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Table of Contents

• Getting Rid of the Railing
• Refinishing Existing Lumber
• Sanding Down the Deck
• Getting Rid of Rotted Wood
• Replacing Rotted Wood
• Creating a Step for the Front of the Deck
• Making Repairs and Sanding
• Staining and Sealing
• Finishing the Deck

Getting Rid of the Railing

I am starting this project by removing the railing from the deck. I do not like how it obstructs the view of the lake, so I think this deck would be better with just a long step across the front instead. Some of the railings had carriage bolts through them, so I had to remove the decking to access the back of the bolt. This did not work as I hoped, so I am cutting off the top of the railing and chiseling off the remaining. Luckily I only had to do this process on 4 of the posts, the rest of the railing is so rotted that it just falls apart.

How to Refinish Decking: Refinishing the Existing Lumber

When it comes to refinishing the lumber already installed on this deck, I am going to sand it first to see what I am working with. When I tried to sink screws into the existing boards to prevent them from hitting my sander, they kept breaking. This made me realize that a majority of the screws in this decking were extremely rusted. If I am able to back them out all of the way, I am replacing the existing screws with exterior treated decking screws.

Sanding Down the Deck

I went to my hardware rental store and the guy there convinced me to get a heavy duty floor sander. It has a pad that sits on it and then you put your sanding sheet down. I am running this across the old decking to get the existing finish off. This heavy-duty sander works well for what I need it for, it handles the differences in heights between the boards better than any other sander would.

Getting Rid of the Rotted Wood

I have realized that a good portion of the decking is too rotted to salvage. I am pulling these pieces up and replacing them with 2×6 green treated lumber. The worst rot is in the places where this deck sees the most foot traffic, I do not think this is a coincidence. Because so many of the screws have broken off in this area, I am sheering them off with my angle grinder once the boards are up. For the boards I am salvaging, I have to deal with a little bit of rot at the ends. I am cutting off the rotted portion and adding a decorative edge piece.

A majority of my framing pieces are in good shape, but a few pieces have some rot. Most of this rot is where the posts for the railings were. I am replacing the rotted framing pieces with new 2×10 green treated lumber. Once all of the framing is solid, I am going to put joist tape along the tops of everything to protect from rot.

How to Refinish Decking: Replacing the Rotted Wood

Now, it is time to replace all of the rotted lumber. I am replacing it with 2×6 green treated lumber. I am cutting these individually so I can use the lumber as efficiently as possible. Whenever I cut one, I am using the remainder for the next row. Along the edge I am placing trim pieces, these compensate for the rotted edge that I had to cut off. These square off the deck so well!

Creating a Step for the Front of the Deck

I am repurposing wood that I have to create framing for what will be a big step across the front of the porch. To build this step, I am building boxes that have joists 16 inches on center. This is going to create a step that is a little over 23 feet long. I am removing sod and dirt across the front of my porch where the step is going to go. This must be level, so I am placing rocks down. When I place my step framing, I am using a leveler to check. This step took a lot of adjusting! When it is level, I am predrilling the frame of the step through the frame of the deck. I am using 4-inch long leg screwes to connect these frames together. To go over the existing cement path that is off of the deck, I jigsawed out a portion of the wood so it will go right over the path. Next, I am covering my framing.

How to Refinish Decking: Making Repairs and Sanding

Once everything is in place, I am fixing any blemishes in the wood. I am going in with two-part Bondo, this will repair any rotted areas that I did not feel like needed replacing. It is also going to fix any blemishes across boards or knots in the wood. Once all of my Bondo is dry, I am going to sand it all smooth. After I am done sanding, I am blowing off the surface of the decking with a leaf blower to prepare to apply my finish.

Staining and Sealing

Before I can stain my deck, I need to test it with a moisture meter. It is important that this reads below 15%, you do not want to seal moisture into your wood. My moisture meter did read below 15%, so it is time to stain and seal! I am using Behr’s waterproofing stain and sealer in one. This is a solid stain that has a 10-year warranty on decks. The trick to this is applying two light coats, this is made possible by my airless sprayer. The first thing I am doing before staining is removing the edge piece and coating the endgrain of the wood with finish. This is going to seal it in and prevent it from rotting. Next, I am spraying the tops of the deck. Using my sprayer dramatically increased how quickly I could apply my stain, but it is still best practice to back brush so you can work the product into the wood.

Finishing the Deck

As a finishing touch, I am going to paint this aluminum angle flashing. This is going to go along the foundation of the house where the deck meets it. Once this is dry, I am just gluing it down. I also have to patch the holes where the old railing post came down into the concrete. To do this I am using a mortar concrete mixture that is fast setting and works in applications up to 6 inches deep.

Now the deck is finally done! I love how beautiful it looks. You get such a beautiful view sitting and relaxing on this deck!

I hope you loved following along as I learned how to refinish decking! If you want to check out more of my outdoor projects, my blog post Build a Retaining Wall in One Day is a great place to start!

