I am a big do it yourself person. Every year I tackle 1 project over the holiday vacation. Sometimes I will do small projects during the year, but the holiday project is always something I look forward to. The project I choose this year was to repaint one of our spare bedrooms. When we moved into our home it was a hideous yellow color and I just couldn't deal with it any longer. The closest in this room is where I pile all my great deals from couponing. So I also wanted to do some organizing in that closet.

This is a before picture...yuck!


So here is the after picture :) I also installed the new flush mount light fixture. I am planning to do more work in this room. When we get a new bedroom suite I am going to refinish our old one and put it in this room. It is lacking furniture right now :(

So over the summer I had decided to do some work in our guest bath. It was so blah! I wanted to spruce it up a bit with paint and new fixtures. I wish I had a before picture, but I forgot to take one. So I decided to do a few small things in there. I painted the walls, added new hardware to the cabinets, got new oil rubbed bronze fixtures, and painted the wall mirror. Before it had that ugly gold stuff which is so dated! Also the bathroom had carpet which really aggravated me. So while I was painting that bedroom I got the bright idea to redo the guest bathroom floors. I know you are probably thinking I am crazy. Most women have their husbands do these things or just pay someone to come and take care of it...not me! I feel like I can do anything that I put my mind to, and I take great joy in seeing a great transformation and knowing I did it myself :) I do these projects over the holiday because Mark hunts all day during that week and he HATES my projects!!! He likes the finished result, but he gets aggravated easily so I try to do it all by myself and involve him as little as possible =0

So this is the carpet that was in the bathroom.


This picture is after I took all the carpet and padding up. Once the carpet and padding was gone I realized we had a leaky toilet. So I had to take the toilet up and put it in the tub (had Mom help me pick it up). Then I had to clean the floor there and put a heater in the room to dry it out. After I took up all the staples I cleaned the sub floor and pre-treated it with a adhesive.


The finished product! I think I did a great job :) I cut and painted the new molding, and the new threshold for the carpet to tile transition. I also had to replace the wax ring on the toilet (that's why it was leaking). So after a little help from Mom again to lift the toilet and get it installed my project was complete. A new 100% floor renovation, and I did it all by myself :)

With all that being said I took on way to much over my break. However, every time I walk by I am so proud of what I accomplished all by myself. I am waiting for HGTV to call any day to offer me my own television show...LOL
So the next time you want to do some work around the house, think about trying it yourself. It is so rewarding. True it can be a headache and backache for that matter, but you get so much more joy out of it. I know I saved a ton of money and when I get compliments or someone ask who I hired to do this I say no one! You would be amazed what you can do when you put your mind to it. I know not everyone is savvy in this department, and I am no expert myself. I promise it's not as hard as it looks, but it was hard work! I know there are some things I can not do, but I look at it this way...why not do the ones I can? I hope this gives you the push to try something you have been wanting to do, but think it may be too hard. Just give it a try and see how it goes. If I can wire a light fixture, replace a wax ring in a toilet, paint, cut molding, and put down a new floor by myself I am sure there is something that you can do that you never dreamed possible!!!