Meet Monsieur Bricolage

 

Wednesday, January 9, 2013 – Meet Monsieur Bricolage

I’d like to introduce you to my husband, Monsieur Bricolage.  That’s French for Mr. Do-It-Yourself.  In fact, Monsieur Bricolage is also the name of the megastore in France that’s the equivalent of Home Depot or Lowe’s.  In other words, it’s Elliott’s favorite kind of store.  As long as I’ve known him, his philosophy has been – don’t pay someone else to do a job that you can do yourself.  I admire his confidence, and his unwillingness to part with his money, too.  But most of all, I think Elliott gets a great deal of satisfaction out of working with his hands. 

Right after we moved into our house in France, he installed shelves in the shelf-less kitchen cabinets. He also put up light fixtures where bare wires were sticking out from the walls and ceilings.  And when we wanted an iron fence around our little terrace, he dug out a tree that needed to be removed. 

summer of 1986 in Fayence

 

Once we moved back to the U.S., he continued working inside and outside the house.  He replaced the kitchen cabinets and built a shed in the backyard when we lived in Annandale.   Moving to our house in Fairfax gave him the opportunity to get up on the roof to clean leaves from the gutters.  In addition, he figured out a way to direct the run-off water away from the driveway and the house.  He put in new locks, installed an exhaust fan, and a new garage door opener.  And every year, we go through rolls and rolls of duck tape.  

summer of 1993 in Annandale, Virginia

Lately, he’s been tackling as much of our current bathroom renovation project as he can manage.  Although he hired someone to put down the tile floor, he has been busy with miscellaneous jobs.  He’ll take any excuse to get out his drill and screwdriver.  So when he announced that he was going to install the new recessed medicine cabinet himself, I wasn’t surprised, but I was a little skeptical. After all, he has virtually no vision in his left eye and therefore has major problems with depth perception.  It became apparent right away that the job also required four hands, so Team Thompson sprang into action.

Working side by side with Elliott brings back memories of my childhood, when I’d help my father with all kinds of work around the house:  plumbing, carpentry, electrical repair – in my eyes, there was nothing he couldn’t do.  In that sense, Elliott and my father are very much alike.  Those times I spent working with my father were very special.  I felt like he was sharing some secret knowledge with me, and I was so proud to be the one he called on to help.  The training he gave me certainly paid off.  Whenever Elliott needs an assistant, I’m ready and able to pitch in. 

In theory, the medicine cabinet job should have been quick and easy – just drill a few holes and screw in a few screws – but of course, nothing goes as planned.  I started checking my watch after about half an hour.  I was eager to get to the other things on my agenda for the morning.  But once Elliott gets started on a project, he doesn’t stop for anything – not for lunch or dinner, not for naptime or bedtime, and not even for his favorite daytime TV show, The Price is Right.  (Does anyone under the age of 80 actually watch this program?)

When Elliott’s tinkering with materials and tools, he is definitely in his element.  Hours could go by and he wouldn’t even notice.  Fortunately, we were able to wrap up the medicine cabinet project before my patience wore out.  We were both immensely proud of our accomplishment.  And I think we both enjoyed the camaraderie that comes from working together.   

Of course there’s much more to do in the coming weeks.  Soon I’ll be hearing the sound of the drill and smelling the aroma of the sawdust again. 

It's time to get some high fashion safety goggles.