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Table of Contents

• Removing the Plastic Runner and Ripping out the Carpet
• Fixing Blemishes in the Wood
• Priming and Painting the Risers on the Stairs
• Railing Refresh
• Cutting the Stairs
• Adding New Treads to the Stairs
• Final Touches

Removing the Plastic Runner and Ripping out the Carpet

The first step in the project is for me to remove the nasty plastic runner that was covering the carpet on the stairs. Once I have removed that, I am ripping the carpet off of the stairs. Ripping up the carpet was SO difficult! There are always a million staples with carpeting on stairs which makes the removal a good workout. I also am pulling off all of the tack strips from the carpet, on the risers and the treads. The staples from the underlayment also have to be knocked out! This whole process has been so tedious.

Fixing Blemishes in the Wood

Once all of the carpeting and everything that comes with it had been removed, there were so many blemishes in the wood beneath. To fix this, I am using high-quality wood filler. I am filling all of the holes from the staples and tack strips and any general blemishes in the wood. Once the wood filler is dry, I am sanding it smooth with my random orbital sander. My goal is to get it as flush to the wood as possible. To remove all of the dust from sanding, I am going over the stairs with a tack cloth.

Priming and Painting the Risers on the Stairs

Once the blemishes in the wood were fixed and the stairs were clean, I am going in with a high-quality primer on the risers. This is for new drywall or hard-to-coat surfaces, I trust it with areas that get a lot of use. Once the primer is dry, I am going in and painting the risers black.

How to Upgrade Your Stairs: Railing Refresh

At this point in the stair upgrade, it is time to remove the railing that is next to the stairs. I want to reuse this railing, so I am going in with black spray paint. This railing has gotten a little bit dinged up over time and during renovations, so the spray paint helped it look as good as new! I did spray paint inside, but if you want to know how I usually spray paint in the winter, I have a blog post on it here!

How to Upgrade Your Stairs: Cutting the Stairs

This part made me VERY nervous! I am going in with my jigsaw to attempt to cut the ends off of each of my stair treads. I am doing this because I am putting in new treads that will match the flooring that is in the hallway above and through the kitchen and living room. Using a jigsaw to try and cut the stair treads in a straight line was a bad choice. I would not recommend this method; it was very difficult. Once I went through with my jigsaw, I went through with my oscillating multitool to cut off what the jigsaw could not reach. If you are doing this I would recommend using a router or circular saw. After completing the cuts on all of the treads, I am painting the side of the stairs black to match the risers.

Adding New Treads to the Stairs

When the paint on the side of the stairs has dried, I am checking out my new treads. They have a laminate casing across them! I realized that the front lip is going to extend too far out and could be a tripping hazard. Because of this realization, I have to cut off the front of each tread. I have learned my lesson from cutting the sides of each stair, so I am using my circular saw to cut off the front. The circular saw went much smoother than the jigsaw!

Now that the cutting is done, it is finally time to install my new laminate stair treads. I am starting with a landing strip at the top. I am applying construction adhesive in an S-shaped pattern. Once I have the glue in place, I flip the landing strip over and tape it in place until the glue dries. It is important to not walk on this for at least 12 hours. I am doing the same process on the stair treads that I cut. You do not need to nail down these stair treads and you also do not need underlayment. I am not taping the treads into place, I am just putting pressure on them.

Final Touches

Now that my treads are in place it is time to put my stair railing back in place. My stair railing was made to have carpet go around it, but I think it looks just fine laid on top of the new stair tread. To attach the railing I am predrilling holes through the laminate and then sinking screws down that go into the wood below my laminate tread. Next, I am running a bead of siliconized latex caulk along all of the seams on the top of the treads. This is also going to help hold the treads in place!

The final product of these stairs looks SO GOOD! I revived what was once carpeted, outdated, and disgusting. Now, the stairs are modern and flow so well with the rest of the lakehouse!

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Table of Contents

• Prepping to Create the DIY Concrete Backsplash
• Mixing the Concrete for the New Backsplash
• Trowelling on the First Layer of Concrete
• Adding the Second Layer of Concrete
• Sanding and Sealing the DIY Concrete Backsplash
• Adding the Finishing Touches

Prepping to Create the DIY Concrete Backsplash

I am doing a concrete-look backsplash that flows right onto the counter. I am going to color this to be a soft beige. To start this part of the project, I am taping off my cabinets so I do not ruin their brand new paint job. To prep the sheetrock backsplash to accept the microtech concrete topping, I am putting on a waterproofing membrane. This is going to help with adhesion and prevent the concrete layer from cracking over time. I did two coats of this stuff, I rolled it on with a thick roller.

We are now placing the last slab of concrete countertop into the corner to create the L-shaped countertop. This was not place this with the others because I needed an electrician to come in and wire for my stove. I was unsure how to stabilize the seam where the counter meets the drywall so it would not crack. I decided to run a bead of caulk there in hopes that this would do the trick.

Mixing the Concrete for the New Backsplash

Now that everything is prepped and in place, I am mixing up the micro tech concrete topping. This is mostly water, but I am adding specialty concrete powder to it. This process comes in two different parts for the two different layers that will be applied. The first layer of this is generally darker, I also am coloring mine with sun buff colorant. With the first layer, you are going to want to be very thorough. If you do not mix it enough the colorant can leave streaks.

