Paul Hamtil's Vine Avenue HouseI was asked to write the answer to a question: “What are you all about?” Well, after a month of head scratching, I finally caved to the resignation that I’m about too many things to summarize in a single post.  I’m about loud music, quiet moments and hanging with my kids.  I’m about the trout rising on a secluded stream, cooking up a storm, driving through the night, my wife, knocking down a wall, and I’m about American Pickers . . . to name just a few.   I like the joy afforded by these things.

My wife and I were looking through some old pictures for a recent Fathers Day article on #d5R when we came across pictures of our first house.  We were met with the memory of the pure excitement we had on purchasing it.  What a fun time that was — to get the keys to our little 80yr-old cottage and to get to work on making a house into our home.  Refinishing old floors, painting until 3am, ripping down the terrible awnings… JOY!  But it hit me really one day when I was cutting the grass – “This is MY grass.. MINE.. all MINE.”

We expanded the family, by adding kids (real and furry), put in the garden I always wanted, and spent way too much time and money re-doing everything that could be redone. (As pictured, I seemed to always be carrying a drill around).  Still, the house lives and breathes and gives us a place to create happiness.

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Paul Hamtil's Dogs

Here pictured are our 2 rescue dogs at the back door.

I say that I ended up a remodeler by accident.  But this is only half-true.  It was not intentional, but . . . probably intended.  My brother and I, like so many other Friends-in-Moxie, started as builders at an old junker, 8’-folding table — we dubbed it, “Lego City”.  There, we spent countless hours creating everything we could dream up.  We were seriously addicted, which was scary, but nonetheless it was a catalyst of passion for building things.  Later, we moved on to building forts in the woods near our house as well as to cardboard cities in the big abandoned garden in our yard.  As sons of a civil engineer, turned remodeler, a little bit of my father’s skills must have rubbed off on us.  And that could explain why we were the go-to kids for all the neighborhood build projects.

When my wife and I finally had our own space, it was a bit like being back at that old Lego City.  Getting lost in dreaming about what we could or would do with the space.  When I really think about it, I suppose that’s a big piece of what I really enjoy about my job in remodeling.  Each day, I can help bring a little joy into people’s lives through simple actions like laying some tile or hanging drywall.  Sounds silly, but it’s so true in a lot of cases.  Whether helping to solve a problem, fixing what’s broken, or making an old space new, the fun of participating in projects with clients is really watching the satisfaction fill them up at the end.  It is great knowing that some piece of the reason they love their home is growing.

Most folks take tons of pictures and tell me things like: “I went in the empty kitchen last night and just kind of stood there in a daze… thinking how is all of this going to come together.”  One person started a project blog to share what’s happening with distant family and friends.  A couple of people have gotten teared up.  Projects such as these help to affirm the good things about my job.  It balances out the stress and the feeling of a “daily grind”.

Of course, I’m speaking in broad generalizations about my experience.  Certainly, there are those who abhor home projects . . . and the mess . . . and the money spent.  Many times, I’m complaining about it myself.  However, when my wife and I looked back at how far we had come from those move-in photos, I couldn’t help but feel good about how we kick-started that old place, and did it up our style.  Best of luck to you in your own projects, and if you’re feeling burned out, dust off an old photo album and smile about where you started from.

Thanks to JB and the Tagged project for allowing me the chance to experience writer’s block/ writer’s cramp once again.  I appreciate the opportunity!

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Note from the hosts:  So far we have had a “Lint Toe” (Sean Lintow, Sr.), a “Whole Shoe” (Rich Holschuh) and now a “Ham Till”.  ha!  Paul Hamtil can be found on twitter as @HamtilConst and he, with his brother Dave, is one part of the St. Louis, MO. remodeling team Hamtil Construction.  I thank him for taking the time to contribute, and I thought it was a great story here.  I can certainly relate — and maybe it is just baked in.  I will admit on reflecting on my own time working forts, I was always the gopher, the laborer and that’s how it was.  And, anyway, I am sure Paul would appreciate a comment, let him hear them below.  ~jb