Following in my mother’s DIY footsteps

My late mother should have hired out as a home remodeler. She wasn’t afraid of taking a sledgehammer to a wall she wanted removed. She installed more of the ceiling tiles and wall paneling than my father did in the attic bedroom they created for my sister Patty and me. 

I saved a project that felt daunting — spray painting the bathroom sink with appliance epoxy — to do in Mom’s memory on her 96th birthday earlier this month. I tried to exercise the patience Mom always said I lacked as I did the prep, cleaning, sanding, and covering up of areas that needed protection from the spray.

“Mom, you would have been proud of me,” I thought when finished. Well, mostly — she would have shaken her head at my holding an open bottle of nail polish remover over the completed job. True to form, I spilled on the wet paint and had to redo a section. 

When it’s said that we become more and more like our parents as we age, usually that’s referring to undesirable traits. I’m happy to act like my mother in regard to do-it-yourself remodeling.

A few months ago I covered the kitchen backsplash with peel-and-stick wallpaper in a shiplap design. That project turned out to be challenging because there were more patterns to line up than I had anticipated. 

I’ve given furniture a distressed appearance, brushing diluted latex paint over the old finish. Martha Stewart wouldn’t approve of my no-prep, one-coat, no-sealer method, but I figure that since distressed is supposed to look worn and dinged, all the better if some paint chips off. 

Next up is the dining table. It also will get just a single coat of paint even though I don’t want it to look distressed. A primer and paint combo like Kilz ought to do the trick, with perhaps a sealing wax.

I never considered myself domestic. My cooking and housecleaning skills are middling. I don’t bake or sew. I gave up ironing before other people did.

The interest in DIY probably arose from frugality, but I’ve come to enjoy doing simple decorative upgrades. The results are more customized than hired-out projects. They have personal value even as they save money.

Aware of my limits, I won’t do major projects like Mom did, but I’ll probably keep looking for small ones. I wish I could tell Mom that one of her interests rubbed off on her daughter after all.