Trowelling on the First Layer of Concrete

This micro tech topping gets trowelled onto the surfaces. I realized this product is going to dry FAST on the countertops because it absorbs into the concrete. On my backsplash, I knew the product would not soak in as fast as it would on the countertops. Doing the backsplash first is wise because, on a vertical surface, you will drip little bits of the topping and I do not want to mess up the work I will do on the countertop with drips. I enjoyed the process of trowelling this on because it feels artistic.

On the concrete countertops, the product was drying very quickly. This is because the counters are not sealed with anything, so the concrete is just sucking up the micro tech topping. It sticks beautifully!

Adding the Second Layer of Concrete

I let the first layer of concrete dry completely before coming back to add the second layer. The first layer looks very even! I am going across the first layer with a drywall knife to scrape any high points on the concrete. The second layer of concrete mixes up almost exactly the same way as the first, the only difference is that I tend to mix this one slightly thinner. I am spritzing the first layer with water before applying the second layer. This is done so the product does not absorb too quickly and gets chunky and hard to move. The second layer is lighter in color, this is perfect because as you add the product you can see the darker color peak through. This gives the backsplash beautiful movement and a multi-dimensional look!

Sanding and Sealing the DIY Concrete Backsplash

Once the second layer of micro tech topping is dry, I am going in with my random orbital sander. At this point, I liked how it looked, but I was a little sad because there was less color variation than I was hoping for. It looks a little bit flat and dull. Thankfully this is going to change when I seal it. The first step in sealing is making sure your surfaces are extremely clean. I vacuumed all the concrete and used a sticky tack cloth to wipe everything up.

DIYconcrete.com’s countertop sealer is a food-safe polyurethane. This comes in two different parts, A and B. To mix this up you measure three parts of A and two parts of B and mix that with your paddle drill until it is catalyzed. In addition, this product has an induction time where it just needs to sit. Once its rest time is up, the poly sealant gets diluted with seven parts of water for the first coat. We want the first coat to get soaked up by the concrete. Once the product is not soaked up we can dilute it to one part sealant, two parts water. Before applying the diluted sealant, you must spritz down the concrete again. I am sealing the vertical backsplash first. The sealant is being rolled onto the backsplash, but for the counter, I am flooding it. I did three coats of this sealant!

Adding the Finishing Touches

24 hours after I added my final coat of sealant, I could not wait to install my sink and faucet to see it with the new backsplash and countertops. I love the way this turned out! It is the perfect amount of texture and movement. The poly pulled out some of the darker colors and gave it such a beautiful look!

If you love the way this backsplash turned out and you want to see how I created the rest of this kitchen, click here!

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Table of Contents

• Prep Work
• Pouring Concrete into Molds
• Releasing the Counters from their Molds
• What is Next??

Preparing to Create the DIY Concrete Countertops and Backsplash

I decided I want to cast the countertops from concrete! To begin I am clearing my living room space to use it as an area where we can put down melamine sheets and rails and cast the counters. For this project I am getting a little bit of help from diyconcrete.com. They sent out two of their experts to help me measure the exact dimensions of the counters I want to create. We are also going to be putting down foam rails and modifying the melamine sheet so that the concrete can get poured and solidified into this mold. My countertops will be an inch and a half thing as dictated by the height of the foam rails. I am casting these concrete counters as a stable substrate for me to put another concrete coating over them.

Once our foam molds are created, we are making sure that everything is wiped clean and vacuumed out. This is important to ensure nothing will interfere with the concrete pour. The concrete we are using is a very special formula. It is fortified with three different types of polymers that make it super strong. You can flip them over onto your counter in just 24 hours and they are fully cured in just 7 days!

Pouring the Concrete into the Molds

Once the concrete is mixed to the consistency of pancake batter it is time to pour! You want to pour your first layer into your mold and push it up onto the sides of the rails. You do this to prevent any color variation because you will need more than one bucket to fill these molds. Once enough concrete is poured to reach the top of the rails, pat it down into place. The concrete I am using settles beautifully with just a light pat. We created three pieces for my kitchen. The long piece has the cutout for my sink, and two short pieces, one for a single cabinet and the other for the second part of the L-shaped counter.

Releasing the Counters from their Molds

The evening after I poured the concrete it is time to release the counters from their molds and flip them over on to the cabinets. I called in my family to help with this part of the project! First, I have to remove all of the screws that are holding the molds together. Then, I began to take off the foam rails. Because we did not use the tape on the foam rails like you normally would, it made it so the concrete was a little bit difficult to get free from the molds. We tried prying it off with a crowbar, but it just kept breaking into little pieces. It took quite a bit of time for me to get the rails off. It would have been much quicker if I was going for a smooth finish and had used tape.

