I was terrified of electrical. The first time I did any I went to replace an outlet. The funniest part is that I waited until we hadn't paid our bill and they turned off the power. That's when I finally felt it was safe to change the outlet! It was much simpler than I thought.

To be honest, I am REALLY cheap. I figured there are so many how-to books out there, I can read one, try it, and save my family money in the process.

Our house was built in 1911, and we only had ONE bathroom (can you believe it?)! To make things worse, it was so dark and gloomy. For a while I couldn't even stand to clean it because when I was done you couldn't tell the difference. It was hideous. The walls were painted a rose-beige (who created that color?), the linoleum was rolling up from the tub, and the vanity was wood and discolored. The mirror was small, and the lighting was too dim. There was old paint over wall paper and I stripped the paint off of window. It really needed to be gutted.

I put ceramic tile half way up the wall, painted the walls above the tile, and put in a new light fixture and a new vanity. I did all of this after stripping layers and layers of old paint and wallpaper. It is unreal to see the difference between the before and after. I used to cringe when someone would ask to use our bathroom, now instead I am proud to let them see how beautiful it is.

Without a doubt, I would have to say our bathroom.

I love looking at the before and after pictures and saying I did that. My husband is not that handy and when his friends come over he'll ask them "Guess who did that?" I get a lot of pride in that. Sometimes his friends will be over while I'm working and ask what I'm doing. He tells them, "Hey, she's fixin'. Just leave her alone."

Safety first! Never take shortcuts! And wear all of the safety equipment that you should. It's a big thing for me.

First off, I learned that I am more than just "Mom." I am strong, and I am capable. As if there needs to be any more than that, it has also saved us a great deal money and allowed me to do things that look a lot more expensive than it was. While it has made me appreciate my home more, being able to do it myself makes me feel good and I feel like I can handle more myself now. Now I know I can make my house what I truly want it to be.

I think my whole family sees me in a different light because of it. My husband used to be scared when I said that I was going to fix something. Then he would try to talk me out of it. So I started doing projects while he was at work. Eventually he gained confidence in me, and now he just lets me go at it. I think deep down he is impressed. A couple of his buddies came to the house when I was seven months pregnant...on the floor...behind the clothes dryer...replacing the heating element! They looked a bit confused, but my husband said, "She knows what she's doing."

I love seeing how pretty things can look and be functional at the same time. I love fixing my house up and making it look nice. My children used to think of my doing home improvement as a big deal but not any more. They comment on how great it's going to look and get excited. My oldest son is 11 and he likes doing stuff and I've taught him how to do small things for himself.

Research, research, research! Use the Web, the library, or any other resources you have, and then just give it at try. Usually there' s not much you can mess up and it just makes you feel so much better once you look at it and it's finished and you know you did it.