The title says it all friends. It started out well by me recruiting my dad to reroute the plumbing on the washing machine. The washer and dryer were sitting about 8 inches out from the wall and protruding from the counter by at least 5 inches. With a few parts (and removing a massive chunk of sheetrock), we were able to get the washer to sit flush with the counter! I didn’t realize how much it had been driving me crazy!! This is so much better. It made this washer look nice! which was saying something considering they’re just old craigslisted units.
Oh! I forgot I also sanded and oiled all the cabinets! Oi. That was a process. Originally I planned to fill the routing (that felt so dated), paint the doors white and sand and oil the base. It felt modern and interesting! But then I decided to agonize about it and go through about 3 other design options. After 24 hours of pure anguish (only partially kidding), I decided to stick with the original concept. I bought wood filler and gave it a go.
And it flopped. It just didn’t go in smoothly. I tried three cabinets, didn’t take photos, and determined that it wouldn’t come out perfectly. It needed to be perfect (or close) so it wouldn’t look DIYed. And I just realistically couldn’t accomplish that with the time frame I had (especially with my long to-do list and my daughter’s heart surgery this week). I decided to love myself and just buy some nice hardware to make these dated cabinets feel intentional and nice. I still had to sand all the original stain off of them, but that was a small price to pay considering all the time I’d be saving!
Ok. Next project. The project I’m ankle deep in. Leveling this effing floor. It had two drains in it, with the flooring sloped down to each of them. This was obviously problematic. There was no way to fix the flooring (barring some other poured on-coating). So I had to start with leveling this *&+*$ floor.
I started with Quik Level self-leveling concrete. 5 freaking bags of it. I do not recommend this product. It is hardly self leveling. It dried lumpy and not level. I am also an amateur, so take that under consideration. I bought a few bags of Uzin brand self-leveling concrete (and primer! don’t forget the primer!). It is currently drying in the laundry room, but it is 1000x better! smooth, level, and even. It pours like water. I have a major crush on it. I had to buy it from a local flooring store, Cascade Flooring America. They’ve been super helpful in this obnoxious process. This brand is only sold wholesale, so call around. It even turned out to be cheaper than the other brand at Home Depot. Win Win.
I also painted the walls white while I was waiting this week. So many small steps!
Next steps: flooring, countertops, mural, sink and faucet, door installs, bench builds, sheetrock repair, hardware install, trim install, shelves to build, updating electrical, DIYing some lighting, and one day, sleep.
Don’t forget to check out everyone else’s progress!
