Home Makers

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Published 11/1/2008 in SouthwestLife

By SHAJIA AHMAD

Laurie Nuzum isn't afraid of hammers.

Or tearing out old tile in her bathroom. Or refinishing ceilings by herself.

The grandmother of two even builds her own furniture.

"I love to do this kind of stuff," said Nuzum, for whom home renovation and improvement projects are a part of her lifestyle. "My husband says if we ever finish this house, we'll have to move," Nuzum said and laughed.

Nuzum, like many DIY-ers -- do-it-yourself enthusiasts -- are finding it easier to complete home improvement and renovation projects, thanks to around-the-clock cable channels dedicated to the craft, increased marketing to women by big-box retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe's, and the endless amounts of advice and information through an era-changing Internet.

Nuzum, who has been remodeling her kitchen for close to a decade -- the renovation is done in smaller projects -- is getting ready to backsplash the kitchen walls of her Garden City home with ends of old wine-crate boxes, an idea she pulled out of a trade magazine.

"You do a little bit at a time," Nuzum said, standing behind a large island she and her husband built and installed and which also serves as an eating place for her and her family. "In fact, you never really stop," Nuzum added, laughing.

The percentage of do-it-yourselfers continues to grow steadily among Americans, specifically among women between the ages of 35 and 49, according to Vertis Communications, a Baltimore-based, market-research group that has been tracking the market over the past decade.

The market-based research group reported that women, the fastest growing segment of the home-improvement market, are twice as likely today than a decade ago to take on a project and do it themselves rather than hiring help.

Area residents like Nuzum are part of these growing trends and are landscaping their backyards, refinishing their wood furniture, putting in their own floors and more, with their own blood, tears, toil and sweat.

Area businesswoman Heather Schlegel built her own elevated deck around an above-ground pool in the backyard of her Garden City home.

Schlegel, who owns Remingtons, 1604 W. Buffalo Jones Ave., designed the deck herself and built the 15-foot wide structure, instilling the help of a few friends and family members, all amateurs, she said. From the the top of a four-foot high deck, strategically placed stairs she built at either end bring guests back to ground level.

A few feet from her pool, Schlegel explained how much she enjoyed hanging out at the pond she and a former spouse built together, as well.

"It's just wonderful to come out here in the evenings and entertain," Schlegel said, as she explained how she and her ex-husband got some books at the library before proceeding to dig a hole, drop in some big rocks and line the edges.

A few small red-orange colored fish cut through the blue-green pond water. The entire project cost Schlegel about $300, she said, costs she saved by doing the work herself.

While Schlegel said she did hire electricians to wire outdoor electricity and lighting in order to meet city safety codes, she always is thinking about how to continue making improvements herself.

"Every year I think about adding something new to the backyard, and I usually take it up," she said.

The purchasing power of women on home improvement products has increased in the billions of dollars over the last decade, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute, a member-supported research group serving the home improvement industry.

Tools designed specifically for women have become a popular trend with corporate hardware retailers. In the past five years, nearly three-quarters of American women ages 25 to 49 have expressed more confidence in their ability to do home improvement projects, according to a 2003 survey by Roper ASW, also a global marketing research and consulting firm.

The research group attributes the trend to increases in single-women home ownership and the rise in home-improvement shows tailored for female audiences on channels such as Home and Garden Television and its sister channel, the Do It Yourself Network.

For prospective do-it-yourselfers, the DIY Network Web site provides more than 20,000 step-by-step demonstrations for various projects and demonstrations.

But skipping the contractors and thinking a serious home renovation is only a weekend project is sometimes a big mistake people make, warned area businessman and woodworking expert Steve Michael.

"The cable channels, they give you all these wonderful projects, but they don't always tell you the whole story," said Michael, who owns Prairie Wind Aquatics, 1413 W. Mary St.

Michael, who has been working on major renovations in his 1950s-built home with his wife for a decade and a half, added that the best advice he could give DIY-ers is to actively seek advice, especially from professionals.

Whether its building additions to their garage, renovating their bedroom with new closets and storage or landscaping in the green areas around their Six-Mile Road home at the outskirts of Finney County, Michael said he and his wife are tackling home renovations, especially inside the house during winter months when the nursery business they run is especially slow.

"We're always working three to five years ahead," Michael said. "We're not moving -- this house is where we'll live until we die."

Nuzum had similar expectations.

"I prefer the neighborhood I'm in," said Nuzum, whose grandchildren attend area public schools. "I would rather remodel this place than think about moving."

For anyone working on home renovation projects, Michael advises that people start small, take their time and do as much research as possible before taking a hammer to a wall. Without adequate information about their homes, such as the location of bearing walls or electrical wiring, people could get in way over their heads, Michael added.

Nuzum, who just finished making major renovations to one of her bathrooms, said getting rid of the white tile four feet up the wall, reminiscent of a 1970s-style bathroom, didn't just happen in a weekend. Nuzum bought new toilet stools when she spotted them on sale two years ago and stored them in the garage. Later, she and her husband started learning about tiles through books and magazines. Whenever she's working on an ongoing project, she said, she visualizes about it while out shopping at auctions or stores.

"It is a process that takes planning," Nuzum said. Her bathroom, with its new reddish-brown porcelain tiles and hotel-style shower rod, still isn't finished, she realized, as she reached to open a drawer.

"Oh, the handles are inside," she said. "You come in, and you think you're done, and then you look around, and you realize you're definitely not."

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