Once the countertops were finally out of there molds we are able to flip them. Even though the areas around the sink space are very thin, they did not break. We were careful to flip the counter up on its end and carry it like that. This caused there to be way less pressure on the thin pieces. In order to get the short piece of the L-counter to butt up nice and flush next to the long piece of the counter I had to cut through the drywall a bit. This is so there will be a little pocket to slide the DIY concrete countertop into. This gave me wiggle room so we could adjust the piece of counter into place and get the two seams to come up tight. The other short piece of counter is going right on top of the singleton cabinet.

To Be Continued…

If you were just doing concrete countertops, this is the point where you would let your counters cure completely and seal them…but I am not doing that! If you want to read about how I finished this project and went above and beyond, check back for the blog post on DIY Concrete Backsplash!

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Table of Contents

• Prep Work
• Cutting Lumber
• Assembling the Beams
• Distressing the Beams
• Staining
• Prepping to Hang the Beams
• Hanging the Beams and Finished Beams

Ceiling and Room Prep Work

This ceiling is heavily textured, so the first thing I will do is spray down and scrape this texture. If you want a full tutorial on scraping textured ceilings you can read the blog post! A large part of the preparation for this room transformation is taping the windows and doors to protect them from any debris or paint. Before you scrape any texture off of your ceiling, make sure to test for asbestos. Once my ceiling was scraped it was time to paint. I decided to paint the walls first, then the ceiling afterward. Spraying the ceiling with paint made me nervous, but I did it and it worked so well!

Cutting Lumber to Make the Faux Wood Beams

Now it is time to make the faux wood beams! These beams are going to be massive because the ceiling is so big. I am using a feather board for the first time on this project. I am using this because I am going to attempt a very long bevel cut. The table saw setup is very important for this cut. The long piece of wood needs to be flat on the table saw. To do this I clamp lumber against the rip fence as well as the feather board. I have my table saw set to a little more than 45 degrees, about 46 degrees. This angle gives me some wiggle room in creating the beveled joint. My setup is definitely not professional, I am just working with what I have! I created so much sawdust while doing this cutting!

Once my lumber has been cut the long way, it is time to lay it out and cut the angled ends. Because I am creating beams across a vault, both the top and the bottom need to have angled cuts. I determined that some areas on my walls needed 17-degree angle cuts and some needed 18 degrees. This cutting was very complex! When I had all 5 beams cut, 15 separate pieces of lumber, I was so relieved! I also put a stop block on my miter saw and cut a bunch of 1x4s to the exact distance between the hollow beams.

Assembling the Faux Wood Beams

Now that all my lumber is cut, it is time to assemble the beams! I am going to assemble these by laying the beveled side down and running packaging tape along both of the seams. The packaging tape is going to help hold it together as I try to flip the three pieces of lumber over. When the beams are flipped I apply wood glue to the beveled edges and stick them together. In the places where the wood is bowing, or not perfectly straight, I am shooting brad nails in to hold it tight. The next day, when the glue was dry, I am removing all of the packaging tape that I applied when flipping the lumber over. The joint is so strong, the wood glue is so strong.

Distressing the Wood Beams

Now that my beams look perfect, I am going to put them through the ringer! I want them to look like old-world beams like they have been weathered through time. I am going to start the distressing process by using a planar, this hand planar is going to randomly take thickness off in different areas on every side of these beams. Once I am done using that, I am going in with my jigsaw. I am using the jigsaw to rough up all of the edges. I used a few more distressing techniques to rough up this wood including; a wire brush drill bit and whipping them with chains.

Staining

Once the distressing is done, I am going in with 80-grit sandpaper on my random orbital sander to sand all of my beams. This is to get rid of the slivers I made while distressing and also to prepare the lumber for staining. The stain that I mixed up is custom, I mixed chestnut and American walnut. I did this in an attempt to match the existing trim in the living room. It was so fun to put stain on these beams because all of the distressing details came to life.

Preparing to Hanging the Faux Wood Beams

To hang these faux wood beams I first need to plan out where they will go using my laser level. The laser-level casts perpendicular and parallel lines across the ceiling. I measured out exactly how my 5 beams would be evenly spaced and marked that on the wall, and then I cast my laser level to make a perfectly straight line across the entire ceiling. This allows me to use Sharpie on the ceiling and mark where I should put my supports. I am not running a full board of supports for this beam, I am just putting the small supports exactly where I need to screw the boards in. I am using my magnetic stud finder on the wall side of my laser level to see if there is a ceiling joist.

If there is a ceiling joist where I want my beam I will be screwing wood to wood and it will be very strong. If the beam does not align with a ceiling joist I will install with toggle bolts. The supports are the spacers cut to the width of the inside of the hollow wood beams. The top and bottom of each beam will get the same supports. I want the beam to be attached to both the wall and the ceiling, it needs a lot of connection points. It is so important that these beams do not sag or fall.

Hanging the Faux wood Beams

To hang these beams I am getting help. My neighbor and husband are holding the beams in place and I am coming through and screwing them into place. I pre-drilled holes into the beam so I knew exactly where to put the screws. Some of the spots needed some coaxing to get flush with the ceiling. These beams are very secure to the ceiling. I am in awe of how good these beams turned out! If you liked this interior upgrade DIY and want to see more, my post on how to lay self leveling concrete is a great place to start!

