Since our satellite TV providers started pumping hundreds of channels into our living rooms, we’ve had plenty of time to get used to the idea of home improvement. A fad that started while we still had a housing market, the idea of home improvement took hold (naturally enough) when people watching the shows realised two things – one, that they could transform rooms in their houses for little money; and two, that they could theoretically raise the value of their home just by following the instruction of the experts.
At the end of the day, the satisfaction inherent in home improvement is as much about getting the job done yourself as it is in the finished item. For a long time, interior decoration and building has been something of a myth to the average person on the couch – we’ve always assumed “I can’t do that” and screamed for the pros whenever we’ve needed to install a new bathroom or put up a set of shelves.
Before I go further I would just like to say: don’t try to install a bathroom or do anything involving plumbing on your own; unless you are a qualified plumber. Not only will you invalidate your home insurance, it’s illegal and extremely dangerous.
So – home improvement shows. As I said., once our satellite TV providers started supplying us not only with hundreds of channels, but with whole dedicated home improvement channels, we realised we could follow instructions while they were happening. And with the advent of DVR and the on demand functions that let you pause, rewind and replay current satellite programming, we can watch those instructions as many times as we like without worrying that we’ve missed a bit!
In fact, modern satellite TV is so versatile that we can find the information we need, pause the programme, go to the hardware store, buy the tools and materials we need, come back and turn the show on. Home improvement is now a step by step instructional operation that can be done by anyone who has the time and the money.
In our current situation, home improvement has taken on a new and (in my mind anyway) much healthier significance. During the boom years it was basically all about how much money we could make by jazzing up our house a bit – these days, it’s all about how much joy we can give by creating a wonderful children’s bedroom, for example, or by laying our own new look garden.
In a time when you can’t buy houses for fear that the bottom is going to drop out of the markets, a home really becomes a home. We’re all starting to view our current residences as long term homes, and looking to use home improvement to make them as wonderful as possible. Without the examples set before us by people just like us, on home improvement and DIY shows, would we have the confidence to get started?
Possibly. But we certainly wouldn’t have either the skill or the knowledge. And therein lies the rub. Thanks to the satellite TV providers, who’ve made themed programming part of the natural fabric of life, we can go to the TV for any information we need.
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