Sometimes I get into a DIY frenzy where I think I can do anything. As long as I have my trusty staple gun and a yard or two of fabric I am unstoppable. My biggest moment like this was a few years ago when I decided to take on a large arm chair as my first upholstery project.
I soon realized I was in way, way over my head and that it was a project well beyond my beginner sewing skills but I soldiered on and finished the project. My shoddy workmanship quickly became apparent as the chair started to fall apart. Now I have a large orange chair covered in very expensive fabric looming in the corner taunting me with it's sagging sides and dangling button.
I try not to think about the hours of time and hundreds of dollars wasted and try my best to call the whole thing a learning experience to keep from throwing it out the window. Because, in the end, I did learn my limits. I know that while I can now recover a simple chair with my eyes closed, I will still never take on another complicated project like this that requires so much sewing. I learned that the guy at the fabric store probably can't be trusted and I shouldn't ask him how many yards of fabric I should buy. I learned my son will treat my furniture like playground equipment and if held together with hot glue and staples, they will probably fall apart. And while I sometimes get angry if I look at the chair, I also love it and can't quite bear to get rid of it. Maybe one day I'll take it apart and make something else out of the fabric to remind me of that beast of a chair that got the best of me.
What about you, do you know your DIY limits? What has been is your biggest DIY "learning experience"?
Images: Kate Wangsgard
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I clearly don't know my DIY TIME limits. I have a collection of projects piling up with no time to complete them. But I'm starting to learn. I've decided to finally purchase a high quality sofa instead of cycling thru used "gems" I had planned on reupholstering.
I'm the same way.... I collect projects (saved webpages, books, magazines) and neat stuff I find that I could make something creative from... but I probably do only about .5% of all the things I have saved =(
Haha, if we knew our "limits" nothing would ever get done!!
But in all seriousness, yes, sometimes you wish you just hired the pro.
-Teresa
Yeah, we bought a dump of a house. You name it, the house needed it. After years with a maintenance-free 50s rancher, and years of HGTV, we were convinced we could tackle this project. Closed our eyes and jumped. It will be two years in July and I'm amazed at what I've learned. I know a lot of my limits. Electrical and plumbing are best left to the experts. Painting and demo I can do.
You can see what we've done on my blog:
http://domusaurearichmond.blogspot.com/
my limit seems to be the part right after the idea itself, where i actually have to DO something
I have a photobucket account with nothing but photos saved of DIY projects I want to do some day. It's currently over 350 photos and counting.
AT posts are not helping to dwindle that number anytime soon.
I am learning this ... I read AT and other design websites and I have a list a mile long of things i want to do ... then I tell myself, I have a full time job and limited funds, tools, and knowledge ... and tell myself to calm down ha ha.
This is awesome. I love the picture. If I tried to do that it would be way worse than your results. I do know my limits.
I tend to know my DIY limits on big ticket items. But with the smaller stuff, I like to try everything once. I hide a lot of my DIY projects in the 'closet of shame' when I'm done with them, but I enjoyed the creative process while I was doing it and hopefully learn to do it better next time. Or I learn when I should hand it off to the professionals!
I've been in much the same situations as laurabellk and weelittlewitch. I can handle light sewing, and my husband can do light carpentry, but upholstery and most refinishing are beyond us. The things we'd DIY'd with great effort that turned out too badly to keep taught us that. Yet I seemed to be becoming a project hoarder.
I eventually accepted that there were a lot of projects I'd never do and gave away the materials, which freed a closet for other uses. I rarely plan challenging DIY furnishings projects since realizing that they'll likely prove a waste of space, time, and money. Instead, I know a good carpenter, a good handyman, and so forth who I hire as needed when it's cost-effective.
My first time to experience diy failure was quite recent, it also became my first blog post. (happylimes.com)
Sometimes there are just factors beyond your control, like the wiring being too old in your apartment to install a ceiling fan without killing the electricity in the rest of your room.
This is a great entry! I love your openness about the chair - it's kinda funny, especially since so many of us have been there, I'm sure. I have a couple chair FAILS too. "I got the chair for free..." "Yeah honey, but you spent $150 on materials to cover it." "Sigh, I know, and now I don't like it."
Gosh, can I relate to this. I always jump in without thinking and have many a DIY failure (and success) under my tool belt. But my biggest DIY crap-why-did-I-do-this was painting my car:
http://dans-le-townhouse.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-evidence-of-painting-charlie.html
I ended up painting a tire by accident, plus the muffler. And the inside door jams were still silver. And there were some waves and drips.
But, in hindsight, it was fun & I learned a lot. Like what not to tackle!