I am in awe of how good these beams turned out! If you liked this interior upgrade DIY and want to see more, my post on how to lay self leveling concrete is a great place to start!

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Table of Contents

• Prep Work
• Cutting the Drywall
• Ceiling Patch
• Hanging the Drywall
• Building a Recessed Cavity
• More Drywall Hanging
• Taping and Mudding

Prepping Behind the Walls for How to Hang Drywall by Yourself

I had a plumber come in and reroute the lines into the wall. He also replaced the copper piping for the drain and vent. The plumber also gave me a shower which I am so excited about. To start, I am reinforcing some of the vertical studs with 2x4s that I am placing horizontally on top of the damaged base plate of the wall. I am also going to close up the cavity from the medicine cabinet by adding a stud.

The insulation in these walls needs to be replaced, it is ripped and ruined. I am just pushing the insulation behind the wall because it will not do any harm in there. Once the old insulation is out of the way, I have to cut a new piece of insulation. I am stapling the new piece of insulation to the studs. I am also replacing the insulation around the exterior wall, but I have to replace the window first!

Cutting and Prepping Drywall

I am measuring 4 feet down the wall and marking. Then, I am going to screw in small pieces of 2x4s to use as a kind of shelf. I will set the piece of drywall on top of it. I am doing this so that I do not have to have a person sitting there holding the drywall up while I screw it in. Some people choose to do the bottom piece of drywall first, but I am choosing to do the top first because the ledge is not thick enough. I am using an impact driver to screw in the 2x4s because it is so much stronger and I do not have to pre-drill. I am using an Xacto knife to pre-cut the drywall. Then, I give it a pat so it busts right down the line that I cut.

Ceiling Patch

Before I can put up the walls I have to patch up my ceiling. I ran my new insulation through the ceiling and my electrician came and fixed the electric wiring in the walls and ceiling. I cut my ceiling board, which is thicker than the drywall used on the walls. This is going to be hung above where the sink will be. This part could use two pairs of hands, but I did it alone so it was a bit tricky. I pushed the square of drywall into the ceiling with the help of my head and used my driver to put screws in.

Hanging the Drywall

Once my drywall was cut to size and the ceiling was patched up it was time to hang the drywall. I ended up cutting my big sheets into two smaller sheets, that made it more manageable for me. The first piece of drywall I placed fit so well!. Once the first piece was placed I moved on to the second piece. At this point, I am just setting them on the shelves I created out of 2x4s. With both of the top pieces places, I am putting the bottom piece of drywall into place.While I am placing the bottom piece I am using my oscillating multitool to cut the drywall to fit. To keep all of these sheets of drywall in place, I am using by driver to screw them into the studs.

My plumber forgot to put a nail plate over the pipes and I put a screw through one of them, so I did have to take a break from hanging drywall to let the wood dry.

Building a Recessed Cavity

While letting the wood dry I am building a little nook. I want to do a recessed cavity next to the vanity, between the wall studs. This is going to give me the storage I need because I will no longer have a medicine cabinet. To put the little storage space into the wall I need support lumber, I drilled pocket holes into both ends of a 2×4 so the screws go at an angle into the studs. Before I screw this in I need to level it. Once the support lumber is level I am screwing it into the studs. I am going to add the nook itself a little later when the drywall is installed fully. I will install it by nailing it in to the studs next to and below it.

Back to Hanging Drywall by Yourself

Now that my studs are dry, I am going to hang the drywall. I successfully screwed the bottom sheet of drywall in without hitting another pipe or the nail plate. When placing the sheets of drywall, before screwing them in, I am making sure the sheets are tight together at the seams. It is important, when screwing in the drywall, that the screw goes just barely beneath the surface of the drywall. You do not want them sticking up above the drywall, but you do not want to stick them too deep so they do not hold.

Taping and Mudding Drywall

Once all of my drywall has been hung and the screws have been hung every 8-ish inches, it is time to tape and mud. I am filling my seams with joint compound. Once the seam has been filled I use paper tape, it is the best for crack prevention. I measure out how much tape I need, cut it, run it through a bucket of water, then apply it to the joint compound. In the corners, I am putting mud on both sides then using the perforation on the tape to get the 90-degree angle I need. Most visible areas in this bathroom are going to get three coats of this because I am doing a flat wall, not a textured wall. Once all of my mud is dry, I am going to sponge-sand it flat.

Once you have finished sanding, you are done and the wall is ready for primer and paint! I hope this post helped you build your confidence in how to hang drywall by yourself! If you liked this interior upgrade DIY and want to see more, my post on how to lay self leveling concrete is a great place to start!

