Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Do you find it impossible to find the perfect gift for Father’s Day?

Go buy some Tools!

And for this Father’s Day, I will let you buy tools that aren’t PINK!

My dad always wanted tools.  I would laugh because I never knew which ones he actually wanted so we would go shopping together.

Dad is the man who fueled my love for DIY when DIY wasn’t popular yet.  He was always buying tools and it didn’t need to be attached to Father’s day or any other holiday.  He just liked tools.

I was thinking back with very fond memories of the many DIY projects that we did on my first apartment.

My parents owned a duplex and when I decided to move back to PA, they let me rent one side of the house and pretty much do what I wanted to the place to spruce it up.  It was a quite a sight so any improvement was going to help it and my dad and I had fun in the process.

I wish I had before and after pictures but I had no idea at the time that I would be making a living off of demolishing walls and DIY home decor.  I found one picture.

• We busted out a wall to make a kitchen countertop seating area.
• We installed a makeshift shower for the claw tub because a true shower installation was beyond my first year teaching salary budget.
• We added a deck to the back so that I could invite him over for dinner and have a place to dine outside.
• We installed tile to the bathroom floor.  My buddy Terry who I mentioned in Kitchen Backsplash also joined us for this project early on in our friendship.
• We installed carpet on the front porch.

I was glad that I had purchased the tool box on wheels, the battery operated drills, or the lamps for Father’s Day year after year because dad’s tools were really coming in handy for my home improvements.

I’ve come full circle.

It’s hard to imagine but dad hasn’t been around for 8 years now.

Father’s day has now been shifted to shopping for tools for the Dad of my own children.  We laugh all the time about how a girl really does marry someone like her father.

Left brain has his eye on a power drill for Father’s Day Gift Idea.

He had to research it first to make sure that it was the exact one he wanted.  (I may have rolled my eyes and bought the one I thought was pretty for a guy.)

My dad loved left brain and he was so proud that I had picked someone who not only liked tools but knew how to use them better than me.

They would pack up their gear and tackle any project.   Occasionally they would take a break from all their work and enjoy an airshow.

It’s funny but even thought it has been 8 years, we’ve only recently begun to clean out dad’s garage.  It was the last place that any of us wanted to touch.

There are two major reasons.  One has sentimental reasons and the other humorous reasons.

1. The garage was his man cave.  The sacred place that he would escape to tinker with whatever project he was working on.  He loved being in the garage.  For years, everything remained just as he had left it and we were very content to leave it until we were ready.  For me, I ached looking at the tools that we had used over the years and frankly I missed that he wasn’t here to help me with the newest projects.
2. Now wipe the tears away because the second reason we never wanted to go near the garage was because the man had so many tools that none of us wanted the job of cleaning it.  When he was alive, none of us were allowed to clean.   Trust me, I tried.  One summer I devoted several hot days to trying to organize the tools that he had purchased over the years.  He finally told me just to let it go because he just didn’t understand why you would want to organize it. He couldn’t find the tools now that they had a place on the tool bench.

Dad was notorious for having the tool that you needed if only you could find it.

Well, a few weeks ago we finally began the process of cleaning out the garage.  It is an ongoing task!  We have several more days of concentrated efforts to organize the tools and figure out what to do with them.

I miss my Dad and especially as Father’s Day approaches again, I miss shopping for tools but we discovered something as we were cleaning out his garage.

We have been able to go shopping in dad’s garage for tools that we need for PinkToolGirl projects.  I found a brand new router that he built a custom table for that until recently I would have never needed. Seriously, I felt like it was Christmas day!  I was so excited and it was like having my Dad here for our latest DIY efforts.  The custom side tables that I’m building are using the tools that I found in dad’s garage.

Left brain also had a great time discovering several tools that would come in handy for his projects.

Dad would be pleased to pass the tools along.  Enzo and Tucker never met my dad.  However, his stories are infamous and they know their portable toy or tool box was Pappy Paul’s.

If you have your dad this father’s day, go raid his garage or buy him a tool that will make him smile. Father’s day gift ideas are best when they can be shared with the dads we love or passed on to the next generation.

I’m excited to continue buying tools for the men in my life.  I love this holiday and I’m delighted to honor my Dad by continuing the traditions we shared and a love of tools that I’ll always treasure.

Happy Father’s Day,