BACK TO BASICS // denim top four

May 14

I've been on a do-it-myself kick lately, learning a bunch of new skills. Sometimes it seems like spontaneity is the best way to learn something new. Just jump in and you'll force yourself to learn how to swim, right? I was cleaning the Brave the other day and as I was vacuuming I thought about how ugly the carpet was. Brown/beige outdated carpet, not even the original green 70's carpet. I peeled up a corner of the carpet to see what the condition was of the subfloor, and it looked alright, so I just ripped the carpet out. Sink or swim, right? I'd never installed any kind of flooring before, but I figured it couldn't be too hard. Well, it wasn't, but I will say that the next time I install wood floors it's going to be in a room with all right angles and straight walls. Of course one project always turns into, like, ten. We turned on the water and one of the pipes has a hole, so today I'll be learning how to repair copper pipe. My next project is replacing the old countertop, so that'll be a whole other learning curve what with having to take out and put back in both the sink and stove. I think doing one project that felt like it was a little outside of the scope of my ability gives me the confidence to do more. After getting a couple quotes on fencing in our yard we decided that we'd just go for it and do it ourselves. I've never built a fence before, but hey, there's a first time for everything, right? Building a fence turned into re-flooring the Winne, which turned into replacing the countertops (and an unplanned pipe fix). Hopefully the Brave doesn't spring any other unplanned projects on me, though. I mean, I like feeling empowered and capable, but I do like doing things other than fixing broken motor home parts.