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Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Placing Brackets for the Shelves
• Lumber for the Shelves
• Sanding and Staining the Shelves
• Cutting Spacers
• Shelving Installation

Starting the Building DIY Ultra Thin Kitchen Open Shelving

I started to build my diy ultra-thin kitchen open shelving with a laser level. This ran a laser across the wall to make sure that my shelves would be mounted properly. I measured to where the shelves needed to be. The floors and the ceilings are a little odd, so a laser level was the best option. When I had everything the way I wanted, I ran painter’s tape along the laser line and painted it dark so I would have a permanent level line to base my shelving brackets on.

Placing Brackets for the Shelving

To completely hide the bracket hardware that will hold these shelves up I am lining them up with the level line, then tracing around the bracket and finding the stud with a magnetic stud finder! I am then cutting out the drywall where the bracket will sit. This is so I can recess the bracket behind it right on the stud. These brackets hold 150 pounds, I want this shelf to be very strong. I want it to be ablet to hold plate stacks and other heavy things. I do not want them to sag away from the wall. This is why I staggered the brackets one up, one down. Once the brackets are screwed in place, I am covering the brackets with fiber tape and three coats of mud. Once the brackets are covered I am painting over the mud, you would never guess these brackets are recessed into the wall!

Lumber for the Shelves

Once the brackets are in place I am going to start cutting the lumber. Solid lumber would have been too expensive, so I am using cabinet-grade maple plywood that is 3/4 inch thick. The shelves I am cutting are going to be 11 inches deep. I am going to bevel all of the edges so they meet at a 45-degree angle. This is going to make the wood pieces look like one. It took me a total of 5 hours to cut all of this wood

Finishing the Wood

I am using the work pro sanding set to sand down the wood. I wrap my sanding paper around a sponge to soften the edges of the sanding paper. Before staining, I am using a pre-stain wood conditioner. Once the wood conditioner is in place, I will stain it with a chestnut color. I realized that the chestnut color is too light, so I am mixing it with walnut-colored stain.

Cutting Spacers

The next step in this project is to cut spacers. The brackets are what are going to hold the weight of the shelf, but I need a shelf that is 2 and 1/4 inches tall. These spacers are going to go between the two 3/4 inch sheets of plywood to give me exactly the right depth.

Installing the DIY Ultra Thin Kitchen Open Shelving

Step one of this installation is to nail your spacers into your top board. I am nailing them with one-inch long nails 16 gauge Finnish nails. Then I am going to flip my board onto the brackets and am putting little 3/4 inch wood screws through the bottom of the brackets into the plywood. Next, I put the bottom board against the wood spacers and shot 2-inch brad nails through the spacer into the top board. The little spaces between the two boards are 2 1/2 inches wide and are being filled by pieces of plywood that I cut to fit and are being glued down. On the other side of the kitchen, I am doing a longer shelf. These two meet at a 90-degree angle. I am using brad nails to connect the two shelves. To finish the shelves I am coating them in polyurethane.

If you loved this project and want to see the entire kitchen renovation, read my DIY small kitchen makeover blog post!

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Table of Contents

• Beginning the Remodel
• The Vision for this Home
• New Experiences
• Building
• Before and Afters

Beginning the Home Remodel

I began renovating in January of 2022. The first that I got rid of was the carpeting, it was dusty and stinky. This revealed hundreds of staples that I had to pull up. I also scraped texture off every ceiling in this house. The house was left full of things. I had to go through everything and sell, donate, or remove everything I did not need or could not use.

The Vision

The style I wanted to create in this house was a modern cottage vibe. I like this because it is a cozy 1200-square-foot house. In addition, the architecture lends to a cottage style. A big part of what I do comes from repurposing as much of what is in a space as I can. In this project, I repurposed the kitchen cabinets, some furniture that was left behind, as well as the trim work and doors. Some things needed a facelift like the walls and the floors. Every inch of this house got a fresh coat of paint. For the colors I chose warm, saturated, colors like maroon, olive, and mushroom. I also laid new laminate floors in a warm wood tone.

New Experiences During the Home Remodel

Renovating this house gave me so many new experiences! I learned how to use a paint sprayer, pour self-leveling concrete, replace windows, close off an exterior door, and tile! I am completely self-taught, so everything that I learned how to do was taught to me by YouTube. I only hired out for rough-in plumbing for the bathroom, a gas line for the kitchen, and some modified electrical.

Building

One of my favorite parts of this entire remodel is the fact that I have built amazing things with my own two hands! I got to build 17-foot-long faux beams in the living room, a breakfast bench created from the original upper cabinets, a beautiful ceiling design using fretwork panels, and an English cottage fireplace. All of these projects challenged my patience, abilities, and strength, but the gratification of building all of this was well worth it.

Before and Afters

The before and afters of this house are amazing to see! This whole home renovation is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I am so proud that I did it all and of the growth I have seen in myself! There were so many times throughout this experience that I felt in over my head, unsure of how to proceed, or lacked confidence in myself. Through these times I went back to my motto; DIY takes courage over confidence. This helped to pull me through and turn this home into a beautiful space!

