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Oh, you remember that whole battle with Brick City Love to finish our kitchens, right?
Yeah… well, I guess I am officially losing after getting distracted with blue dining room walls and then losing steam, because that’s pretty much what happened with my side of things this summer. Meanwhile, Carrie is picking up speed and really throwing some salt in my game (that’s throwback slang from 2005, folks. And yeah, that made me feel old. 30 is apparently making me cranky.).
But this weekend, I am pulling myself out of my DIY rut. I was on a good path for a while there, but quickly I realized that the oil primer trick that a contractor tipped me wasn’t really holding up to my expectations for locking down all of the torn drywall paper (a crucial part of getting a smooth skim coat finished). So I had to go back to the drawing board. The issue was that even with the primer, a handful of spots continued to bubble, which only becomes more frustrating when you apply layers of wet joint compound over it. So, rather than do it wrong and hope to minimize the problem areas, I’ve decided to look for a new option that promises better results. And it’s currently sitting in my car awaiting application.
It’s a little disappointing to have to repeat the same step I thought I was already finished with, but now that I’ve found the product I need, there’s nothing stopping me from trying to move past this speed bump over the next couple of days. I don’t want to share it just yet until I know it’s worked, so look for that update next week.
And as always, it’s good to remember that this is just how DIY goes… someone else’s trick sometimes just doesn’t work for whatever reason (even if they swear by it), and you have to figure out what fits for your circumstances (good God, yet another Goldilocks moment? I think so!).
When I look at it that way, I don’t feel all that frustrated… even though I’m not yet painting the walls, I’m close. And the coverage of the white primer alone makes the whole kitchen feel cleaner and brighter. So I’ll put that in the win column.
Speaking of win, I’m guessing you can probably tell I’ve been posting less frequently than usual this summer. But that should change soon. In just a few (almost whiplash-inducing) months, I found myself taking on a bigger role with the new job than I first anticipated, so other things have kind of been in a holding pattern while adapting to things (such as finishing the house and moving like I announced when I first started). For someone as ambitious as me, it’s pretty freaking fantastic, even though it’s stressful. And thankfully, they seem to be saying the same thing. I’m working with people who have a lot of natural talent and a strong work ethic, so it helps quite a bit – even if that means I’m posting intermittently until things become more predictable (we’re busy, but that good kind of busy). I’m hoping to have a behind-the-scenes peek (other than Instagram) for you guys and catch you up on all of the goings-on sometime in the near future as we start doing some feature pieces around the South. It should be a lot of fun.
Have a great weekend!
You’re alive! (Don’t follow IG.) Sounds like you have been busy and not letting the blog rule your life. That is good. I wonder how some can do it every other or every day. Seriously? Doesn’t anything come up to put a kink in their post? Life happens–glad to hear work is going great. Looking forward to some finals in the rooms but I can wait–I have a life too. :)
Well, good to see you back. It seems you put lot of efforts in this, keep posting. Also, good luck for your work too.
I love your blog it makes me laugh…it reminds me of when I started out renovating my first house many many moons ago! I love paint but back when I started out, it was what colour should I paint this room and what colour that room. I remember painting my living room half pink on the bottom part of the wall and white on the top..it was so horrible I went out the same day and bought really dark blue, did the same again..didn’t like that either so painted it white again! I put stripes going across the wall in my tiny guest toilet…that was horrendous..then I painted my kitchen which was artexed to death on the walls as well as the ceiling in bright pillar box red gloss paint! There are so many things I should not have decided to do like removing the inch thick artex from the walls in my living room…I did a little bit behind the curtain and thought ok this is going to be easy…2 months later hammer,chisel and no knuckles I was still getting that shit off the walls!
That was a long time ago and I have learnt a lot of tricks since then. My last house in the UK was a 350 year old blacksmiths shop with farm workers cottage tagged onto the end of the shop. My partner and I renovated the life out of that place…we sold that 3 years ago and moved to Portugal! We are renovating a huge 8 bedroom house with 12 bathrooms..it was an old hotel
We are half way through the renovation and its soo slow, everything here is two weeks, two weeks remember that movie with Tom Hanks..think it was called the Money Pit..well that is what its like here. Still I am sure that it will be beautiful when its finished.
I love how you this amazing ability to think you can do everything even when you haven’t even tried it yet…it reminds me of myself when I was young!
I know you are busy with life and your work but keep on blogging because I am a big fan! xxx
Diane, I am so glad you found this site & left a comment. Do you have photos of your renovations? I would love to follow along on your progress and see your “hotel” transformation!