DDIY (Don't Do It Yourself)

When we moved into our house, we knew there was some work to be done.  The fixtures needed updating, all the floors were worn, and the yard needed serious TLC.  The downstairs bathroom was, by far, the worst.  Besides the normal updating that was necessary for the vanity and the floors, I loathed the wallpaper border and pretty much every accessory the previous owners had left behind.  Even the paint was terrible- I think they were attempting to do a textured finish, but it came out like they were terrible at painting and the paint was just heavier in some spots than others.

 So far, we’ve had fun making updates and adding the personal touches that make the house our home, and we were excited to finally tackle the bathroom.

I know, our innocence is so cute.

Last week, JD happily spent an afternoon tearing out the vanity and ripping up the flooring.  It was then we realized Problem #1

“What’s wrong with that?” you may ask.  The problem is that we have a pedestal sink…. And that large pipe off to the left was unexpected.  We haven't really decided how we're going to deal with that yet.  I guess we'll get to it later.

Problem #2: The builder took shortcuts when installing things.  (Shocking, I know.)  There’s a seal between the toilet and the floor that the contractor glued into the floor (which is apparently a no-no).  It snapped when JD was trying to remove it, so we had to buy a new one. 

Problem #3: There’s a huge hole where the old light fixture was, so instead of just installing a new light, JD will actually have to cut a bigger hole and install a whole new section of drywall.

Problem #4: Cutting tile sucks… bad.  We always knew we wanted to lay tile in the downstairs bathroom.  JD has done it before and we didn’t think it would be a big deal since it’s such a small space.  We didn’t have a wet saw, which means we were using a somewhat crappy tile-cutter, and it literally took all day.  JD did a lot of cursing… a lot.  And a little bit of yelling (not at me, at the tile).  In a moment of desperation, he suggesting converting the bathroom into a pantry instead.  I actually considered it, but only for a second.  There’s a sink and toilet sitting in our dining room- no turning back now!

Problem #5: Mortar takes more than 24 hours to dry, apparently.  And even if you think it’s dry, it’s probably best not to kneel on it.  JD did this- the tile sank a bit and he got mortar on his new work pants.  (He also got yogurt on his other new pair of work pants this morning, but that's really a separate issue).

Problem #6: Because the previous owners sucked at painting, I have to actually sand the walls before I can even paint them this weekend.

The joys of home ownership :)