more of that timber. They’ve really made that corner of the garden, that only the dogs ventured to previously, a nice place to sit. Now we take our morning coffee there, well, sometimes.
Not quite as successful is my repair of our garden gate. It’s hung sloppily off it’s hinges and you have to pick it up if you want to go through it and then the top comes away in your hand. It was cobbled together by our son and it shows. I’ve tried to repair rather than replace it because it was there and a new one wasn’t, and couldn’t be bought. Besides, buying new is not the point in this era. Make do and mend. Not entirely successful it must be said, still droops a bit.
I’m very proud of the above picture. It shows the rejuvenated pergola. You can just make it out in the trees. I tried to get somebody to build a new one or at least pull this one down. I had got somebody lined up but then all this business came along and I was left to my own devices. And not too bad a job I’ve made of it. If I’d have had any sense I would have taken some before and after pictures but I didn’t think. Other than the last two which are kind of before and after.
These are photos of the garage. Possibly the biggest small project of all of the above. It all came about because we had the garage roof done, waterproofed. I’m sure I wrote about it some time. This meant that the garage interior is now a nice, dry space which we can make use of in some way. Not sure quite how, but the potential is there. Only problem is, and there’s always one, the door is an up and over type and it’s heavy and inconvenient. Hence my cunning plan to put a single door in one of the double doors. So first photo is before and second one, below that, is after. Hope you can spot the difference. We’re going to paint it yellow by the way. So not quite finished but close.
That’s all for now on the retirement blog, DIY front. I’ll have to start inventing tasks if this business goes on much longer.