I’ve officially jumped right into the deep end of this project, and on one hand, finally, I’ve been talking about this for years. On the other hand, holyeffingshit that is a big hole in the yard.

Future Bedroom

I’ve been deriving courage and DIY inspiration from one of my favorite books — One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey. The journals of Richard Proenneke as he headed out into the Alaskan wilderness to build a cabin with nothing but hand tools and trees he felled. When he was fifty years old he went out for a year to live off the land, and ended up staying until he was eighty.

“I suppose I was here because this was something I had to do. Not just dream about it, but do it. I suppose too, I was here to test myself, not that I had never done that before, but this was to be a more thorough and lasting examination. What was I capable of that I didn’t know yet? What about my limits?” (Page 21)

Future Veranda

Discovery of a rotted sill plate.

“Guess a man needs an upset now and then to remind him he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does.” (Page 39)

Future Front Porch

“When you first think something through, you have a pretty good idea where you are going and eliminate a lot of mistakes.”

Future Porch & Kitchen

“I’ve learned patience, learned to take my time and try to do a job right by first figuring it out… No sense complaining if the weather turns sour– make your job fit the day. Grandmother Nature is in control, and you better just wait until she sees fit to give you the weather that is right for another job you have to do.” (Page 210)

Ready for construction.

“I do think man has missed a very deep feeling of satisfaction if he has never created or at least completed something with his own two hands. We have grown accustomed to working on pieces of things instead of wholes. It is a way of life with us now. This emphasis on teamwork. I believe this trend bears much of the blame for the loss of pride in one’s work, the kind of pride the old craftsman felt when he started a job and finished it and stood back and admired it.”  (Page 211)

With those words from Dick, I’m off to help frame in the footers for the basement walls. Four weeks and this big hole is going to be a house.

DIY lovers, welcome to the wonderful world of DIY books. And not, insert-joist-A-into-foundation-B kind of DIY books either, but actual stories. If there’s anything I love more than Doing It Myself, (okay, and MysteryMan) it’s books. And actually if I’m completely honest, books were my very first love, starting with Dr. Seuss’s ABC’s, but in my adult life they’ve taken a back seat to things like sledge hammers and palm routers.

So having found this whole new genre of literature that combines my two great loves, well, obviously I’m in heaven. Thus begins the DIY Book Reviews section of this blog. Happy Reading.

A little bit about the book:

The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber is “a classic account of one family’s private urban renewal project, featuring burglars, irate neighbors, and the man in a yellow shirt with a gun.”

So really, how could you go wrong?

It starts with a murder (unrelated to rehabbing… but frankly, if someone murdered a contractor or roofing supplier*, would anyone really be surprised?) and keeps you guessing as to whether or not the dilapitated old victorian home will actually collapse into a huge pile of rubble before you get to the end of the book.

My favorite things about the book:

First, it’s set in Chicago, and I dearly love Chicago.

Second, there is a weath of intresting tidbits of information hidden in the footnotes.

Third, I laughed out loud at least three times, and I don’t often laugh out loud at books. \

My least favorite things about the book:

Zottiis unaware that girls can use power tools. Somewhere in Chapter 10 he talks about needing to drill through ceiling joists to install piping for radiators and how his drill isn’t fitting between the joists, and I’m all, dude, you need a right angle drill. And three paragraphs later he’s still having a problem with it, and I’m all “DUDE, you need a right angle drill.” And I actually said that out loud to the book, and now MysteryMan is completely certain that I’m insane. Then a few paragraphs later, he’s all “men invented tools, and women invented knick-knacks” (that’s serious paraphrasing, the actual quote involves cavemen and is way more eloquent) which actually made me laugh, but at the same time I was kind of like, yeah, but I knew you needed to use a right angle drill.

Now, I know all the women around here are totally (or mostly) DIY savvy, but we can probably all admit that we’re the exception and not the rule, so Zotti has a point and I’m not going to hold it against him.

Favorite Quotes:

“Other than the possums…I can’t honestly say that anything about the Barn House surprised us… For the most part we expected [it] to be a project from hell, at it was.”

“But I didn’t know that yet. I didn’t know anything. My ignorance of what lay ahead was complete.” (Amen, brother)

“All fixer-uppers of old houses know theirs isn’t an entirely sane pursuit…”

Should you read it?

If you’re a reader, definitely.

If you’re a DIYer looking to make sure you aren’t the only crazy person in the world, it will definitely help.

If you’re just embarking on what will likely be a 3 year reahab job with your significant other on a house in the country, ahHEM… um, still yes, but I’m just going to warn you, it will scare the daylights out of you a little.

It’s not the easiest read, but definitely good for history buffs, and not bad for 360 pages on a rehab nightmare.

Overall Rating: 3-stars

*My new thoery on religion/DIY is that there is a special ring of hell reserved for roofing suppliers.