‘Making something beautiful out of nothing is satisfying’
Image: Nine IJf
Mirelle van Zeeventer (47) has her own DIY business. Together with Bas (36) she had daughter Viorne (6). Mirelle has another daughter from a previous relationship, Zoë (22).
“Recently our washing machine broke down and Bas looked at me: what now? I unscrewed it to see what was wrong. Bas has – and he says so himself – two left hands. Once he helped sauce Viorne’s bedroom. After that there were all stripes on the wall and I could do it again. We agree: let him do the laundry and our financial affairs, because that’s just not good for me.
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DIY cargo bike
I have been running my own handyman business for three years now and I am affiliated with the Klusbakfiets Deventer, a club of twelve handymen in the region where I live. Think of painters, plumbers and carpenters. I handle job requests and place the right professional at the customer, but I also do the job myself. Mainly painting and wallpapering, but I also assemble small furniture and lay floors. I don’t bother with plumbing and electricity. Fine to replace a terminal block, but that’s where my knowledge in that area ends.
“I have not followed any construction training and have mastered DIY over the years”
I have no construction training and have mastered DIY over the years. My grandfather and ex-partner were painters and my father was a furniture maker. As a nine-year-old girl, I stood next to his lathe turning a block of wood with a chisel in my hand. Scary, but I did manage to make a candlestick.
Fulfilment
DIY has been my hobby for many years next to various jobs. I have worked in healthcare, had my own studio in bridal fashion and I was a manager at a cosmetics company. At that last job, it was nice if we were in the green numbers, but my current job is really satisfying. I create something beautiful from scratch and repair things that make customers happy.
With them, but also on the street, as a woman with a cargo bike full of tools, I attract quite a lot of attention. There are even men who whistle at me – even though I look less feminine with my work shoes and hair in a bun than outside of work hours.
“We may be tough handymen, but we like to be a little flattering”
I’m really a girl-girl: neatly painted nails and never leave the house without make-up. When I started at the Klusbakfiets, I immediately arranged different clothes for myself and two female colleagues. Fitted shirts and pants that also show our ass a bit nicely. We may be tough handymen, but we like to be a little flattering.”
This article appears in Kek Mama 08-2022.
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