DIY influences

[FN Phat]

Who has been the biggest influence in your DIY journey?

Without a doubt my dad was mine. I can remember being 7 and "helping" my dad build a deck. He taught me valuable lessons and know-how. My grandpa was the next biggest influence. He was able to express his love to my grandma through building furniture and sewing tables, which says a lot for an old grizzly war vet. My FIL has kept me motivated and well equipped. Now my wife is my biggest motivator. I want to fix this house into something that she can be proud to call home. We have made great strides, however, have plenty more to do.

Some of my fondest memories of each of my motivators are times that I have worked on a project with them. Great memories that I plan on sharing with my kids.

[tooblue]

Who has been the biggest influence in your DIY journey?

Without a doubt my dad was mine. I can remember being 7 and "helping" my dad build a deck. He taught me valuable lessons and know-how. My grandpa was the next biggest influence. He was able to express his love to my grandma through building furniture and sewing tables, which says a lot for an old grizzly war vet. My FIL has kept me motivated and well equipped. Now my wife is my biggest motivator. I want to fix this house into something that she can be proud to call home. We have made great strides, however, have plenty more to do.

Some of my fondest memories of each of my motivators are times that I have worked on a project with them. Great memories that I plan on sharing with my kids.

Measure twice and cut once is my father in-laws favorite saying.

My wife is my biggest influence. She comes from a family that does everything themselves. A favorite story is about her older brother. While on his way to a youth conference the car he was driving broke down, overheated etc. He left it on the side of the highway made his way to a pay phone and called home. Instead of setting out to pick him up and arrange to have the car towed my father in-law quickly purchased a new radiator and found another vehicle that was leaving later for the same conference. He packed up the parts and necessary tools and they were delivered to my wife's brother. At 17 years old he replaced the radiator at the side of the road, got the car running and made it to the conference on time!

[Shaka]

My dad. I always thought it was the strangest thing that he always fixed stuff himself in spite of making very good money. I remember I always had to be his gofer when he was fixing a car or making some piece of furniture. I hated every minute of it.

Now I'm the exact same. I tend to fix my own car and love to build stuff out in the wood shop.

[FN Phat]

Measure twice and cut once is my father in-laws favorite saying.

My wife is my biggest influence. She comes from a family that does everything themselves. A favorite story is about her older brother. While on his way to a youth conference the car he was driving broke down, overheated etc. He left it on the side of the highway made his way to a pay phone and called home. Instead of setting out to pick him up and arrange to have the car towed my father in-law quickly purchased a new radiator and found another vehicle that was leaving later for the same conference. He packed up the parts and necessary tools and they were delivered to my wife's brother. At 17 years old he replaced the radiator at the side of the road, got the car running and made it to the conference on time!

That is awesome.

[kccougar]

My first thought was that my Dad was the biggest influence. He was the one that showed me how to change tires, replace spark plugs, change oil, etc. He spent a year finishing the entire attic of our home by working on Saturdays here and there, adding a small TV room and 4 additional bedrooms. I spent a lot of time helping him haul sheetrock up 3 flights of stairs and then holding it in place while he nailed it in (pre sheetrock screw days). The ceilings were the worst.

But then I thought of my Mom. My mom is the ultimate do-it-yourselfer. She was a home-ec major at BYU and taught middle school until my Dad finished college. She does everything herself, and I don't mean just baking bread and sewing clothes. She repairs her own appliances. She finishes and upholsters her own furniture. She gardens. She is like MacGyver when it comes to using household scraps to build things. She built her own wood sunchairs and a grape arbor out of old fencing.

I think she was really the one that taught me by example to do things for myself.

[il Padrino Ute]

My dad is who would make things right after I screwed it up. He was a general contractor and is the ultimate Mr. Fix-it.

I am completely incompetent when it comes to things like this and I've learned that it's just better to pay someone to do it.

[tooblue]

But then I thought of my Mom. My mom is the ultimate do-it-yourselfer. She was a home-ec major at BYU and taught middle school until my Dad finished college. She does everything herself, and I don't mean just baking bread and sewing clothes. She repairs her own appliances. She finishes and upholsters her own furniture. She gardens. She is like MacGyver when it comes to using household scraps to build things. She built her own wood sunchairs and a grape arbor out of old fencing.

I think she was really the one that taught me by example to do things for myself.

That's pretty much a description of my wife. She has even repaired the Play Station and now it looks like she is taking apart the Wii as our 2 year old has jammed something in it.

[cougjunkie]

It was definitely my dad he made me stand by him and hand him tools as he fixed the cars and built stuff. However I am completely worthless when it comes to this stuff but would like to learn. I guess I just did not pay enough attention to what my dad was teaching me.

