Heather:: When we first moved into the house, I had a half wall in the office that made the room look smaller, so my sister and I ripped it out. That was fun!

Heather:: When my husband and I bought our house we thought it was perfect and probably wouldn't want to change a thing. But after we moved in, we found that there were a lot of things we wanted to change. Then I met my next door neighbor and I learned that she had redone everything in her home and I thought if she could do it then why couldn't I? So, I went to my local home improvement center, took classes in tiling and dry walling and decided it wasn't worth paying someone else to do these things for me.

Heather:: We had a big storage area under the stairs in the basement that had never been finished (the house is about 60 years old). The concrete floor had crumbled in most spots, and the walls were the same concrete bricks of the foundation. It was a wasted space because it was dark and dirty; a place best used to store nothing more than old paint cans (though my husband was threatening to store our luggage there.) I really wanted to do something with the space, but my husband thought it wouldn't be worth it. So, I waited until I had some time off, and he was out of the house and got to work!

I thought that it would be the perfect place to practice my new renovation skills. I spent a lot of time at The Home Depot, and reading "Do-It-Yourself" books. First, I poured a new concrete floor, and then I framed out the entire room (my husband taught me a few of the basics), insulated it, put up the drywall, and tiled it. When I finished all of the work, we decided that it would be the perfect place to put our cat's litter box, since we had not found a suitable location for it in the year that we lived in the house prior to the renovation. There was already an existing door to the closet, so I cut a small "kitty door" at the bottom. Now, the cat's litter box (along with its smell) is hidden from the rest of the house. It's since been dubbed the Harry Potter Room - because that's where Harry Potter was raised - in a room under the stairs.

Heather:: : I think I would have to say the room under the stairs is my favorite because it involved a little bit of everything. I never thought I would have poured concrete (it was hard to do it by myself). It's a little box room with the kitty litter in it but every time someone comes over I show it to them. It taught me how to do tons of different things and it was an extremely extensive project for my cat but it was the perfect practice project for me to be able to tackle the rest of my house.

Heather:: I installed a fan in the bathroom (my husband did the electrical); I cut out the hole in the attic and vented it outside. I also painted the entire inside of our house (minus the bathrooms that I am dying to get my hands on) and all the outside doors.

I had borrowed a wet tile saw to do a project and loved it so much that I bought my own. But since I didn't have a project to work on in my own home I went over and tiled a room in a friend's condo.

My very least favorite project was the stairs. When we first moved in it smelled terrible so we ripped up the carpet and found beautiful wood stairs covered in a layer of linoleum tile, a thick layer of red and green paint and then three layers of grey paint! So every day after work I would come home and heat and chemically strip them, and then eventually I sanded and refinished them. It took 3 months, but when it was done it came out great!

Heather:: Before I bought my house I never thought that I could have done the projects I've done. I don't have any brothers and my Dad didn't think that girls did this kind of work, so instead of asking me he would ask my husband for help.

Now I feel good just by looking at something I've done and knowing that "I did that." Knowing I don't have to rely upon anyone else to take care of my home is a great feeling. And about my Dad, he just can't believe that I know how to use all of these tools and when I've shown him what I've done, he was totally shocked. He couldn't believe it.

Heather:: Everyone knows the measure twice and cut once but I live by purchase more than you need as long as you can return it. In a nutshell?plan first.

For example, half-way through pouring the concrete floor, I ran out of concrete!! I had to run back to The Home Depot in my construction clothes, with my hair a mess to buy another bag. Next time, I will also wait until my husband comes home to hold the bags for me!! I used two 50lb. bags of self-leveling concrete. To pour the concrete into the mixing tub while mixing at the same time was next to impossible, considering I needed two hands just to lift the bag! I was so tired and frustrated by the time I was done I was ready to give up. (But I'm glad I didn't, because the room looks great!)

Heather:: It has allowed me to feel so much better about my elf knowing that I don't' have to rely on my dad or the neighbor calling some local handyman. I honestly feel completely empowered.

While that's how it's affected me, it's also affected others around me. I work with a few people that I went to school with who, for some reason, thought that I was a "princess". Now when they come over and see what I've done, they can't believe that I actually do these kinds of things. It's caused them to re-think the image they had of me.

One other thing is that since I've stared doing home improvement on my own I've become a bit more vocal and less timid -- certainly with people at work.

As for how it has affected my husband, I can say that he sits around on the couch a bit more and plays more video games and lets me do more of the work. (Something that he's definitely not upset about.)

Heather:: It inspires me to feel good about what I can create and I look at it as a sense of accomplishment.

Heather:: Don't be afraid or discouraged if you go into Home Depot and they automatically start talking to the guy you're with. If you go in and find someone like that, then find someone else. There will usually be someone there who will take you seriously. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something!