Author Archives: TheDIYGirl

Droid Incredible 2 won’t turn on

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

I have a Verizon Droid Incredible 2. I have loved the phone — it’s fairly slim and has a good set of features. I moved recently from Texas to Tennessee and started having problems with the phone. I plugged the USB into my computer and it didn’t seem to hold a charge all that well. After a couple of weeks I went to check it while it was charging and it wouldn’t turn on. It wouldn’t do anything. I was upset. I checked online and people said they pulled the battery for a while with mixed results. I left the … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update Plans

Posted on by September 11, 2013avatar
Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update Plans

Here’s the to do list for the kitchen update: Issue Plan 1. Popcorn ceilings Back Burner 2. Popcorn on soffits Removed and primed 3. Gold walls Change to buttery yellow 4. Green paint on cabinets and cabinet hardware Change look, paint, new hardware 5. 80’s light fixtures. update 6. Counter tops update 7. Black toe kick prime and paint with cabinets 8. Spindle railing live with for now 9. Vinyl flooring live with for now 10. Electrical issues – more outlets on back splash and hard wire light over sink with a switch get electrician to take care of I’m … Read more…

Painting master bath

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Painting Master Bath - The DIY Girl

I was painting a lot of light colors in other rooms to maximize the light, but wanted the master bath to be a really dark, almost evergreen, green with the snow-white trim and shower. I once again tried the Clark + Kensington in Carriage Hill green after doing some drywall repairs and priming those spots. I don’t want to minimize painting. You have to remove all the electrical plates, the towel bars, toilet tissue holders, the bathroom mirrors. You have to tape all the woodwork and counters. Groan — you have to paint around the toilet.  Painting a large room … Read more…

Painting Basement Den Area

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Painting Den - The DIY Girl

The first room I painted in my newly purchased house was the living room. Since I’d had great luck at my previous house a few years ago with Valspar paint from Lowe’s that’s what I purchased for these rooms. As I stated in another post it simply wasn’t the same paint. Roller marks were a terrible problem and if I tried to go back and smooth them out the paint lifted off the wall. I realized it could be a result of poor quality paint I was trying to cover. After checking Consumer Reports I wanted to try their top … Read more…

My “new” kitchen

Posted on by September 13, 2013avatar
New Kitchen - The DIY Girl

My new fixer upper in Tennessee has decent bathrooms, but I feel the kitchen is abysmal. Sheesh. Oh, let me count the things I don’t like about it… Let’s start at the top Allow me to preface this with my apology if you happen to love any of the things I’m going to mention. I don’t mean to offend, but there are some things I really, really detest. 1. Popcorn ceilings. Who invented that idea and can we find him/her and shoot them? Of course the popcorn problem is in every room of the house. 2. But I have never … Read more…

Another example of why I’m the DIY girl

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

Upbringing I was raised by a dad who wouldn’t allow the use of the phrase “I can’t.” On the rare occasion I would dare utter those two words he would sigh and calmly respond “You can do anything you want to do. What you’re saying is you’ve decided you don’t want to.” This was a constant and repeated theme until the phrase “I can’t” was extinguished from my vocabulary. What a gift. I wish it was a gift every parent gave every child. Experience When I have allowed people onto my property to work on things the experience has not … Read more…

Painting my fixer upper

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

This house has the worst paint ever. Not only did they spray every room in the house a not very attractive gold, but they used the crappiest paint known to mankind. If you bump it with your elbow it wipes off on your clothes, if you wipe it with a wet cloth the cloth comes away gold. It totally water-soluble. The only good thing about this “washable” paint is that the overspray that is all over the white woodwork washes off. It takes an obscene amount of scrubbing and buckets and buckets of water because of the amount of gold … Read more…

Have a bathroom exhaust fan or heater?

Posted on by September 13, 2013avatar
Have a bathroom exhaust fan or heater? The DIY Girl

I have two words — CLEAN IT. I recently purchased a foreclosure that had two bathrooms with a fan/heater/light. One was brand new. One was an original antique from when the house was built in 1987 and had a non-functioning heater so I ordered a new unit from Amazon. In preparation for the arrival of the new unit I started to disassemble the old one. This was after vacuuming the old unit out trying to see if I could get it working. Once I got it apart the thing was beyond disgusting, beyond belief. I didn’t think dust could cake … Read more…

Ordering decor over the internet

Posted on by September 13, 2013avatar

I had unhappy dogs since we arrived at our new fixer upper house in Tennessee. They had lived their entire lives with a carpeted living room and were retreating to their beds since they didn’t like to lay on the cold hardwood. They seemed to be adjusting to slipping and sliding as they chase their toys. They were not adjusting to the hardwood for resting. I needed an area rug and I needed one now. I searched and searched the internet not even sure what I wanted. A solid? A pattern? What color or colors? I was looking through the … Read more…

My Tennessee Fixer Upper

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

I wanted out of the heat of Texas, I wanted green mountains, and I wanted cheaper. I found a heck of a deal in Jacksboro, TN — a foreclosure at a great price but obviously not without shortcomings. I’m about 3 miles outside of town on a lot that has a view of the Cumberland Mountain Ridge from the front windows. Well at least a view while the leaves are down in winter — not sure I’ll be able to see much when the leaves come out in spring. I have so many gorgeous state parks within 30 miles I … Read more…