You Can Do This!
Hey Crew! I’m excited to have you all here at Remodeling Guy! You’ve left so many encouraging comments and sent me some great emails. I’m really looking forward to helping you stay excited about what you can do with your homes.
It’s clear to me from the comments and emails that many of you want to do some remodeling with your own two hands. For some of you with the big crews, that may be your own eight or 12 hands; whatever the case may be.
What you can do yourself depends on many factors such as skill level, time available, level of perfection required, and (this is where I come in) courage! You have to be willing to try if you want to succeed. Deep, huh? That’s why they pay me the big bucks!
Good Starters
Some projects are better places to break in your new fancy tool pouch than others. Here are a few great DIY projects that make a very significant impact on your home.
Painting
I know I sound like a broken record on this, but there is a reason! A fresh coat of paint, even in the same color, will make you feel better. It will make an impact on your environment. Take a look back at this post I wrote on painting.
Flooring
I really like flooring as a DIY project! There are just so many options that don’t require a huge collection of expensive tools or years of experience. Flooring can make a day and night difference in a room or your whole house!
Great Do-It-Yourself flooring materials include:
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Laminate – probably the front-runner in ease of installation and durability, laminate flooring can be a great choice. If you’re not familiar with laminate flooring, just do a Google search and you’ll see. All the big manufacturers have laminate lines.
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Pre-Finished Hardwood – Personally, I like the look of real wood better than even the best laminates. I’m willing to trade off the durability for the sound and feel of wood. (I’m actually a solid 3/4″ nail down floor fan myself, but you need a few notches in the tool belt for that one). Usually installed with glue, this is a little tougher than a laminate floor, but still within easy reach of a handy homeowner with a few simple tools.
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Tile– Ceramic or Porcelain tiles are relatively easy to learn how to do and even a first timer can get good results with a little trial and error. You really need a wet saw if you’re going to do an area of any size, but there are simple ones on the market for really affordable prices. Porcelain is harder to cut than ceramic, so keep that in mind.
Trimwork
This picture above just does it for me! I looked at it a dozen times before I ever knew there was a human being in it! Does that make me a bad person? I only noticed three things, in the following order:
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Beams…whoa! Nice!
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Walls… nice too, but I might not want both walls and ceilings the same.
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Trim… the trimwork around these windows and doors is really magnificent! You can do that!
Trim isn’t that hard. As with all of my sermons, first you need a vision. You need to know how you want to do your trim, to the finest detail, before you start. Follow the steps in Hooked on Magazines and Developing Your Dream – Part 1 to get that vision started.
Once you have the vision you really need some simple power tools. You’re going to need a Miter Saw, an Air Compressor, and a Finish Nailer or a Brad Nailer.
These last items wouldn’t be needed for a small job. If you just want to do a little bit of trimwork, you can just use a hammer and nails!
I was about to move on and I looked back at the picture and notice one more rockin’ detail…those doors! Check out that double door! I love it when a doorway between 36″ and 48″ is made into a double door. I like the look of the smaller operable sections (called leafs).
To read more about trim, check out my post on the subject here.
Outdoor Living
Don’t get me started! I can’t get enough of outdoor spaces.I didn’t hear the Fat Lady sing yet, and I may build outdoor spaces as a third or fourth career before it’s overwith! I LOVE outdoor living.
Oh, right…sorry…well, it won’t be cold forever and you want to get your ducks-in-a-row before the great thaw! That way you can hit the newly thawed ground running!
The great thing about outdoor projects for a DIY crew is that, well there are a few great things (this calls for more bullet points):
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Outdoor areas usually “tolerate” imperfections better. Cut a board a little short? No worries, keep rolling. Do that with the living room crown molding and it could be a trip to the padded cell.
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Outdoor projects can be finished quickly. Usually this in a one trade kind of thing. You, your saw, your nail gun, and your pile of lumber! Progress happens that way.
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An unfinished outdoor project won’t cause a divorce! Need I say more? Just picture a master bathroom with no door and a pair of vice grips to control the shower water.
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Outside is the place to be anyway. I say make it awesome first. I may have written in a previous post that we haven’t done much to our house since moving here. Different story for the outside. Way, way different story. I won’t show you those pictures until the thaw. I wouldn’t want to be mean.
Tile
Here is the picture from the top of this post again.
