My name is Dominic Isaac Yrager. (It really isn’t my name; note the initials.) I am a DIYer. I do not claim to be good at it. I consider myself just okay, but far better than those wannabes on DIY Network’s, First Time Flippers.
I am also not a blogger. I do not claim to be good at this either. I always said, “Those who can, do; those that can’t, blog.” However, I can’t do either well. So, bear with my misspellings, grammar errors and outright missing words.
I credit my tagline to the late singer and songwriter, Jim Croce:
I’ve had my share of good intentions and I’ve made my share of mistakes…
Now I look at myself to find, I learn the hard way ev’ry time.
Why do I want to share my trials and tribulations as a DIYer? I think since I do not take myself too seriously, it allows me to offer some humor of my misfortunes and my successes.
I have been attempting to do-it-yourself projects for over forty years. My first big DIY venture was a garage. Presently I am up-cycling our cabinet doors.
In this blog, I would like to share my journey as a DIYer. I will provide you with details of all my projects of the past and present. On my past projects, I sometimes struggle to remember all the details, but I did my best. Unfortunately, photos of my past projects might not be available, so only my description of the events will do.
Additionally, I occasionally will digress and write about some random DIY subject.
Let’s start with the project du jour.
A couple of months ago I was sketching out the often-discussed hall tree for our front hallway. Right now, we just have a bench and shelf. We bought the bench many years ago and I made the shelf. Both items have the “country motif.” In other words, they are made of pine, stained in golden oak and have a heart cutout.
I put together my bill of materials, which good DIYers do and announced to my wife, “I am building the hall tree.” She had the look that I seen many times before. It was not a “that’s a good idea” look. It was more of an often seen “puzzled” look.
She told me that we moved on with the building the hall tree. She said we could buy something better instead. I was disappointed since I designed an excellent hall tree that used most of the wood from the bench and shelf.
However, she was not done. She said, “Why don’t you work on the cabinet doors?” I was dumbfounded. Not because I was astonished with her suggestion, I just did not give the cabinet doors a thought. Suddenly my brain was overheating. What a great project! What an overwhelming project! What a great idea! What a crazy idea!
After thanking her for that amazing suggestion, I sat back down and started planning my next DIY project.
Let the story begin…