I am from a long line of those who hire others to do things, and as much as I'd like to be a DIYer, I have zero aptitude/skill. I'm not just incompetent, I'm actually dangerous. In my case it is always cheapest, fastest and easiest to pay someone else to do whatever I need/want to have done.
This is great advice. I have done this so many times. Most recently, I spent over $500 and about 5 months on some "DIY" curtains out of this beautiful diaphanous fabric that I ended up having to have professionally made. It is more fun to just jump straight into projects, but I think I have finally learned to PLAN.
It's begging for a slipcover in the meantime. Make the slip in a contrasting fabric, and then drop that cushion back on top for a nice colorblock effect. Et voila, style out of disaster!
(full disclosure, I never finished my first and last overly ambitious reupholster - it got handed off to another crafter and I never saw it again... BUT! Now I know how to reupholster, and that I need an easier chair to start with.)
Why not take it to an upholsterer for repairs? I'm sure it can be saved. I dropped off three pieces at my upholsterer today; one is on its third cover.
After a few ER visits and expensive repairmen to fix my mistakes, I learned my DIY limits. My best skill is writing the check.
I'm a DIYer and when friends admire my projects I tell them the truth:
I don't really have talent, I just have a lot of nerve.
Blake says "You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough." I have bumped up against my limits many times (most recently with a bathroom remodel, in which I ended up calling in a real plumber), but it is not enough to keep me from trying again. Many more times, I have surprised myself with what I have been able to accomplish, and people say, "You did that yourself?!!" Keep the faith!
@ RMF325: I'm the same way.
Other than some VERY basic knitting (squares and rectangles only, thank you very much), I can't do anything (well) with my hands.
So I just turn to my retired-carpenter dad, seamstress/gardener sister, furniture maker brother in law, or mechanic brother in law for help. (My other sister can, uh, make lemon bars and that's about it.)
If it's outside their realm, I buy it or hire it!
I recently learned that there's a limit to your love for thrifted gems needing sprucing up. I had grown very fond of my 50ies upholstered chair, which I bought at Caritas for 20€. So I thought, what the heck, If this is my favourite chair, I'll treat it to a professional upholstering. after 120€ for fabric and 500€ for the upholsterer (who did a wonderful job), the only thing I felt was regret. brrrrr!
I feel your pain! I dropped some serious cash to DIY reupholster a couch as well, even though I had never done more than a fitted slipcover before. I think the trick with the big DIYs is to not be dead set on the end goal. That is, constantly innovate as you go, and if the project seems like it's becoming too difficult to manage, change it up! In the end, the fabric I bought became a piece worked bed-skirt and headboard cover, and the couch became this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30773075@N05/sets/72157626914435869/
i love the plane picture, is that available for sale somewhere?
I haven't tried major upholstering yet, and I've heard that's hard (but I'm a good seamstress, so I feel like I've got an edge). I really haven't hit my diy ceiling yet. I've built bed frames, designed and constructed lamps that don't start fires, sewn curtains, painted murals, and just built some new seats for some alley find chairs today. I know my way around power tools and sewing machines, and wouldn't be able to afford to pay someone to do this stuff for me.
I've purchased fabric w/ the intentions of making my own lined draperies - but since I just don't have the space to lay them out, they never were made and my scheme changed so I have a couple 10 yard rolls of a lovely orange silk fabric and white drapery lining stashed in a closet...
...and when I decided to spend huge money on a Schumaker fabric for draperies, I wasn't about to take that on myself so I invested in having them done professionally - and have been thrilled w/ the results ever since.
I just have to chime in and say:
If all the things you're trying are working out well, then you're not trying hard enough!
Only about 50 percent of my DIY projects turn out to my liking. I am so proud of the ones that actually do turn out.
I really love the photos. Thanks for sharing!
This post made me feel so much better. My closet is full of little DIY projects that just didn't turn out like I expected. I see other websites full of inspiring ideas and impeccable "after" photos, and I'm always a little ashamed of my trial and error experiments that are mostly error. It's nice to know that everyone has had those failed projects, too.
I can't speak to all DIY projects, but as far as reupholstering goes, there are two things.
1. You don't always have to know how to sew. Many pieces have no sewing. Know how to find the easy ones.
2. If you really want to upholster yourself, you have a knack for working with fabric, tools and furniture, YOU CAN DO IT with the right instruction, whether tutorials, a book, classes or videos. Once you see how it's done, it only takes practice. Be willing to use a few pieces for practice.
shelly leer
www.modhomeec.com
One more thing. This chair was way too much for a beginning project. But I hand it to her for trying.
