I Wasn’t Handy Enough To Buy A Fixer-Upper, So I Wrote About One Instead
Raise your hand if you caught the fixer-upper fever at one point or another. If your hand shot straight up into the air, then you’re not alone. I’m right there with you. I mean, how could you not have been romanced by Joanna and Chip? In one hour, they made the impossible seem possible, and not only that, they made it seem FUN! Anyone who has renovated even one room knows it is anything but fun, yet somehow, we forgot that when we sat down to watch on a Sunday morning or whenever it was on. And right after, we crashed realtor.com with all our “fixer-upper” searches.
I’ve always felt connected to old houses, so it’s no surprise I sought a renovation project as far back as my mid-twenties. The way they smelled, the creaks, the aurora of the past. It all felt familiar, like a welcomed stranger inviting me in. In 1997, that dream came true after purchasing a tiny Dutch Colonial artist cottage in Brookhaven Hamlet. This was a big project, but we took it slow and learned as we went. My partner did all the grunt work while I did all the DIYs and tended to cosmetics. Not much has changed since. Mastering a table saw is about the extent of my handyness. And we all know renovating a house takes way more skill than that.
When I met John in 1999, we had grand visions of buying and renovating an old barn on the North Fork of Long Island, where he spent summers. Then we looked at a few Bed & Breakfasts in need of TLC. This was all before kids, and once we had Shane, we put that conversation on the back burner. We bought a new house in Colorado that looked like something you’d see in the 1900s Midwest. I gravitated to this builder because the architecture felt like a nod to yesteryear but with all the modern conveniences. No, it didnt have the same musty smell or creaks, but we realized in this house we liked the freedom of not having projects. Plus, I have to add that John isn’t exactly handy either. Yes, there’s that.
Fast-forward a bit, and we moved back to New York. We lived with my dad and opted not to be my childhood home. Instead, we moved into a renovated house in a beach community, and I started my blog. A few years later, every blogger and their brother seemed to be remodeling a home. And I admit I had big-time FOMO! Larger companies gravitated towards bloggers with a running list of projects for sponsored and paid collaborations. With our newer house, I had to get creatve with projects, and for the most part, it worked. But there was always that seed of curiosity, so I dragged John to every open house in our wheelhouse.
While I toured these “fixer-uppers,” I envisioned the people who lived there and their stories. I’d imagine each house as a main character in their lives. Then, on a drive home from the LAST house we toured, I had the idea. What if I wrote about fixing a house up instead? I mean, I wasn’t exactly handy enough to buy myself, really, so it felt like a win-win. I know, I know, we could have hired someone to help facilitate renovations, but if you know Long Island real estate, then you know. Not only are the sticker prices high, but our taxes are, too! Sometimes, $2000 in property taxes per month.
It’s crazy to think all of these dreams have come full circle. I was never meant to fix up a house with John. I was meant to write about one instead. It was always that. Having an aerial view of the past and time, I know this in my bones. This design career was meant to morph into something else, but I never knew what. When I started writing, it ALL made sense. Looking back on the last five years, I will say this. Fixing up a house would have been a hell of a lot easier than this road/journey to publication, LOL. But I wouldn’t change a thing. Sidenote: my new title is THE SUMMER I FOUND YOU, April 2026! As my mother would say, “When you march to the beat of your own drum, that’s when the magic happens.”
Have a happy day, friend!
