Di is our acting host for Truthful Tuesday, a prompt originally started by PCGuyIV who is currently taking a break. Di and her hubby have been doing some renovating and I expect that is the origin of this week’s question.

Are you a keen DIY-er or do you prefer to get the professionals in?

No, I’m not good at DIY, never learned how to do that sort of thing properly so I prefer to leave it to the professionals. Especially if it involves ladders as I am frightened of falling and can’t go more than a few steps up a ladder, and only then if it has wide steps and something at the top for me to hold on to. Oh and the ladder must be near a wall. I can’t stand on one in the middle of the room. I used to be able to stand on a chair or table to do things like changing lightbulbs but I’m now fearful of that too.

The exception to this is painting. I painted the rooms in our first house in Adelaide and when I made the decision to sell the Geeveston house I painted several of the rooms myself. Half of that house had high ceilings and I engaged a painter to do those but the rest of it I did myself, living room, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, passage and the back porch or mudroom as people sometimes call the space near the back door. I quite enjoyed doing it too. A friend helped with some of the ceilings and I did some with a long roller. I was quite pleased with my efforts but I don’t know if I could do it again.

But as for tiling, plumbing, electrical work etc I leave that for the people who are trained for it, when I can get them to come. Getting a tradie these days is becoming very difficult, especially if you live in the country. It seems that many only want to work on big projects or new homes not minor renovations. We’ve been trying to get someone to remove two bathtubs for months.