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Table of Contents

• Demo and Plumbing
• New Base for the Shower Walls
• Waterproofing the Walls
• Using Musselbound
• How to Tile a Shower

Demolition and Plumbing

To begin this project I demolish the walls down to the studs. Once the walls are completely demolished I call my plumber. He came and extended my plumbing that went to my tub. He brought the plumbing up the wall to create a shower system as well. The next step in my demolition was to remove and replace the old insulation and the old window.

New Base for the Shower Walls

After the insulation and window have been replaced I am putting up new drywall. When my drywall is all in place it is time to caulk the seams. I am choosing to do this instead of drywall mud because I need it to be not water permeable. Using caulk does require some precision. My drywall seams have to be within an eighth of an inch apart for the caulking method to work.

Waterproofing the Walls

The caulk was the first step in waterproofing the base of the shower walls. The next step in waterproofing is RedGard. This is a waterproofing membrane that you roll onto the drywall. To apply this you must use thin layers. I am doing three layers to make sure I have a built-up and continuous membrane across all of the drywall. I start by using a brush to apply the RedGard to the corners and any edges like the ceiling. Then, I used a roller to do the rest of the wall. I am also going to roll this onto the wall beyond where the tile will be because this will protect an area where water can also be sprayed on.

How to Tile a Shower Using Musselbound

For this project, I am not using cement board to tile the shower, instead, I am using an innovative new product called Musslebound. This is essentially a waterproof sticker that is highly adhesive and you stick your tiles directly to it. Before applying Musslebound to the wall it has to be completely dry and completely flat.

To apply this to the wall, stick the adhesive to the top of the shower wall, then begin rolling downwards. You have to push the adhesive to the wall as you are unrolling it, I am using a weighted roller, you have to push hard to make sure it sticks well. You can pull it up before completely sticking it down to adjust the mat and make sure it is flat. To cut the Musslebound around the shower lines, I cut an X and then popped it over. When I get to my window opening I am cutting and wrapping the Musslebound around that as well.

How to Tile a Shower

I have never tiled before, so that means I had to buy myself a wet saw to cut the tile! Before I do anything I do a lot of pre-planning as to how I am going to lay my tiles. This is important because the margin for error is very small when using Musslebound. I am cutting all of my tiles very carefully and lining them up with my laser level to make sure that they will all be straight. I do all of this without removing the liner from the Musslebound so I can mark and measure without permanently placing the tiles.

To make sure that the tiles adhere to the Musslebound I dried them off with a towel and put them out in the sun. When I remove the liner from the Musslebound, I apply seam tape up all of the seams so everything is continuously sticky. My tiles are being laid in a vertical staggered short-side pattern. I begin to lay my tiles by simply sticking them to the Musslebound with tile spacers in between every edge of the tile, the spacer I am using is 332. When I am placing the tiles I hold them for a few seconds to press them against the Musslebound to make sure they adhere. When all my tiles are laid, I go in and grout normally!

Now that my shower is tiled, I can continue the rest of my bathroom renovations. If you would like to see how the entire bathroom turned out click here!

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Table of Contents

• Demolition
• Scraping Popcorn Ceilings
• Cleanup Post Demo
• Painting
• Baseboard and Trim Work
• Prepping the Ceiling
• Fretwork Ceiling Design Installation
• Installing Crown Molding
• Putting in New Carpet
• Replacing the Baseboards
• Decor and a Look at the Finished Room

Demolition to Begin the Office Transformation

To start demolition for the office transformation I am removing the old finishes. This includes ripping up the stained and smelly carpeting. I also am taking out the underlayment and all the staples. Then, I hammered underneath all of the tack strips and pulled them up. These tack strips were not easy to get up, they used some big nails to nail them down. I removed the baseboards as well because it will be easier to paint this room without them. Next, I am removing the old drapery and the bar along the top of the windowsill. Unfortunately, the bar is drilled into the window casing. I am going to have to patch and restain the wood window casing later. The ceiling fan in this room also needs to be removed, it is outdated and I have bigger plans for the light fixture!

Scraping Popcorn Ceilings

Once the demolition is complete, I begin working on the popcorn ceiling. I am scraping the ceiling texture to make the ceiling flat. To start, I am laying plastic over the entire floor to make cleanup easier. To make this ceiling flat I spray the texture with a water and dish soap mixture. Let that soak in for a few minutes. I then get into my gear to keep myself safe and spray it again. After the second spray I begin to scrape, I have done this in a lot of the rooms in this lake house. This is not as scary of a task as you may think, if you want a more in-depth tutorial on how to scrape popcorn ceilings click here.

Cleaning Up After Demolition

Scraping the popcorn texture off of the ceilings is an extremely messy job. When I finish this task I have to wipe everything down to get rid of the dust. When the walls are clean I can patch the holes that have been created from the many nails that were all over the place. After the holes are patched I am finally ready to start painting and begin the office transformation.

Office Transformation Painting

I am starting my painting with crisp white paint. I am rolling this by hand on all of the walls. Hand rolling the paint is easier than spraying because this is such a small room. I also decided that I am going to paint the ceiling to vamp up this office transformation. The color for the ceiling is anything but boring, I chose Village Green by Behr. This color is kind of a sage green. Everything got two coats of paint, when the colors were opaque I was ready to start working on the baseboards.

