Thursday, April 17, 2014

I am Surrounded by Idiots...

Alternate Title:  My bathroom remodel update.

I am finally moving forward and making progress on my bathroom remodel.  Remember when I blogged about it here?  July of 2013 was the start date. hahahahahahahaha...

First, I ran into problems getting the hinges off the bathroom cabinet.  Some Idiot had not just painted over the hinges, but with multiple coats.  It took 3 applications of paint thinner to be able to get a screwdriver head into the groove and loosen the screw.  I took a very long break from the project during this time and started to wonder if I could really do it or if I even wanted to.

painted over hinges, DO NOT DO THIS!

I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but in my opinion, if you do not tape off, cover, or remove hinges and the like and you paint over them, you might be a remodel Idiot.

Jump forward to today and I am finally ready to sand and prep the cabinet for paint!  Happy Day, right?

Not exactly.

I got my handy little sander out and went to town.  I did two applications of sanding with two different grits.  If the Idiots who had painted the cabinet, in the most unfortunate color of pink/peach, had done ANY prep and had taken even the least amount of care, a sanding with a grit in the 180-200 range just to get the gloss off would of been fine, but are you starting to see a trend here?

Yep, you guessed it, there were different numbers of coats on different areas; there were dribbles of paint that they did not even try to smooth out; you name a painting error and I ran into it.

After staring at this project for months now, I was prepared for most of it.  It still drove me crazy, but I was at least prepared for it.

What I was not mentally prepare for was the next issue I ran into.  (hold me, I'm still traumatized.)

Have I mentioned that the Idiots painted the door molding the pink/peach color too?  I still do not understand the logic of this one....But at this point to question the Idiots would be pointless, so I'll just continue.

A little description of the bathroom needs to happen now to understand what happens next.  It is long and fairly narrow, so when you walk in, the cabinet and counter space are right next to you, and if you keep going you will run straight into the tub.  Above the length of the cabinet is a mirror.  It is wonderful and large. (handy, for doing hair and checking outfits in different angles).  It is going to be modified during the process, but that is a story for another day.  What you need to know now is this, right as you walk in the door to the left above the counter, the wall was covered in cork.  It basically turned that little portion of the wall into a cork board.  I hung my calendar, headbands, quotes, and other fun stuff from it rearranging as I wanted without damaging the wall.  It was one of the few items in the bathroom I sort of liked.  It ran right up next to the molding on the door, so when I planned this adventure, I knew it would be going.

How bad its leaving was going to be, I had no idea.

The cabinet was now sanded and ready for primer, so I turned to the molding and soon realized that the cork was going to have to leave immediately.  I couldn't sand the molding with the cork bumping up next to it.  I naively assumed that some care had been taken in putting it up on the wall and that it would be a quick and easy removal.

WRONG!  IDIOT ALERT!  IDIOT ALERT!
They took adhesive and slathered the drywall with it and then attached the cork.  By itself, this would of been bad enough, but the Idiots were not done with testing my sanity.  They had used the cork to cover a hole in the wall.

Can I cry now?
the discoloration is the adhesive, the gaps are an added bonus.
the butchered remains of the cork.  Notice the awful color of the tile in the background.
Here is the thing that sent me outside for a moment of meditation and breathing, patching a wall is a simple, SIMPLE process.  Most of the time of the project is in the drying of the compound.  Trust me, it is not hard and you can learn how to do it by reading the 4 step process on the package.  Don't be an IDIOT and cover a wall with cork just to cover a hole.

A trip to Home Depot was now in order, partially to give me more time to calm down, but mainly to get the material to get the adhesive off and the patch kits for the wall.  I had no idea how to get adhesive off drywall, so I asked for help in the paint department and the guy said, "What Idiots..." and told me the stuff I would need.

I'll finish the post with this,
home projects can take a lot of time, but the key to success and not becoming an Idiot, is this.

DO NOT SKIMP on the prep work.  Yes, I know, it is tedious and sometimes not very fun, but if you do it right, your final results will be amazing.

(a little side note about the photographs, I shot in full auto mode, so they are not the best quality.  I prefer to save beautiful photos for people and landscapes.)

Oh, and one more little detail, if you come over in the next couple of days, this is your bathroom door.
notice the mickey mouse duct tape...
For added fun, it does not reach the floor.

Looking for my sanity and a little privacy.
Melissa

6 comments:

  1. Preparation is 95% of the job. Been where you are - it's HELL!! You have my wholehearted sympathy for this test of patience and sanity. More power to you for bringing your home back into its place of pride :-)

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    1. Thanks Kathy!! I'm doing this project in stages and this is stage one. I'm a little scared to think wait 2 is going to bring. I'll be removing wallpaper. I shutter to think what is behind it.

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  2. p.s. That showed up at unknown - but it's Kathy Lung ;-)

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  3. I was so busy laughing at your humor, I almost forgot to empathize. It does make me grateful that I'm too old to do more than touch up painting.

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    Replies
    1. I hit the humor point last night and have another blog ready to go as soon as I finishing sanding down the spackling. Sarcasm will be in full effect!

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  4. I just saw your response - Mark and I once bought a 12 room house, confident that we could remove alllllllllll that wallpaper. After the papers were signed we discovered the walls hadn't been prepped properly when built and first there was a layer of wallpaper adhered to unprimed drywall. And then there was the top layer of wallpaper. Seriously - thought I was gonna have to hunt people down and make them pay........Kathy

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