Day +53: DIYers We Are NOT!

Today proved one thing - we will never be able to compete on The Block.

I am an avid fan of The Block. I have watched all but one series of The Block, and the only reason I didn't watch it that year was because we had just gotten married, we were buying a house, packing up and moving house, and, oh yes, I was busy growing a baby.

Although I am handy with a screwdriver, I am not a renovator. I know my limits, and if I had no choice, I am sure I can learn how to wield a cordless hand tool or operate a drop saw. Before meeting Jonathan, I had fleetingly thought about taking up some lessons to become a bit handier than I was - at the time, I didn't think I would ever meet the man of my dreams, and I thought learning some new handyman skills would help me look after myself better.

And then, there was a period of time after I met Jonathan that I regretted not taking those handyman lessons, when I realised he was only slight better at wielding tools than myself.

Even now, I think I should still go and learn how to use certain things, even though we would never buy those power tools as we simply don't have the space for a workshop of any description at our house. But, with life being so busy, those lessons will just have to wait.

When we moved into our house, there was nothing we had to fix to make it liveable. It was a "move in and live", which was what we wanted. The kitchen was amazing, and the wooden floorboards were sparkling and shiny. The paint seemed fresh enough, even though the paint job itself was cheap and flaky in areas, but we thought we could live with it for a few years before we refreshed it. The bathrooms were a bit old, but we could live with them. However, soon after we moved in, it was evident that the washers in the bathroom taps needed replacing.

We had been talking about changing those washers for months. I remember mentioning it to Mum Robin when she and Nana were here for their visit in April last year. After months of turning off the taps on the vanity really hard to make sure they didn't leak, the cold water tap for the bath started dripping water. It was time to suck it up and buy the parts to change the washers.

Jonathan did some research on the Internet on how to change the taps, and we paid a visit to Bunnings to get the parts that we needed. Faced with a wall of options, we needed a bit of help from the experts, and picked up a bunch of things to refresh our taps, including new fittings to bring the the look into the 21st century. I was excited to see the new bits and pieces, and hoped Jonathan would be able to fit everything in the right places.

Since we were in Chatswood and we needed groceries, we went to Coles in Chatswood Chase to continue our shopping expedition. An almost overfilling trolley later, we headed home to fix the leaky taps.

While I put away the groceries, Jonathan busied himself in the bathroom, changing the spindles on the vanity. That job was easy enough, but we quickly discovered the new covers were too short. Jonathan put the old covers back on, but they were also too short as the new spindles sat higher than the old one. The old covers were slightly better than the new covers, so we left the old covers on and put the new handles on. We would have to return to Bunnings next weekend to replace the new covers with longer ones.

Jonathan moved on to the taps on the bath, and discovered that he didn't have the tools to change the spindle out of the wall. Our wall tiles were 1.5cm thick, and we didn't have the extender tool to get into the hole to unscrew the spindles. The taps in the shower were the same. And after looking at the things we bought, it appeared that the new fittings would also not fit on the taps on the bath or in the shower. Grand. More stuff to return and exchange.

And that brought to the end our DIY session for today. It was very frustrating, but at least the taps on the vanity were working well and it was a lot easier to turn them on and off. We will have to continue the task of replacing all the spindles next weekend.

We have Mina coming for a visit tomorrow, and it will be the first time in 10 weeks Sean and I had seen Mina. I'm sure she has missed Sean just as much as Sean has missed her. I am looking forward to seeing her tomorrow, albeit briefly as I have a full day packed with activities that will see me out of the house for much of the day - morning tea with the Cheltenham Old Girls Association committee, and late lunch with the ladies from Mothers Group. I'm looking forward to some adult company and adult conversation!