[pellegrino]

When I first saw this thread title I thought it read "DUI influences", which made me laugh, but then I realized it was in the fuse box, had a doubletake and laughed even harder.

I can't say that I have a particular person who influenced/mentored me in realy of DIY (or DUI for that matter). My father hated home improvement projects, my brother is a decent mechanic, but lacks follow-through, and pretty much all of the skills I have I've learned on my own, except for a summer job in grad school where I actually worked on a framing crew. There's a saying in Italian "facendo si impara" "You learn by doing." That's kind of the way I got to where I am.

[The_Tick]

My parents were shit in this regard.

I would say that DT inspires me...to a point. When I want to do something, I throw it out there and he gets all excited about it. We then do the project.

He just doesn't do projects at his house. Unless it involves AV Components.

[Drunk Tank]

I have reflected long and hard on this subject, and I really dont know who I can thank for my DIYness. I love to do projects, and really dont think there is anything I cant tackle myself. However, my parents really never did anything that I can remember. Maybe it was my Grandfather. When I was a child, He owned rental properties in San Diego. I would spend my summers down there and would frequently accompany him when he had to go do minor repairs, but nothing really sticks out at me as the defining thing that made me who I am today. Now that I think about it, my 2 favorite shows growing up were This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop.

As a youth, I was always taking things apart, building things with my friends, making forts, etc. So maybe I always had it.

As far as the audio/video/mechanical side of me... When I was 15-16 my sisters boyfriend taught me how to install car stereos and I would help him work on a Jeep J-10 truck on the weekends. It just snowballed from there and when I was on my own, I got a job selling and installing audio/video systems for Circuit City. Now I just do it for fun.

I just realized that I took no pictures of my last project. I did a full custom install of in ceiling surround sound in my living room. Turned out sweet, even though there are no pics. I'll snap an after photo when I get home.

[Surfah]

My dad was my greatest influence. My dad became a decent carpenter mostly because he is the cheapest guy I know. In Hawaii he's known as a tight Pake. Anyway, he built a lot of furniture for us as kids. Our dressers were all made in our garage. My book shelf. And my desk growing up. He did all the work on a family room addition when we lived in California. He'd just go buy a DIY book and then do it. I remember watching This Old House and Old Yankee Workshop with him quite a bit on PBS growing up.

I remember going furniture shopping with my parents not long after I came home from my mission. We were looking at this hutch thing and I looked at the price tag and nearly croaked. I said out loud that I could make the same thing for less than half that price. My dad quickly pointed out what I said to my mom and beamed. I am not sure I have ever made him prouder than that day.

[jxncoog]

Certainly my Dad was the greatest influence. Unfortunately not because he could fix things but because he couldn't. He wore a t-shirt "I'm mechanically inclined, I can screw up anything." It would have been funnier if it weren't true.
Meanwhile I had a step-grandfather and a grandfather who were mechanically inclined. Between my Father's inability & my Grandfathers' skill I was motivated to learn.

[FN Phat]

My dad was my greatest influence. My dad became a decent carpenter mostly because he is the cheapest guy I know. In Hawaii he's known as a tight Pake. Anyway, he built a lot of furniture for us as kids. Our dressers were all made in our garage. My book shelf. And my desk growing up. He did all the work on a family room addition when we lived in California. He'd just go buy a DIY book and then do it. I remember watching This Old House and Old Yankee Workshop with him quite a bit on PBS growing up.

I remember going furniture shopping with my parents not long after I came home from my mission. We were looking at this hutch thing and I looked at the price tag and nearly croaked. I said out loud that I could make the same thing for less than half that price. My dad quickly pointed out what I said to my mom and beamed. I am not sure I have ever made him prouder than that day.

Did you then stop by the car dealerships for the free hot dogs and soda?

[FN Phat]

I have reflected long and hard on this subject, and I really dont know who I can thank for my DIYness. I love to do projects, and really dont think there is anything I cant tackle myself. However, my parents really never did anything that I can remember. Maybe it was my Grandfather. When I was a child, He owned rental properties in San Diego. I would spend my summers down there and would frequently accompany him when he had to go do minor repairs, but nothing really sticks out at me as the defining thing that made me who I am today. Now that I think about it, my 2 favorite shows growing up were This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop.

As a youth, I was always taking things apart, building things with my friends, making forts, etc. So maybe I always had it.

As far as the audio/video/mechanical side of me... When I was 15-16 my sisters boyfriend taught me how to install car stereos and I would help him work on a Jeep J-10 truck on the weekends. It just snowballed from there and when I was on my own, I got a job selling and installing audio/video systems for Circuit City. Now I just do it for fun.

I just realized that I took no pictures of my last project. I did a full custom install of in ceiling surround sound in my living room. Turned out sweet, even though there are no pics. I'll snap an after photo when I get home.

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