DIY Disasters .... If Only I Knew!

Have you ever wanted to tackle a project yourself? Do you ever watch tv and say, "I can do that!" or "How hard can that be?" I have done that myself. As a matter of fact, I've taken it to the level of doing some projects. I've changed light fixtures, sanded floors, stained them, painted walls...and then there are those projects that didn't go so well.....


I've had my share of DIY disasters through the years. Like the time I decided to rip up the old rug upstairs in my son's room without checking the floor underneath (lets not get into that one). But my worse DIY disaster has to be when I decided to take the 70s flowered wallpaper off the walls in the upstairs hallway.

 I had done some wallpaper removal in my foyer, kitchen and bathroom, which went pretty well. I had those rooms done fairly quickly. I even primed and painted them. They came out great! When I started the removal upstairs it was going well until I got to one wall, oh that terrible wall. I didn't realize it was wallpapered directly onto drywall that was never primed or painted. When I pulled the wallpaper off the drywall came off with it. What a disaster. I just stood there with the wallpaper (and wall) in my hand and stared at it. All I could do is stare at the big brown patch of drywall the size of a beach ball. I remember thinking, "What the heck am I supposed to do now?" Then I thought, well maybe its just that one area and decided to pull another piece off. "Oh boy this isn't good"...another huge piece of wall came off. Right about then I cleaned up the mess I made and put all of the supplies in a box and walked away. I literally walked away without looking back. All I could think of was what my husband was going to say when he saw it. I thought of covering the area with a dresser from the bedroom (hmmmm). No that wouldn't work. He would wonder what it was doing out in the hall. Maybe a large indoor plant or tree? No, I'm not a plant person and I dont think they make indoor plants that big. I had no choice but to fess up and face him.

When he got home I asked him about his day and nonchalantly mentioned the huge gaping patches in the wall upstairs. He laughed at me and said, how many projects are you going to start and not finish?  I had no answer; but thought in in my head " Maybe 2 or 3, tops". I understood his frustration with my lack of knowledge. I think the bottom line is, before tackling another project, I need to see the big picture and measure the pros and cons before tackling another one. As for the wall in the hall, it's still in disrepair and I'm in a what do I do now state of mind. I think this one is beyond my "expertise (cough)". I'm going to have to call in the experts to repair this job. Maybe I should just stick to painting...except for the one time I didnt buy enough paint to do my entire dining room and covered it with my hutch...worked perfect until I decided to rearrange the furniture....