DIY – Page 9 – Kick Ass or Die

Tile 101: How to Build & Tile Counters

June 23, 2010 63 Comments

Granite sounds all well and good until you hear $30 per linear foot and your eyeballs pop out of your head. I’ve tiled almost every

Tile 101: How to Install Mosaic Wall Tile (Or any kind, really.)

June 4, 2010 78 Comments

Swear to god, I went three years of my life without ever picking up a grout float, and then bam bam bam…bam bam…bam… 1677 one-inch

Facia What? I need your help.

May 26, 2010 11 Comments

Six months ago I was having a minor panic attack about the exterior colors of the Memorial house, and then I decided to handle it

DIY House Addition: Step 3 – Foundation

May 11, 2010 10 Comments

So the ink is barely dry on your building permit and you’re ready to break out the excavator and start digging? If you just read

Doing The Hard Thing: A Partnership and Masonry Story

April 30, 2010 8 Comments

After three and a half years together, MysteryMan and I have fallen into our respective roles in this relationship… which is to say one of

There’s a First Time…

April 28, 2010 7 Comments

This past weekend I’m in the middle of my normal Sunday routine, which is to say I’m making the 5th of 8 trips to Lowe’s,

A Donkey Shed in a Cloud

April 25, 2010 6 Comments

I’m still plugging away at taping drywall corners in the bathroom. Yes, it’s traumatizing, and no, I don’t want to talk about it. Particularly that

You Ma’am Are Going To Lose a Finger

April 21, 2010 1 Comment

Put the drill down, and step away slowly. Every once in a while I get emails from people who want to give me ideas for

Laws of Physics and Real Estate

April 20, 2010 5 Comments

The laws of physics make this an excellent idea, particularly if you know how to defy gravity. Oh yeah. I’m the person who just yesterday

Future Addition, Or Moat

April 17, 2010 6 Comments

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

Getting It Done: DIY on your Lunch Break

April 14, 2010 2 Comments

Work-life balance has never been one of my strengths. I like to work. Hard. And for most of my adult life that has translated into

Determination To The Point of Stupidity

April 7, 2010 29 Comments

Alternative titles for this post: “Watch me beat the hell out of a piece of drywall”, “Things I should not post on the internet”, “When

How-To: Easy Fabric Curtains For Under-Stairway Storage

March 16, 2010 6 Comments

While working on my basement hallway transformation I was presented with a problem… Apparently I’ve gone from 20/20 vision to someone who considers this to

Tile 101: How to Lay Floor Tile

March 4, 2010 63 Comments

The benefit of snatching a handful of hours over the last week to cut, lay, and grout tile on my basement floor, is that I

How To: Make a sink base out of a regular cabinet.

March 2, 2010 13 Comments

I admit to being slightly stumped in the “unfinished cabinet aisle” at Lowe’s as I started counting out the sizes for sink bases. Thirty-six inch,

I'm not interested in a mediocre life. I'm here to kick ass or die.

(formerly DIYdiva.net)

THE STORYTELLER

Back in 2004 I started writing about my adventures in fixing up houses on the internet. A lot of things have changed since then, with me, with my houses, and with the internet. These days I am basically a cranky old man trapped in a slightly less old woman’s body. The internet has changed and I am staunchly refusing to change with it. You won’t find any algorithms here, or feeds, or ads, or social media. Just good old-fashioned stories about a woman drinking beer and building shit, and living an unexpected life.

(While you won’t find updates on social media, you can sign up to receive new posts via email here.)

Kick Ass or Die