There is something empowering on doing your own projects and renovations. Or do I just say that to justify my choice of doing my own projects rather than trying to find a professional?
It’s not that I am that good at it, but living here, on this island in Maine, has one big down side. There are not enough trades people. And if you are lucky enough to find one who will actually return your call, they probably can’t work on your project till next year winter.
So after years of consideration, planning and ideas in my head as well as watching countless YouTube videos on the subject, I finally decided to bite the bullet and just do it. I was raised with a ‘can do attitude’ ( thanks, papa: If you can envision it, you can build it!) and I have some basic skills as well as some good tools to tackle this project, at least the beginning of it (I’ll keep you posted on the progress and when I get to the plumbing parts, I might have to find someone to help me).
The project in point is a renovation of the existing master bathroom. In the Netherlands we would call the current design a pijpenlaatje which roughly translates to “pipe drawer’ but is mostly used as a metaphor of small, narrow spaces. If the Dutch are good at anything, it is use of space, and every time I took a shower, I couldn’t help thinking that the design of our bathroom could be better.
Currently, it has a massive vanity set with a ‘his and hers sink’. Why? There is only two people using this bathroom and the times that we are both in there at the exact same time are limited. As in rare. As in almost never. And even if hubby was shaving while I had to brush my teeth, we have plenty of sinks in this house to make that happen.
There are also two large closets, while the vanity barely has any useful storage due to the inefficient design. My thoughts are: remove the closets, change the vanity with one with one sink and two sets of drawers, be more efficient with space and storage and we should be all good.
So the first thing that has to go is the build-in closet.
This is what I learned from that project:
- Things are never as easy as they seem to be on YouTube.
- Projects are also never as cheap as you think they will be.
- Not every Youtuber is actually as skilled as they want you to believe they are.
- This new safety glasses I found are a life saver: they have a reading part in it! (great for the 50+ DIY-er)
- It truly helps to be ambidextrous: left hand work is great in a right-angled corner and vice versa. Also, when one arm is getting tired, you still have the other one!
- Good music is a must.
- The person(s) who built our house was/were very trigger happy with the nail gun. Why there had to be over 25 super long nails in a beam to hold up a closet will remain forever the question. As for taking those nails out, this will be felt for a while in my shoulders and neck….
- When re-doing a bathroom, just know there is always shit in the way. And I am not talking about the brown stuff. Why the hardest to remove nails always seem to be behind a toilet or a pipe, I do not know, but let it be known facts.
- If you think you’re cool by Karate Kicking out a sheetrock wall, you might be, but you might end up with a huge bruise on your shin.
- If you are using tools or advice from your father (or grandfather), they will be with you in spirit and guide you through the tough parts.
- If you think you can finish a certain part of the project in an hour, make that one day or maybe even two. You will always find something unexpected and things will take much longer than they should be (especially if you have to remove 25+ super long nails from one foot-long beam (okay, maybe three foot, but still…)
- When you encounter a particularly difficult part, it helps to take a break with a good cup of coffee and figure out how to tackle it. Problems are just obstacles: you can overcome/ solve them. (Like how to saw above your head: I came up with the solution to mount two thin strips of wood on either side of the cut area, so the saw would glide in between this. It truly helped me!)
- The one good thing of Covid is that now I have plenty of facemasks. When working with dry wall, you want to wear one!
- My new shop vac looks like a beast and sucks like it too (in positive terms!) Plus, no cord, so to entanglement. A good shop vac is a must, especially when working with sheet rock. (Truly, I should be sponsored by Milwaukee. Milwaukee people, please reach out! I’ll recommend your product while you give me new tools, deal?
- If your project for the day takes a few hours, so will the clean up. Or is that maybe because I still want to use the bathroom while working on it? And dry wall dust, is there anything worse?
- When you start your project, keep reminding yourself that you are awesome, and you can do it. Someone has to believe in you!
I am going to nurse my aching body now with a nice Scotch. Or Irish, I’m not picky! (Maybe even a good ol’ American Bourbon). Keep checking back for the progress (if there is any…fingers crossed. I do have to work this week to pay for this project, so don’t expect anything super nice within the first two weeks!)
Double Dutch plus three 