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Anonymous user Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments In the fairytale world of suburban homeownership, a hammer-wielding handyman sits on a white horse, ready to rescue the housewife in distress with his encyclopedic knowledge of electrical wiring and a wave of his trusty electric drill.
If it were only so easy! These days, women with clogged drains and burned out light sockets quickly separate fact from fairytale—but fortunately, the self-sufficient woman of the twenty-first century knows that she doesn’t need to rely on Prince Charming to save her from her home repair nightmares.
  Ignore the “honey-do” lists yellowing on your refrigerator door and tune into one of the myriad do-it-yourself television programs like Trading Spaces and DIY to the Rescue, and you’ll see how women all over Bakersfield are being inspired to pick up their own hammers and plunge into their own home repair projects. It’s a growing trend that is being closely watched by building industry professionals. According to Be Jane, an online community dedicated to helping women with their home improvement needs, women are the “fastest growing segment of the home improvement market.” And Fannie Mae, one of the nation’s largest sources for residential mortgages, estimates that over the next three years more than 31 million households will be headed by women. That’s nearly 28 percent of American homes—and potentially a lot of pink-handled hammers.
  Cheryle Fleming is one of those women who is completely fearless when it comes to home repair projects—and her beautifully decorated northwest Bakersfield home is a showcase for her skill with a drill. Fleming grew up with home repair, watching her father tackle everything from a dripping faucet to building a barn. In fact, when the barn project came up, Fleming was eager to lend a hand. “We started from the ground up,” says Fleming, “and since I had always seen my dad doing everything, I knew that I’d be able to do it all, too.”
  Although Fleming’s husband Brooke knows his way around a tool shed, she’s the real builder in the family. “I’m too impatient to wait for Brooke to get to a project,” she laughs, “so I just did them myself.” Her first projects were small—using her hammer to hang pictures and curtain rods—but she quickly moved on to building cornice boxes for her curtains and upholstering wallboards and chairs. When they moved into a new home, Fleming built headboards that matched the flowers on the bedspreads that were on her daughters’ beds, and she painted her kitchen in a velvety burgundy tone that warms the entire house.
  For women like Fleming, home repair is all about confidence—but it’s still an area where many women fear to tread. Building inspector Katrina Barnum-Huckins, president of the local chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction, points out that less than 8 percent of construction professionals are women—and most of those women are not in the trades, but rather work as architects, engineers, or in management.
  Although Barnum-Huckins is comfortable picking up a hammer, she is quick to recognize her limitations. As a continuing education service to Bakersfield’s female construction professionals, the local NAWIC chapter has started bringing in tradesmen to demonstrate basic construction techniques, such as unclogging a drain or installing a light fixture. “These are women who might work for a general contractor,” she says, “but they don’t necessarily know how to install drywall. At our roundtables, women can ask questions and learn exactly what to do.”
Of course, knowing how to fix a dripping faucet is a relatively straightforward task—but going into a home repair emporium with aisles upon aisles of every imaginable tool can be incredibly intimidating. How can you possibly choose what you need?
  Bakersfield mom Alice Abril got her first tools from her father, an accomplished handyman who never met a repair he couldn’t finish. These days, Abril picks out her own tools—or she gets them as gifts from her husband, who gave her a Craftsman drill for her birthday that she turns to again and again. She advises novices to keep their projects simple—and if at all possible, start with repairs that come with instructions. Recently Abril replaced an outdated wall thermostat with a new digital unit. “The instructions were short and to-the-point,” she says, “and they were only a page long. I figure that I can handle a page of instructions!”
Like many women, Fleming and Abril look at home repair projects as a way to make their homes more beautiful and functional—but while men will often buy a new hammer just because they want to add new tools to their collection, both Fleming and Abril focus on getting the right tool for the right job. “When I start a project, I want to be able to finish it,” says Abril. “If I need to pick up something at the store—like a showerhead, for example—then I get what I need and make sure that I’ve got the right stuff before I leave the store. That way I know that I’ll finish what I’ve started.”
  Women in the know stress that tools don’t have to be complicated. In fact, simple, well-made hammers, drills, wrenches and vises will last a long time and give women a little extra confidence when it comes to hammering in that first nail. Fleming swears by her power screwdriver, which keeps repetitive strain injuries like bursitis at bay. She also keeps a level and a stud finder handy for hanging photos and artwork, and her jigsaw is indispensable for creating fun decorative additions for smooth wood surfaces. “The jigsaw is easy to control since it’s just a single blade going up and down,” she says. “It’s perfect for a beginner.”
Still worried about plunging into home improvement? Go to the library. There are dozens of illustrated manuals that offer step-by-step details for any home repair project. As Abril puts it, “Think of a repair project like a recipe. You wouldn’t start out cooking a gourmet meal on your first try—so start with something small and manageable.” And when you’ve finished, step back, admire your handiwork, and tell Prince Charming that it’s his turn to make dinner tonight.

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