“A tool knows exactly how it is meant to be handled, while the user of the tool can only have an approximate idea.”
–CZECH NOVELIST MILAN KUNDERA
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SURE, YOU COULD go to a trade school and learn carpentry and wiring and other useful skills. Or you could hire a pro for your remodeling job. But all those HOME RENOVATION TV SHOWS make it look so fun and easy, why not just make it a party? Miss Manners may blanch, but more homeowners are getting around HIGH CONTRACTOR COSTS and depressed housing markets by inviting their friends to do the work in exchange for refreshments and camaraderie. BEER and power tools: What could go wrong? At least when something does, you can always call the project-undoing experts at HGTV’s “Over Your Head.”
Cost of a year’s worth of evening classes at Chicago’s vocational schools in 1958: $7.50.
Weekends required for two people to build a house kit from FirstDay Cottage: 15.
Movie star who once made a living as a carpenter: HARRISON FORD.
Sources: Tribune archives, news reports, FirstDay Cottage.
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nwatkins@tribune.com
