DIYers

[Mischka]

Any other DIYers out there? What projects are you working on now, or have you completed recently? What was your favorite result?

After mentally redecorating/redesigning my home a dozen times, I'm starting to enact a few of my plans. Mr. Mischka and I are on the kitchen right now. We have good quality oak cabinets, but didn't like the golden honey stain. We spent far too long stripping the polyeurathane coating, sanding them down to the bare wood, and restaining them a dark walnut tone. Total time - 24 hours over two weeks. The new color brings out the wood grain, and looks much richer. I also updated the hardware with French twist knobs in a brushed brass tone. The new color scheme compliments the black appliances so much better. Professionals are coming on Friday to install a solid granite countertop and tumbled stone backsplash.

We'll tackle the floor next. The floor has two layers of vinyl, and it just looks awful. We're laying ceramic tiles that mimic the look of the stone backsplash, but at a significantly reduced price. I've never done a floor before, so it'll be interesting. The kitchen is not that big, though, so we hope to finish it within two weekends.

So, any advice on laying a tile floor?

 

[PepperminTrish]

Hubby just did our kitchen and living room floors with the laminate flooring that looks like wood. It was a better choice than wood for us because we have three kids and a dog and this stuff is really tough to mess up. It was a fairly easy project, just time consuming because of all the cuts he had to make.

Besides just general painting inside the house, we'll be relandscaping the yard, especially behind the house. It's been sorely neglected and we're going to install a small pond and fountain back there. We're really into doing as much of it as we possibly can.

 

[honeylick]

So, any advice on laying a tile floor?

tune into a few shows on your local home & garden channel...

a few episodes of the 'new yankee workshop' and even I think it's possible to make a cherrywood side table, complete with graceful french-styled curved legs in my home garage...

 

[Mia62]

So, any advice on laying a tile floor?

PM SaintPeter....he just did his.

 

[Mischka]

Hubby just did our kitchen and living room floors with the laminate flooring that looks like wood. It was a better choice than wood for us because we have three kids and a dog and this stuff is really tough to mess up. It was a fairly easy project, just time consuming because of all the cuts he had to make.

I bet that looks fantastic. What color/style did you choose?

I want to install Pergo in our downstairs for the same reason. I like the snap-together kind with the padding built in. We have cream colored Berber carpet, and the traffic patterns are a pain to keep clean. I plan on buying a huge flokati rug in Greece this fall, so we'll have something soft under our feet in the living room. The downstairs only consists of the kitchen, living room, and dining room, so the Pergo project wouldn't be beyond our capabilities.

 

[ma_guy]

I did a tiling job in the kitchen in my previous house. You'll really want to see what's going on with the floor beneath that Vinyl. THey make a mastic you can use right over the top of the existing vinyl if the subfloor under it is in really bad shape. The advantage there is that if you have any cracks or shifting in the subfloor it never transfers up into the tile so you don't get cracks in the tiles or grout.

Putting down tile really goes pretty fast once you get started.

 

[ksmybuttons]

Two week-ends?! Plan, plan, plan, then double the time and double the money. You will need to put a new subfloor in to hold the tile. It's some type of cement thing. Then you have to lay the tile and grout it. I'd say two weekends for prep and then two to three for the actual tile cutting, laying and grout.

Let us know what the actual time frame becomes.

 

[Mischka]

I've pulled up the vinyl in the corner, and there's concrete underneath. It looks like it's in good shape, but obviously I haven't seen the entire floor yet. I've seen sealants that will repair cracks in the cement, so I plan on using that if need be.

 

[Mischka]

Let us know what the actual time frame becomes.

My kitchen is really small - 6 1/2 by 10'. Two weekends may be optimistic, but I already have the concrete subfloor, and there's no odd shapes in the corners or islands to tile around. And both weekends are three day weekends for me, because of the bar prep schedule. So maybe six days to finish? I'll let you know the final tally.

 

[PepperminTrish]

I bet that looks fantastic. What color/style did you choose?

I want to install Pergo in our downstairs for the same reason. I like the snap-together kind with the padding built in. We have cream colored Berber carpet, and the traffic patterns are a pain to keep clean. I plan on buying a huge flokati rug in Greece this fall, so we'll have something soft under our feet in the living room. The downstairs only consists of the kitchen, living room, and dining room, so the Pergo project wouldn't be beyond our capabilities.

Thanks and we're really pleased with it. We actually ordered it online after they sent out samples to us and I was glad to be able to see them in my home as opposed to in the stores. It's an oak look that has been stained a golden honey color. It was a good color contrast to the darker oak cabinets we had out in the kitchen. I wanted darker flooring honestly but with the way the house is laid out, the living room and kitchen needed to be the same flooring and I wa so anxious to get rid of the cheap/low quality berber carpeting the was here when we moved in.

The Pergo sounds wonderful and the snap together system really does go down very easily. Just lots of noise from tapping the peices together. We had a special tool 'kit' that they sent with the flooring to use and so that it wouldn't get damaged in the process.

 

[T.J. Jackson]

Never Never Never lay a new floor over an old one. Especially tile. If you lay the new floor over that vinyl the thing that is going to fail is not your tile but the vinyl. The vinyl has a good chance of shifting and cracking your grout over time. Go down to the subfloor and follow the tile stores recomendation on prepping the floor to get ready for new tile. If you do it right the first time you won't have to redo it in the future. Oh and btw....two weekends? LOL. My money is on a month of weekends....sorry.

 

[Mischka]

I am getting high at the moment. The tile guys are downstairs installing the new countertop. Whatever adhesive they're using is strong smelling. I think I'd have passed out by now if I was downstairs.

 

[Guest]

Invest in a nice set of knee pads.

 

[Mischka]

Invest in a nice set of knee pads.

Mr. Mischka has two sets of hockey shin/knee guards!

 

[Guest]

Mr. Mischka has two sets of hockey shin/knee guards!

Very good. Stuff like that makes a HUGE difference.

 

[ksmybuttons]

Are you doing it this weekend?! (Laying tile, that is.)

 

[Mischka]

Are you doing it this weekend?! (Laying tile, that is.)

Yup! Oh, the parenthetical question. Then, nope. I won't have time until after finals end in May. My last final is on a Wednesday, and I don't start the bar prep until Monday, so I will have four days one weekend and three days the next weekend to do the floor.

Right now the pros are doing the counter. I am dying to sneak down there and see how it's going, but after I confirmed the granite was the right piece, I'm leaving them to their work, undistracted.

 

[ksmybuttons]

I couldn't stand it. I would just have to go down and look.

Enjoy your week-end. Have fun laying the tile, too.

 

[Bobmi357]

DIY? Not me thats for sure.

I fall into that catagory of if you need heavy tools to perform a task, make sure you have a team of paramedics standing by.

This is me....

The most dangerous person in the world is a software engineer with a soldering iron in his hand.....