So many

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

My parents had a twenty-five year plan. They are probably the most tenacious, a.k.a. stubborn, people I know. My parents moved into their first house with only a mattress on the floor and orange crates as seats. They had nothing, in fact my dad had come to the UK as a child from a very hot country wearing everything he owned, (the family not ready for the British winter), but my parents quickly made the house into a home and collected some strange furniture including a brown and white checked sofa and a chair which I remember napping on as a very small child.

They did the house up and flipped it, moving to a bigger ex-council property. To tell you the truth, I think they would have stayed there forever but the house had one major issue: the back wall was slowly moving away from the front. One semi-detached down the road simply collapsed with the people in and asleep at the time, so when were rescued, the upper floor had become the ground floor, but amazingly no one was hurt.

The council bought it back from Mum and Dad and they sat down to work out what they wanted in life. THE PLAN was made and we brought a house that was condemned the day we moved in.

That’s right. The electrician came to hook the house back up to mains power, took one look at the wires and said “No way”! Then my sister washed her hands upstairs and the water poured into the hall. Yup, that house was a gem and probably the biggest DIY project. Mum and Dad did it up over ten years and then sold it, buying another, which they likewise did up over a couple of years to put THE PLAN into action.

We moved to Wales. They bought a house alongside a rented a patch of land and then sold it once decorated, then finally they bought the smallholding. A beautiful house in mid Wales with land. They both relaxed. They planted over 150 trees, (I know because I helped), put up two greenhouses and a polytunnel, created an orchard and three paddocks. They still live there now and yes, the smallholding is mid-change again as they adapt it to their senior years, but my parents are good with DIY projects. They will get there.

I guess it is the same with us. We thought about moving instead of adapting but decided that it was much better to extend. If planning had never been granted then it is possible that we wouldn’t have left but they did. Unfortunately, the extension was never meant to be a DIY project, but due to the ineffectual building of Simon Landry and Mumbles Construction, (now dissolved), it has become one. We have the gardens to do and the house to finish.

I have inherited many different things from my parents but a huge stubborn streak is one. So, we shall carry on chipping away the list of jobs and we will get the house we envisioned two years ago. That is our massive DIY project, but one R and I will succeed. Goodness, we are almost there.