Friday, May 16, 2014

Should You DIY by Aileen Fish and Melinda Curtis

Are you a DIY-er? Do you watch all those DIY/home improvement shows and think, "I could do that?" Well, Aileen and Melinda are here to tell you it's not that easy. Feel free to learn from our experience.

The Projects:



Aileen's: Since the bathtub in the main bath had cracked, I needed to replace the tub. The surround had me worried because of holes in the "tile" panels, so I was afraid of water damage. I also wanted a toilet that flushed well, and the vanity was ugly, so why not replace it, and redo the floor too, while I was at it, right?

Melinda's: Remodel my daughter's bathroom, taking out wallpaper, the fit-for-2 tub and replacing it with a tub shower, as well as removing the 27" square shower (perfect size for pixies) and using that space for a 2nd bedroom closet. Also to be done were re-purposing the old vanity and "Mirror, mirror on the wall" medicine cabinet.


The War Stories...



Aileen:My budget was tight, and I knew I couldn't afford to pay for help. I recruited my older daughter and my younger daughter's husband to help with the heavier demolition and to get the new tub in place, as I knew what I could carry on my own. What I didn't anticipate is the state of mobile home plumbing. If I were to do it again I'd hire a plumber.




Melinda: Call us wimpy, but we called a plumber to take out the tub, shower, and lay new flooring. Mr. Curtis knows his limits and they edge right up to water pipes. Unfortunately, we didn't supervise this process and arrived to find several pipes from the shower - including hot/cold water shut-off valves - sticking out of the floor and wall. After multiple discussions late Friday night (which included brainstorming work-arounds like built-in shelving and awkward closet placement), we got brave and called the plumber who agreed to return to make things right gratis (yes, for free!).  Lesson learned: be clear with the help about the dimensions and placement of closets.

Aileen: I was a good Mom and bought leather gloves, safety glasses and face masks beforehand. That doesn't mean I remember to use them. In an ironic twist, while doing the demo, my daughter and I did a "demo" of why gloves are important. We both managed to catch part of our hands between the hammer and pry bar. Mine was with no gloves, hers was with gloves on. This, children, is why we wear safety apparatus when working with tools.


Melinda: We hadn't realized that wallpaper in mobile homes is part of the wallboard. When we started to paint, every fixture hole and staple holding the wall in place showed. I was devastated. Mr. Curtis was in his element, having grown up doing wall finishes. At 9 p.m. he produced a spray rig, hopper and drywall mud. The bathroom was textured by morning and ready to paint the next night. Meanwhile, I was busy painting the vanity and mirror a chocolaty brown. Between coats, my daughter's 18-pound cat rubbed against all surfaces, which required repainting. Lesson learned: know the materials you're working with and shut out the cat!


The Finished Product...


Aileen's:



Melinda's:

So what do you think? Are you up for a DIY project? If so, what would you tackle?

~*~
When she isn¹t imitating a home renovation expert, Aileen Fish is busy at work on the next book in her Small Town Sweethearts series.

When not wielding a paintbrush, Melinda Curtis is busy at work on her sweet Harmony Valley romance series.

12 comments:

  1. What a fab post! I am so not a DIY-er but it doesn't mean to say I haven't done it, and have the badly wallpapered walls to show for it. (Such nice paper, too.) I used to love watching DIY shows but it's such a con - they show you how easy it is - "if" you have the tools.

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    1. Joanne, somehow Mr. Curtis has acquired quite a toolbag. In fact, he purchased a new tool for this project that he may never use again. It might have ruffled me more had he not also brought me flowers for Mother's Day at the same time. (he knows how to work the system)

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    2. I think those tools are the most expensive part! Although, I borrow my daughter's drill because it's almost three times more powerful than mine and now I have tool envy.

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  2. Both of your projects turned out beautifully, and it's a great feeling of accomplishment to be finished, but DIY is never easy, is it? I do this kind of thing all the time and have the scars to prove it. We won't even discuss my three sons who are all in some branch of the construction and/or remodeling business. I'm convinced they moved out of state to get away from me and my projects. The worst job ever was scraping off the sprayed-on popcorn ceilings (I want to meet the guy who invented that nasty stuff!!), plastering and painting them. But as my sweet sister, Betty, keeps reminding me, 'You only have to do it once."

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    1. Patty, Mr. Curtis sees popcorn ceilings and immediately makes plans to remove them. He's tried convincing my mom to do it for years, but she's only let him remodel her bathroom and put in new light fixtures. Go figure.

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    2. This is the first time I dragged my kids into a project, because I knew there was no way I could do parts of it alone. But seeing what my son-in-law went through with the plumbing for the tub, I won't ask him again.

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    3. Aw, come on, Aileen. What's the use of having a son-in-law with skills if you don't capitalize on it every once in awhile. My daughter's dating an engineering major who has tool envy for Mr. Curtis' tool box. If things work out, I'll have 2 Mr. Fix-Its in the family.

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  3. I love a man who works the system, and I should say, I think the results look terrific and am a bit jealous. I have a lot of things that should be done around my place! (Come to NZ, Mr Curtis...!)

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    1. Mr. C would love to visit NZ (it's on his list!). Just this morning I spotted the perfect tile for our hall bathroom linoleum. He hates tiling (I love it). We agreed if he could install a new vanity/countertop that I could get the tile. It's nice that as a school teacher he is looking at 10 weeks off soon...

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  4. Great job. I've pulled out sinks, but I haven't been brave enough to try the tub—I have enough trouble with changing the knobs.

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  5. What a great post. I love not only how great the after pictures look and the blow by blow account (sorry Aileen - could not resist a bad pun!) but also how your families pulled together to help pull it off!

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  6. Every project we've ever started ourselves ended up getting redone by someone who did it for a living . The bathroom was the worst project by far because we literally tore out everything and redesigned the entire room. Of course, it ended up costing a LOT more than we thought it would and it took weeks to complete. Now, 15 years later, the plumbing is occasionally leaking AGAIN, and we know we have to tear out the stand-alone shower to fix the damage. This time I'm getting one of those thick plate glass shower enclosures with NO metal tracks whatsoever, ceramic tile on the wall and will be paying a plumber to fix the leak. In the meantime, you know, we could just put a bathroom in the basement and not have to put up with all the inconvenience when the upstairs shower is out of commission. Sounds like a plan, huh? Just one problem, you need lots of money to start from scratch. Sooooo, I guess it won't be happening this year....

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