Everything I see in this picture can be done by a determined DIY crew. The tile makes a real impact here!
This is a tumbled marble. Looks like a travertine. These tiles offer an incredible look for a good price!
Start Somewhere!
You may look at your home and say to yourself, “This place needs so much more than that! It’s no use.” That is stinkin’ thinkin’. You need a check-up from the neck-up!
Let me ask you this: Have you ever felt totally overwhelmed in your life because you have what seems like a thousand things to do right now ? I’m sure that nobody reading this can say they’ve never felt that way.
How about this one: When you’ve felt this way, has it ever happened that the completion of just one of the tasks changed your entire mood? I know that this happens to me often.
The same thing can happen with your house! A single project out of the list above can change your entire outlook. Just remember to fuel up on inspiration and there is no stopping you!
A great way to stay inspired is by signing-up for the free Remodeling Guy Newsletter! It’s always full of unique ideas and encouragement! Sign-up right here – I won’t share your email address with anyone, and you’ll only get emails straight from me.
Thanks so much for choosing to be a part of The Crew today! If you want to spread the joy, use the ShareThis feature just below. Thanks!
Great post! Thanks for the encouragement to tackle one project at a time. It is overwhelming sometimes to think of ALL the things that need to be done!
I do have a practical question regarding remodeling my master bathroom. Ultimately, I would like to gut the entire thing: install new tile flooring, rip out the prefab shower pan & glass doors and replace with a tile shower floor and new doors, replace the garden tub (with a free-standing one?), replace the vanities/sinks/faucets, replace the light fixtures, remove the two HUGE sheet glass mirrors, sand down the plaster walls and install wallpaper, etc., etc., etc.!!
Without the funds to do it all at once, in what order should I tackle these projects? (I will need to hire professionals for some of it, but some I can do myself.) I just don’t want to install the flooring, for instance, to find out that I should’ve replaced the shower first!
Thanks so much for your encouragement and advice!
Kathryn Wells’s last blog post..Calculating Correct Change
Great Post!! I agree with the paint! We’re renting currently and I miss being able to paint our walls, I’m a big fan of color! But we’ve recently done some furniture painting projects that have made a huge impact!
Audrey McGill’s last blog post..Room Project # 2
Oh I am just so excited to have found you. If we buy this 1987 house, I want to change something about every single room!!!! I’m gonna need advice and some confidence boosting! I am forwarding your blog to my husband’s email too! 😉
Corey’s last blog post..Childhood Memory Quilts
Love you blog. Jumped over here from The Nester and really enjoyed
reading and learning. Loved the post on gathering magazines and
coffee and sitting and really finding ideas. That suggestion has
run through my head all. I’m just going to have to find some “me time”
and try it out.
Where have you been all my life? Some of that stuff I knew, but didn’t know, you know? And I like your endless encouragment and that you’re the killer of the buzzkill that usually keeps me and my husband from doing things we really want to do but are afraid to start for lack of know-how.
aubrey’s last blog post..More to Unclutter
WOW! Those doors are exactly what I have planned for the space between the living room & the “away room”. The trim is fabulous! I always wonder what it would do to a room with only 8′ ceilings. That is the third time this week I have seen the word travertine & I promised myself to look it up today. I was calling them tumbled stone & It’s what I would like to put above the range in the kitchen.
I have been trying to figure out how to send you some of those magazine pictures I have collected for years since I don’t have a scanner. Any Ideas? And how difficult is it to install and arched doorway kit? I would really like the doorways between the kitchen, living room & dining room to be arched. Growing up, I lived in a house that had them & I would really like them again. It’s a good thing we are planning to live here the rest of our lives. It’s going to take that long to do all the things I want to do to this place.=0)
Okay, dude, you have to quit writing such cool stuff. You have taken me from a girl who thought all I needed was a can of spray paint to be happy; and changed me to a girl who asks for tools for Valentine’s Day and wants to lay flooring! And put up wainscotting!! in the bathroom!
Thanks (I think)
Just discovered your wife’s blog today too, how do you guys have room for all of that creativity in one house?
Kimm at Reinvented’s last blog post..Saturday Shout-Outs
Awesome post! I’m liking all of the pictures you’ve shown and the diff. projects. I’m a huge “diy painter”, well …I’ve ripped up carpet, but that’s the extent of my diy projects.
