Category Archives: Home Projects

Home Projects to Repair or Improve

Quality paint brushes vs. foam paint brushes

Posted on by September 3, 2015avatar

I recently read a post by another blogger who stated she only uses disposable rollers and foam brushes. She admitted it wasn’t “green”, but it was easy. While I agree (and love) the ease, there are overriding issues with these two brush types. Why I hate bristle brushes When I was a little girl my skills were not deemed good enough to paint, but they were deemed good enough for clean up. So while the big people painted, the pans, rollers, and brushes were handed to me to clean. And the big people were picky. Needless to say I got … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting boxes

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting base - The DIY Girl

I have been very frustrated that other blogs have introduced the idea of a Shaker kitchen cabinet update and then provided next to NO details on how to do it. No mention of what wood, what thickness, what width strips, how they cut it, what type of adhesive they used. Nothing. Very frustrating. So for better or worse, I’m going to provide excrutiating detail of what I do with this Shaker kitchen cabinet update. I will tell you what I do and whether it works or not. The paint Since I want the paint to bind really well to the … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – adding trim

Posted on by February 18, 2015avatar
http://www.thediygirl.comshaker-kitchen-cabinet-update-prep - The DIY Girl

While painting I realized this would be the time to do something about the gaps between the tops of the wall cabinets and the soffit above them. I wanted molding, but it needed to be fairly narrow so it wouldn’t interfere with the cabinet doors. I went to the store shopping for wood molding but couldn’t find the simple cove look I wanted in primed pine and unwillingly stumbled onto what may be one of my new favorite things — polystyrene molding.  As I drove home with the molding I figured I had made a mistake. It probably would disintegrate when I … Read more…

Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting prep

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar
Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Update – painting prep - The DIY Girl

I believe the first thing you need to do when contemplating painting cabinets is to take a real long look and decide how much. Just the face of the cabinet frames and the outside of the doors? Paint everything including the insides. Personally, even if you held a really big gun (and I mean something like a bazooka) you could not make me paint the inside of cabinets and fortunately I have cabinets with decent interiors. How much do you want to paint? So how much did I want to paint. The current green is only on the outside of … Read more…

Light, outlets, and bathroom fan

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

I had gotten a quote from an electrician for installing the bathroom fan/heater/light, adding a wired box with switch for a light over the kitchen sink, and adding a couple of outlets on the back splash that only had 2 outlets. He had quoted $200 which I thought was really reasonable. Two guys were here for 4 hours. The light and outlets in the kitchen went in easily. They pulled the wall cabinet off the wall on the right side of the sink so they could hide the holes they would have to make to get the wire into 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…