Karen Bertelsen — Blogger, TV Host and
Creator of ‘The Art of Doing Stuff’
Name: Karen Bertelsen
Occupation: Karen is the author of the blog The Art of Doing Stuff. She’s been a television host in Canada for the past 15 years, hosting Handyman Superstar Challenge With Mike Holmes, and countless other entertainment and lifestyle shows. She’s interviewed everyone from Harrison Ford to Henry Rollins. Karen’s currently the writer and voice over artist for My House, Your Money seen on HGTV (U.S.) and W Network (Canada).
Karen is probably the only blogger in North America trying to get OUT of television and into blogging.
Location: Small town, Southern Ontario, Canada. Zone 6. Or not. It’s kind of up for debate.
Background: Karen started her website The Art of Doing Stuff two years ago to fill in time in between television seasons. As a writer and longtime DIYer, a blog was the perfect creative outlet. In fac
t, she loved every aspect of blogging so much she started turning down television gigs if they got in the way of her blogging schedule. She now spends 80 percent of her time blogging and 20 percent working in television.
Karen used to be rich. Now she’s happy. Just kidding. She was never rich.
Genuine curiosity, cheapness and a love of solving problems since she was a child, Karen can teach you anything from How to Raise a Monarch Butterfly or Unclogging a Central Vac and from Making Your Own Pizza Sauce to How to Cure a Bladder Infection. Yup.
Karen lives in a small town with a flock of four (illegal) backyard chickens, a front-yard vegetable garden(see photo below) and a Prada purse that she now uses as a sock drawer. Oh! And she has a fella and a couple of cats, which she’s toilet trained too. The cats. Not the boyfriend. She’s still working on him.
Current Projects: Every year Karen has at least one major project. Four years ago it was selling/donating all of her furniture and redecorating her house from scratch (in one month). Three years ago it was ripping out her entire backyard and redoing it flagstone by flagstone. Last year it was building a chicken coop that would have made Frank Lloyd Wright proud (see photo below). And THIS year, she tore out her entire front yard and put in *gasp* a vegetable garden. There are currently green things growing in it.
Other Fun Facts: Karen once caught a fly in mid-air. With her left hand.
More Places to Find Karen on the Web:
On Twitter @artofdoingstuff
On The Art of Doing Stuff Facebook page
On her Pinterest page
