In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m THAT girl. The one who goes into the hardware store at least once a week with a half-baked DIY idea, no vocabulary for the tools I need, and detailed questions communicated primarily through hand gestures and crude drawings on the backs of receipts fished out of my purse.

I drool over the tools. I ogle the work goggles. I faint when I see the paint. Literally every quick dash into any hardware store for just a [insert small useful item here] turns into an hour-long perusal of all the cool copper plumbing thingies and the circular saws and some neat grates that I don’t know what they are but surely if I buy one I’ll find a way to use it.

I love the hardware store. I love the hardware store so much that a 20-something male employee recently mistook my enthusiasm for flirting and gave me his number.

(I, in turn, mistook the number and accompanying comment of “We could talk about this idea over coffee sometime,” for a genuine interest in how to rig up a retractable laundry line for under twenty dollars, replied “That sounds great!” thinking I had just scored a knowledgeable DIY friend, and got all the way out of the store before I realized what had just happened. Apparently my social skills are even less developed than my DIY ones.)

But I gotta say, guys, there’s nothing like an involved project to make me love the hardware store just a little bit less. Too many trips and too many dollars spent, and not very much to show for it just yet. Here’s waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel.

What great fiascos have you been through at the hardware store?

Author: Marlene @ Idle Hands Awake

Maker, baker, cat momma, total nerd, perpetually covered in glitter/sawdust/paint. Blogging DIY and design for modern creatives. View all posts by Marlene @ Idle Hands Awake