Baseboard and Trim Work

I have already removed the baseboards, so they are ready to be sanded down all the way. In addition, I am going to fill in all of the nail holes as well. I want to refinish them to hopefully make them look brand new. While I sand the baseboards I am also sanding the whole front face of the window trim to blend in where I filled the blemishes. I am going to stain the window trim at the same time. This is all going to match the existing trim work. Because all of the trim in this house is a couple of decades old and is faded, I could not find an exact stain match in the stores. I decided to mix two colors of stain, American Walnut and Chestnut by Varathane, to get my desired color. I only put one coat of the stain on and then wiped it off. To finish the trim off I reseal it.

Ceiling Transformation Prep Work

The most stand-out portion of this office transformation is the accent ceiling. I am creating an amazing three-dimensional design on the ceiling. To do this I have to figure out how to paint my fretwork panels, I got mine from architecturaldepot.com. The idea I came up with to paint these is using a lazy Susan and my paint sprayer. I taped cardboard onto the lazy Susan to protect it from getting spray all over. Next, I put two 2×4 scraps on top to elevate the fretwork panel. Now I have a homemade spraying station. I can now paint my fretwork panels without getting dips from trying to roll or brush these.

Office Transformation Fretwork Ceiling Installation

To install my fretwork panels for the office transformation I lined up my laser level centered with the light fixture. Then, I placed my first panel centered on that. I am going to build everything on the design off of this. After I had my first one nailed into place it was very easy to keep building off. These fretwork panels are perfectly square, so it all worked out without having to continue using the laser level.

To nail the fretwork panels in I am using my cordless  brad nailer and a one and three eighth inch nail. I did not want a nail that is too long because it might hit wires in the ceiling or duct work. I picked something just long enough to go through the half inch fretwork panel, the drywall, and not much more.

Around the edges of the wall where I had to cut the fretwork panels I taped three together, then used a jigsaw to cit it to width. This does not give me the smoothest cut possible, but the edges of this accent ceiling are going to have crown molding anyway. My cut did not have to be perfectly straight or clean.  The cut panels finish out the ceiling perfectly. To finish off the ceiling I am adding a new chandelier.

Crown Molding Installation

Now it is time to move on to crown molding, for this office transformation I wanted crown molding to extend the height of the walls up. To do this I painted the molding the same color as white on the walls. Painting the molding white did exactly what I hoped it would, it made the room look taller and bigger. I install the crown using corner pieces which made it so easy, I stuck the 90 degree corner in, nailed it in place, and built from there. This eliminates the need for compound miter cuts that make crown so difficult and confusing. When the installation is complete I fill in all of my nail holes on the white pieces of molding with wood filler and caulked all of the seams. Then, I give the molding another coat of paint to make it blend seamlessly.

Carpet Installation to Soften the Office Makeover

Now that the ceiling is complete I can turn my attention to the floors. Although I removed the carpet I still want a warm, cozy, feeling in this office transformation. I also wanted to dampen a lot of sound in the room. Because of this, I have decided to reinstall carpet. The carpet I am using is carpet tiles. These hold in place with special technology on the back that utilizes the physics behind molecular gravity to suction to any hard floor. The tiles do not move around unless you pick them up and break the suction. Placing them next to each other and staggering the seams, these carpet tiles allow the whole room to be carpeted beautifully. The seams are slightly visible when I am done, so I am adding a rug to cover some of them up. Carpet tiles are especially DIY friendly because you can cut them with a utility knife, you just score it and then cut all the way through. This makes it so easy, even to cut and lay carpet around complicated things. 

Replacing the Baseboards

Once the carpet is fully installed I am replacing the baseboards. I am using my brad nailer again, this time with slightly longer nails. My nails are lined up with where the studs are going to be. I am using a magnetic stud finder to find exactly where to put my nails. This makes the molding sick really tightly to the wall.  The refreshed baseboards really bring the office transformation together.

Office Transformation Decor

For decoration in this office transformation I am going to repurpose a large frame I got at a thrift store. I am going to turn it into a beautiful canvas painting. To do this I evenly spread out mod podge and wrap the glass with a bed sheet. When the sheet has set on the glass I can begin to paint. I am painting a field with golds and greens. I am using some colors from the house renovation so everything blends and matches. The wood frame I am spray painting gold, if you want to see a more in depth tutorial on how to spray paint in the winter click here. When the frame is dry, I reassemble the painting back together and hang it on the wall. To accentuate my new painting I a hanging some accessory lighting on either side. These sconces are not hardwired, I simply am using magic LED lightbulbs. These recharge in a regular lamp socket and turn on and off with a remote. Last to add to this room is more tapestry, I am adding thick blackout velvet curtains in the color champagne. I of course also assembled and added the office furniture.

This office transformation was very extreme, from bland, outdated, blue bedroom to a comfortable, interesting working space. It has created a space that I can complete a lot of work in, I hope you enjoy this office transformation! If you loved this room transformation and want to see more, start on my bedroom makeover!

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