HUGE question here:
Can you paint the brick on a fireplace that has heat coming out of the bricks when you have a fire? Does this make sense? The bricks are made to let the heat from the fireplace “vent” I guess. The warm air escapes from their. My husband and I are painting our den this wknd. and we’d like to paint the fireplace pricks as well, but he doesn’t think the paint will stay if we continue to use our fireplace. (we obvioulsly wouldn’t have a fire going while painting it though)
So, what do ya think?
Katy’s last blog post..4 People to Play Tag with me and the 4th Picture
Jennifer – Thanks for checking in! I’ll email you about the pictures. You could get color copies done and mail them if you have a color copier. You might also go to Kinko’s or someplace like that and have them scan them for you, but they probably charge some crazy amount. It might be worth a call. I’m looking forward to seeing them.
Katy – You should be able to paint any of the brick on the front of your fireplace with standard exterior paint. I would good paint, and I would get something with a sheen to it so you can clean the smoke residue off. A semi-gloss or an eggshell would be fine, just not a flat. This would be in most applications. However, you mention heat coming out of the bricks it makes me wonder if you have something unusual. Do the bricks have holes in them to vent heat, or get “really hot” during a fire? If the bricks are just getting warm to the touch then paint is gogin to be okay (just think of an exterior wall in the middle of summer). If the bricks get so hot that you can’t touch them, then you need a special paint for that which is available at the paint store. The same would apply for the inside of the fireplace, the fire brick themselves, which have to be painted with heat tolerant paint.
The Rest of the Crew – thank you all for your comments. One or two are in my ‘to email” folder with some more specific questions. I’ll get back with you as soon as possible! Tim
You ROCK!! Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. Yes, the bricks have holes or spaces to let the heat out. It is very warm if you put your hand near them, but not like it will burn you though. We will use Valspar prime first, then regular Valspar paint on top of that. Will this be fine?
Katy’s last blog post..4 People to Play Tag with me and the 4th Picture
Thanks for the accolades Katy! All I can say is this: based on what you’ve told me I would move forward in my own house as you’ve planned. If you want to be really sure, you should talk to a real paint expert at the paint store. You would want to find an “old time” paint store, preferrably family owned. At a place like that you’ll find second or third generation paint guys who know everything there is to know about paint. If you go to a big box store or even a chain paint store, you might get someone with little or no training or knowledge. An experienced paint man would be able to say for sure, but my opinion is that you’re okay.
AWESOME! My favorite is the trim picture – it’s beautiful. We are in the beginning stages of re-doing a house: ripping up carpet, painting, etc. and have been trying to make a timeline for bigger projects down the road. All the windows are single pane, so we’re planning to replace them hopefully at the end of the summer. That might be the perfect time to try adding beautiful trim work! Thanks for the ideas!
RG,
You weren’t the only one who didn’t notice the little girl in the picture…lol! It probably would have taken me a couple more glances to realize it had you not mentioned it. I love the beams and the trimwork. Gorgeous!
Thanks for such an inspiring blog 🙂
Mrs. Q’s last blog post..Crime and Punishment
Thanks for the inspiration!!! I am totally in the ‘get just one project done to gain perspective boat’, and I really think a very do-able one for us will be our backyard. Since we live in Oklahoma, getting to work on that soon is really an option.
Cristy’s last blog post..In Memory… on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade
Hey there….I stumbled across your website while reading my sister in law’s blog (turnersoncloverlane.com)….WOW….what a great information station!!! We recently remodeled our 1st floor (home built in 1984, yet needed to be opened up….and of course, a new kitchen was the PLUS!!!) I am looking for a “piece” to put in a walkway between our kitchen and living room (now a gaming room for kids:) and you have the ultimate picture…..it is listed in this post under flooring. It looks like a “dresser” yet functional for a console type table ( It would be wonderful for puzzles, games, etc….for the little ones we have) and no one would know they are there (the games, that is!!) Anyways, if you know where that photo is from…..could you drop me a line???? Of course, it’s probably like Restoration Hardware and costs $1,495.99….Ha! I will tab your website for sure…..you are overflowing with projects…and how tos….Thanks from the Buckeye State….Julie
I love these tips, I am kind of afraid to tackle tile work. But I think this year I will give it a try.
Beth’s last blog post..Sexy, Strapless, Plunge Dress