The 3 Most Ambitious DIY Projects Ever Attempted

Now I’ve put a few shelves up in my time. A drill, a few brackets and screws, a bit of knocking in the wall to make it look like you know what you are doing and you are away!

There are others though that take DIY to a whole new, and quite frankly, scary level. These lot make my flat pack assembling adventures seem trivial.

Crazy Horse Mountain Sculpture

Image: Jim Bowen

Your family may have heirlooms passed down through the generations; you may have followed in your father’s footsteps by moving into the same profession. Or you may have been handed the duty of carving a giant Red Indian into the side of a mountainside. Wait, what?

Cas Ziolkowski has the rather daunting DIY task of continuing the work started by his father Korczak Ziolkowski, who was convinced by a local chief to create a permanent memorial to the American Indians. Cas’ father died in 1982 leaving the beginnings of what would be the world’s largest mountain carving spanning 641 feet and reaching 563 feet tall when completed.

No-one really wants to speculate how long the sculpture will take to finish, with estimates ranging up to 50 years. The Ziolkowski kids have already gathered their tools from the workbenches in a bid to fulfil the promise set to the Indian chief. In all, there are 10 children currently helping complete this mammoth DIY project.

Bedroom Jumbo Jet Simulator

John Davis has spent eight years building a fully operational flight simulator in his home in Coventry… In his spare bedroom. He loves it so much that he quit his job and now rents out the simulator to paying visitors from his website. Now, I Iike flying games, I even bought myself a joystick to barrel roll my way to victory, but a fully blown simulator takes up quite a lot more room.

John built the cockpit himself and sourced the necessary aviation tools and parts from the internet. I’m not sure a flat pack flight simulator would be something to pop up on the shelves of IKEA, but nevertheless, building a full cockpit takes some pretty incredible DIY skill and determination.

But, if you wanted to take it one step further, you could always build your own plane….

Living in a Jumbo Jet

Bruce Campell was not put off by the fact that aircraft are modes of transport by moving a Boeing 727-200 to his garden. Now, he has more than an average sized garden on account of living in the middle of a forest in Oregon woods. The plane itself, cost John $100,000. John showcased his home on his website, and believes that many others would enjoy the lifestyle – unless you were scared of flying obviously.

Estelle Page is a thirty something interior designer and DIY enthusiast, loving life with her husband and two kids! When she’s not redecorating her home for the 100th time, you’ll find her taking in the scenery at a local garden show or writing blogs for Rapid Racking.

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