Primer
Wow, it's amazing what that stuff covers. You can't really see it in my pictures (in fact I think I forgot to take them at this point) but once I got all the wallpaper down the walls looks really old: stains and discoloration spots in almost a rhythmic pattern literally all over and every wall. All that was missing were marks drawn on the walls. And when I rolled on that primer, WOAH! It completely covered everything with one coat! Beautiful, uniform, bright, clean white! :)

Only word of WARNING about primer: If you do it, use it everywhere and don't skip trimming with it. Color paint over primer looks just enough different from color paint not over the same primer that it will look like you painted with two different shades of the same color. You've been warned!


Removing wallpaper
Is not at all hard if you do it right. But no matter how you do it, it will take time.

IMPORTANT things I learned (by paying attention to the fine print on the adhesive removal bottle and on this site) that aren't spelled out for you (but should be) are:

1) Test what kind of wallpaper you have first, by pulling at a seam or corner. If you can easily pull it off, jackpot! Just do so, you don't need to spend money on anything more. If you can't, then you should BUY TWO things: removal solution and a wall scraper (don't worry, you won't actually be scraping with it).

2) In my opinion, DON'T use a scoring tool/wallpaper perforator. Why? Because unless there is enough wallpaper and paint to make a thick enough layer of buffer, you are doing to put teeny tiny holes in your dry wall underneath everything, and there's no way to fix that. I have a run of those itty-bitty holes on one part of my wall, it isn't stylish.

3) It is VERY HELPFUL to figure out which way the grain of your wallpaper goes. If you know that, pulling wallpaper down gets even easier because it will come off in nice large chucks when you pull in the direction of the grain!

4) WAIT to use the removal solution until after you pull down the top paper layer of the wallpaper. Yes, that means going around and pulling off ALL the wallpaper before going around a second time and taking down the remaining adhesive (which will fell fuzzy, because you have just torn paper off of it). The removal solution only loosens the gum-type glue stuff that keeps the wallpaper adhered to the wall. It does not in any way help remove the actual paper - which in some cases is designed to be waterproof or water resistant. Especially when the paper is like that, resist the temptation to use a wallpaper perforator or scoring tool to get the removal adhesive to the glue part. Just pull down the paper part, THEN use the removal adhesive. It will go faster this way.

5) WARNING: The adhesive removal solution DRIES FASTER than they say! So don't go around and spray all the wallpaper then go back to remove it all. Even if it says 15 minutes to dry and you could remove all the wallpaper in that much time - IT WON'T WORK! I had to go out and buy more because it dried faster than I could get to it, and it only took me a minute or two per section of wallpaper. Just spray down AND remove ONE SECTION AT A TIME. It will go SO much faster that way.

6) Really saturate the fuzzy adhesive left after you take down the paper layer of the wallpaper with the removal solution. Get it all covered. Then take the wall scraper and just skim the wall. The wallpaper adhesive layer will come off SUPER easy, just like shaving hair with an electric razor. Oooo smooth :)


Cutting tile
Yeah, all I needed was a nice pair of tile nippers. I didn't have to score the tile (it might have helped if I was tried to get a perfect shape, but I just needed a generally round hole), and I definitely found out the power tools for cutting title weren't a help. In fact the one recommended to me at the store ended up making my job harder! Of the sites I read online about cutting tile, the only one that had tips and advice that worked was this one. My advice? Don't buy into the hype. A good hand tool and measuring will do you the best.

Labels: Do-it-yourself

So I needed to update my guest/main bathroom so it no longer looked like the 1980s it came from...

