DIY, Lebanese-style

Sporty Diamond and her husband, Dr. Fenway, have given me two beautiful little paintings recently – one for my birthday in November, and one for Christmas. They are small enough that I brought them back to Beirut with me, and now will need to hang them.

This pear painting was for my birthday – painted by a local Waukee artist.

The cow jumps over the moon painting was done by a woman who works at Pike Place Market – Sporty D got one for each of us.

In my New York apartment, that would have been a simple matter. I would have gotten out my electric drill (don’t laugh – in fact, I had two for a while, meaning that I had roughly one drill for every 150 square feet ) and installed brackets. It would have been a five minute job, including time for a quick jaunt to my neighborhood hardware store to get the brackets I needed.

I don’t have a drill here in Beirut, and nor does my landlord. When I need to hang something (like the three clocks that hang in my salon: one on Beirut time, one on Iowa time, and one on Seattle time), I ask him, and he makes an appointment with the drill man.

The drill man, whose name I am embarrassed to admit I do not know, comes to my apartment, looks at what I want to hang and where I want to hang it, and drills holes more or less where I want them. In the case of the clocks, which I wanted to hang in a vertical column, it was a bit less at first – hence the wall behind the clocks has 7 holes rather than three.

With these paintings, I imagine it will be easier – they are each small enough to require an equally small wall to hang on so they do not get dwarfed. As to where they hang on those walls, I am flexible. Below the ceiling, above my belly button – any place in that range will be fine.

What won’t be any easier will be the big chunk of DIY pride I will have to swallow before I can speak to my landlord without gagging. I liked being able to drill my own bracket holes – I liked the feeling of capability it gave me. But sitting on my pride means un-hung paintings. Pass the seasonings, please – I have a lot of swallowing to do!