With a new year not far away, I staked out the Federal Hill Ace Hardware on Light Street to find out what house projects folks are swearing they?ll get done in 2008.
Here?s what they say:
“I don?t set resolutions because it feels more like a chore and not something I would want to do,” said Pam, the store?s candid cashier who lives in East Baltimore. “I?m more spur-of-the-moment.”
The impetuous approach doesn?t work on water, where boat living teaches the compact life.
Home for Kathy, a shopper, is a 44-foot French-built Beneteau sailboat.
In petite space, certain projects have an ongoing do-it-now-or-regret-it-later urgency.
“Prioritizing and organizing is important when you have little storage space,” Kathy advised. Living on board for six and a half years with her husband, she knows the importance of routine. “You have to continue organizing and reorganizing, especially if you both work.”
All of the 2008 focus for shoppers Ed, 36, and Julie, 35, is on the new addition ? not a wing on their Federal Hill home, but the baby boy they expect to arrive around Valentine?s Day.
The couple haven?t gotten around to it yet, but they will repurpose Julie?s office into the nursery.
Sort of.
“We?re not going to totally baby it out,” Julie said.
“Clean it, remove sharp things, paint,” Ed added, chuckling.
For a couple of corporate stagers who produce theatrical experiences for corporate environments, that should be a breeze.
Once they get going.
“I?m going to clean the basement out,” said Mike, the store?s mirthful sales associate, starting a Rodney Dangerfield-like riff on his wife, Barbara.
“My wife is Fred Sanford,” he said. “Do we need holy cards her aunt gave to her mother 35 years ago? She?s got a dress she might have worn in 1962, but it doesn?t fit me. It?s got to go.”
And, still seriously now, Mike vows to fix up and paint the back room that serves as a mud room in his Locust Point home and revarnish all woodwork.
That?s banisters, doors and stair railings.
Yeah, right. We?ll check back in this time next year.
Allegra Bennett has covered cops, courts and politics as a journalist for national newspapers for 21 years. She is also the author of three books, publisher of Renovating Woman – “The Do-It-Herself magazine” – and is a home repair expert on “Home Made Easy” on the DIY cable network. Got questions? E-mail your question to [email protected]