@ jenandtonic: The photo is one I took of my husband and son at the beach, so its not available to purchase. But I'm glad you like it!
I leave appliance repair, plumbing, electrical issues, and trickier reupholstery jobs to the pros. Apart from that, I'm not shy about trying things myself.
I guess in a way I don't know my DIY limits, but then again I do. I am one of those people with the folder on my computer with tons of pictures, tutorials and instructions of things I would like to do but have not even done a quarter of them (e.g. don't know limits) On the other hand I do know to only work on one project at a time if I ever want to see it finished and will only bring in the materials for that project into the house and concentrate on it with almost undivided attention (e.g. know my limits) I do usually pick projects that are daunting and not for the faint of heart usually, for example the tufted chair I picked up off the side of the road to reupholster when I had never done more than the quicky seat recover (e.g. don't know limits) I will NEVER pick up more than a drill and/or staple gun, leaving the major cutting for any project to my husband because in my clumsiness might hack off a couple fingers (e.g. know limits) Even if I find that the project I've chosen to do is more complicated than I thought it would be I still keep working at it until I get it and don't give up (not sure which one to categorize that in LOL...maybe insanity?)and last but not least I know I should never plan another crochet project EVER. I know how to do it, I can probably even consider myself intermediate, but it is a major source of frustration, anxiety, stress etc etc that I've only ever been able to finish a hat (that made me cry more than not due to the frustration LOL) I will forever more leave that kind of DIY to my mother!(e.g. know my limits)
I can paint!
I took classes at the local Vo-Tech and did several upholstery projects which were 100% successful. Why? They had all the power equipment and at hand expert advice! I also learned that upholsterers EARN every penny, and I send everything to my trusty craftsman "Buck". Try a class at your local Vocational Technical school if you want to do a complex upholstery job yourself.
I don't really test my limits, mostly because I tend to be verrrrrrry conservative in my projects: I start small, spend little, and do lots of research.
For my first re-upholstery project (as opposed to a simple recovering, which is a doddle), I had almost nothing to lose but time: the time I spent researching and studying other people's re-upholstery projects, scouring fabric stores for just the right material, and the time I spent stripping down a moldy old MCM bentwood chair passed down from my parents. (That was part of "starting small": a chair without springs or covered arms. Phew!)
And it turned out well --- so well that I can hardly wait to recover the second one! And then I'll probably want to re-do the first, since I learned so much that the second will doubtless be a much more polished job. I've also learned what I suspected from the start: that full-on re-upholstery, with seams and springs like yours above, is possibly beyond my skills and almost certainly beyond my patience.
I do not know my limits.
Everyday they keep moving out of my reach.
Everything, seriously, is beyond my limits. I've come to grips with it, and it's saved me a ton of money and time. Totally respect and admire those with DIY skills, though!
I suppose I don't know my limits... yet. The biggest one is probably budget and access to the proper tools and materials. I've built/reupholstered/sewn/knit just about anything (including framing, sheetrocking, and adding floors in a house), and I have a few plans in progress - some small, some medium, one large.
The biggest thing I have problems with is crocheting, but my mom can crochet just about anything. So, I mostly leave that to her. I can knit just about anything though: sweaters, gloves, pillows... you name it.
On whole houses: I don't do foundations, decks, or roofs.
I have a similar chair, only I used really cheap fabric( which is one of the reasons it's falling apart). But I found a great bring your own chair upholstery class at a local store and my goal is to work it into my schedule this summer/fall. Sometimes knowing your limits doesn't mean you give up; it just means you accept that you can't learn everything on the internet.
I just recently taught myself how to screenprint, and I must say, I'm super chuffed about that. Especially after staring at the 'how'd they do that' clips and thinking but how does the paint get through?!
I love DYI projects but I learned from very early on that sometimes if it sounds easy on paper you can still be in for a world of "learning" lol Something that I find makes life a lot easier is having the right tools.. check out: http://www.my-tool-shed.co.uk/blog for some great tips and tools!
p.s I love the chair because its now not only a chair but a conversational piece!
I kind of know my limits, but what happens is I lose patience and want instant results. Newsflash: every project will not have instant results.
I have the same problem as cinderellen. I get impatient because I think it's taking too long so I skip steps and end up with a crappy result. I have however learned something from my mistakes and that's to take my time and that it's ok that a project mess up my livingroom for a while with the restriction that I FiNISH the project before I start a new one.
Oh No! I just bought 2 chairs almost exactly like yours for my first upholstery project. God help me!
@rfalcon-
I'd suggest taking some classes where you can bring in your project and get some help with the first one, and then try to tackle the second ones on your own.