When I moved into my house I inherited some furniture, paintings, a high maintenance garden and a shed full of DIY tools. I tried to get the solicitor to get it all cleared out before I moved in but it wasn’t done, so it was left to me to sort out.
The furniture and paintings were easy to take care of, I kept those I wanted and sent the rest to a charity shop. My plan was to turn the garden into a low maintenance outdoor space but to start with, I just had it cleared out. The shed was a bit tricky. My plan was to get rid of it lock, stock and barrel as my level of DIY is minimal or almost non-existent. But even I could see the value of tools in my inherited shed and that it would be a DIY lover’s haven. So I let it be, until I would have the time to take care of it one way or another.
A couple of months ago I had spoken to some friends, offering barbecue and beer in exchange for labour clearing out my garden and the shed. I even offered to throw in one tool of their choice from my overstocked shed. Alas corona virus happened and brought with it a lockdown. My friends couldn’t come around to help and realizing there was not much to do during a lockdown weekend especially when the weather is nice, I decided to give it a go myself with help from my housemate.
As I sorted through the shed, I caught a glimpse into the life of Mr L, the man who had left behind all those things. I could see he was very much a handyman and realized some of the furniture I had inherited had been made right there in my shed. The garden I had taken apart without a second thought had been his haven and I found compost, some seedlings and flower food he had obviously planned to use. There was an unopened amazon parcel containing a part for an equipment I didn’t know what it is used for waiting to be fixed. There was wood and paint perhaps to make another piece of furniture.
As I went through all these things I discovered a little about Mr L, a man I had never known. And I felt sorry that I had planned to get rid of all that stuff with perfunctory thought. So while cleaning out the shed I agreed with Mr L that I was going to keep some of the tools and start to try my hand at some DIY. And who knows, hubby dearest when he shows up may be a lot more into it and he’ll have a variety of tools to use to his heart’s content.
As I closed the shed door I thought I would start my DIY foray by painting the shed. That should make Mr L happy.
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