Sunday, August 24, 2014

My project fail

You win some. You lose some.  Right?
Not every project I try out is a winner (my sister can vouch for my DIY sunburst twig mirror gone bad).
Well, I have another one to add to the list: 
the time I thought it was a good idea to subway tile the back wall of our laundry closet.

After subway tiling our kitchen, I figured this would be a piece of cake.

What I forgot to consider was the following:
a. The wall is at a 45 degree angle, making it difficult to lay the tiles especially at the bottom.
b. The wall is crooked, something you don't want when tiling.
c. Grouting is annoying. Grouting a hard to reach place is really annoying.

Chris, who thought it was a terrible idea from the beginning, documented my disaster.

Here's me squeezing my body into the small space to start the tiling.
This should have been a sign to quit while I was ahead.


I didn't stop though and continued to lay the sheets of tile.

It actually doesn't look too terrible in this picture but in person, they weren't straight, and with the wall being crooked, it was close to impossible to make them look straight. 


Once I surrendered to this being a really bad idea (I hadn't even started grouting which was sure to also be a disaster), we tried pulling the sheets of tile off the wall.
With that, came some of the dry wall.
Yep, you can imagine the expletives that were being tossed around at this point.


Just when I thought we would have to hire someone to come fix my mistake, Chris came up with idea to just plank the area like we did in our bedroom, thus masking any evidence of my big whoops.
He's so smart.


It was still a pain to plank but not nearly as terrible as trying to tile in there.




Our basket light is still up in the closet. 
To read about that, you can go here.


As for this little window in the closet, we are going to hang a cornice that matches the one in the hallway.
Lucky for us (not), this window also has an angle that we will have to work around. 



So I learned my lesson. I should listen to my husband more and leave the tiling for the kitchen.
Oh well!
- Caitlin

12 comments:

  1. OK, I'm glad you didn't listen to your husband, because I LOVE that planking solution. Oh, wait. Planking was his idea. Two cheers for the husband! :)

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    1. Totally his idea! I was ready to throw in the towel and call someone.

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  2. It still looks great, Caitlin! Kudos to you for not giving up.

    Sarah

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  3. We'll the tile is cute but I like the planking better anyway! So charming in that little nook! I'm glad to know someone else has crazy failed projects too! : )

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  4. Yay for fails, because the planked wall looks amazing. Your laundry room is adorable! Love all you do!

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  5. ok, im not going to lie...I totally laughed out loud reading this. if it makes you feel any better i've had plenty of DIY fails! the good new is, the end result turned out great!!! can't wait to see what you think of next:)

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    1. hehe thanks melissa! took me about a week to laugh about it!

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  6. Love your honesty and love Chris' solution! Looks terrific!
    Denise

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  7. Oh my gosh, all that hard work… it sucks when that happens. But I kind of like the planks better anyway! Kudos to the hubs! :)

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I appreciate all of your comments! If you have a question, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.