This Lo Life

I was stuck for the longest time on how I should address the problem walls in our guest bathroom. But after consulting with a friend and reading tons of articles, I decided on priming the walls and ceiling and then skim coating the trouble areas on the walls. On the night I was going to make my attempt, I was really worried that it wasn't going to work. I dilly dallied for a few moments. I swept up, straightened up some of my work ares, etc. Finally, I told myself to pull it together and just try something! I wasn't going to get anywhere by not doing anything. So I cleaned the walls and then primed. That alone made the whole bathroom look so much better. A few nights later, I returned to skim coat the problem areas . Skim coating is the process of applying thinned out pre-mixed all-purpose joint compound to the problem areas. This was my first time using such a material. Before this project, I'd never heard of joint compound. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to h...

Home improvement is challenging and I think it takes sharing about it with others makes the process less difficult. I've never before embarked on such a home improvement project and out of great trepidation, I've tried to educate myself as much as I can. I think I've checked out the entire  LA County Library home improvement collection. I've reviewed books on remodeling bathrooms, repairing and painting walls, how to patch drywall, how to install tile, the list goes on. I've watched tons of YouTube videos on countless DIY topics. I've gone to a couple of Home Depot classes, which were educational (but not well organized). My head is swirling with info. So I demo'ed the guest bathroom-tore out the vanity, the toilet and the old vinyl flooring. That was pretty easy. I just followed the instructions laid out in one of the Black & Decker books. Next, we discovered the old paint job was poorly executed. Allison and I were working on it one night, repairin...