Before

After


(Numbers match pictures below)
It started out as (1) take down the wallpaper and paint. I'd already been trying to get the drawers from wobbling, and finally did after the paining. I knew I'd have to prime before painting, a first for me when painting. And I realized that (2) I'd probably end up having to replace the light fixture - the end bulb socket on the right had burnt out and didn't work anymore - and that (3) I would want to replace the mis-matched wall cabinet with a nice simple white behind the toilet. Finding that was harder than I expected, but I was VERY happy when I did find it at Target. While painting, I suddenly noticed the light switch plate was painted to match the wallpaper! (2) So I had to replace that. (4) I got the drawers to stop wobbling by putting under-center-drawer slides, which was harder than it should have been because the drawers were so thin bottomed that I had to snip the screws that hold the slides on. Or rather, I had a LARP friend with strong hands snip them! I also ended up (5) changing the hardware (knobs) on the drawers and doors, adding knobs to the drawers that didn't have any. Would have been helpful to know at that point I actually owned a drill, but instead I got out of the house to visit friends and borrow a drill for a few minutes. Okay, all good. However, having painted the whole room and made it look so nice, I could now see how grungy the drawer and door fronts looked. So (5) I painted them too, which actually went a lot easier than I expected! (6) I put up a towel bar (much better!), but then, of course!, I had to (6) change the toilet paper bar. Once it was all done - yay? - I realized the faucet did NOT match and I really should (7) replace it. Then after that, the toilet's flush handle stuck out like a sore thumb and so (8) I had to replace that too.... Whew. Okay, finally, I had been wanting to recess the light in the shower pretty much the whole time. Once I took the old one off I thought it was going to be easy, but it turned out the hold housing refused to come out of the ceiling. Arrgh. Well, a lot of grit, determination, pain, metal snipping and hammer work later, I both 1) found out that my electric screwdriver is also a drill and works A LOT better when actually charged *rolls eyes* Oye, and 2) fatigued the metal of the housing bar enough to move it around up there. I had to use tile nippers to widen the hole in the tiled over ceiling, and still fought against the old housing bar while trying to get the new housing up in there. But it FINALLY worked! Then all I had to do was get a shower rated trim to cover it. Thankfully I noticed a label on the housing that said what kinds worked with it, before I ordered the wrong one. It came today. It went up very easy! And now... (9) done! :D

Oh wait, but not. :( There's enough of a gap between the recessed lighting trim and the ceiling that I need to caulk it sealed. *sigh* Oh well, it's done enough now for pictures. See! (Above)

The bathroom looks much cleaner now. And while it's not "Oh beautiful!", it looks nice and looks like it's ready for someone to do something with it, to add personal touches. Plus, the new cabinet is modern, and the recessed light is MUCH better than the hanging "glass jar" that so dated the bathroom. Oh yeah, the peeling wallpaper made it look dated too. And of course, I forget a lot, how great the new facet looks compared to the old one. Gives the bathroom a touch of high end class.

Labels: Do-it-yourself, Home Buying

Yeah, the answer is take the clothes to a good dry cleaner. Whether or not it's dry clean only.

I tried a few things I found online about how to remove paint stains - rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, stain pen - and while one worked to an extent, the only thing that got the stains out entirely from both my pairs of pants was my dry cleaner.

I repeat: removing paint from clothing means taking the clothing to the dry cleaners.

Labels: Do-it-yourself

From AOL's 10 Ways to Earn Extra Cash:

"10. Sell Your Photos to Stock Agencies

It doesn't matter if you're a hobbyist, an amateur or a seasoned photographer -- anyone can submit their photos to stock photo agencies like Shutterstock.com. If your images are accepted, they will be available for download by subscribers. Each time someone downloads your photos, you get 25 cents."

Labels: Do-it-yourself

Ahh, it's a good feeling. I like to build things, work with my hands. I like to paint. Electrical work too (I don't run wires though). And this weekend I took another ever slight step into plumbing when I had to remove the toilet tank and reinstall it. Also used a drill for the second time in my life. I slept well, having done good, some times hard, work. Tired body, vivid dreams though. Hmm. Sore shoulder muscles in the morning weren't bad, just reminders of the work done the day before that faded as the new day progresses. Nice.

I enjoy doing "blue collar" work ever so often. Makes me feel useful, able. Do you supposed blue collar workers enjoy doing white collar work ever so often in the same way?

Labels: Do-it-yourself