Internet Friends, Tile, and Tired Faces

Guuuuuys. Holy shit, what a week. There wasn’t a spare minute in the last few days to let you know what’s been going on around here other than some brief social media updates, and that’s because Sarah (you know, my DIY internet bestie– and occasional nemesis–from The Ugly Duckling House) came to stay at the farm for a few days and force me to finish a goddamn project already help me tile my upstairs tub surround.

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WHAT.

I know, you thought I forgot about that bathroom… and you’re right. I did. And I intended to keep on forgetting about it until it got reallyeffingcold here again and I wanted to take a bath for the first time in four years, and then maybe I would have started tiling again. But Sarah got here Tuesday night and as I was giving her the grand tour of the house she stopped in the upstairs bathroom and was like, “OH HELL NO, we are finishing this shit before I leave.”

And I was like… can I take a nap first?

It’s been a really long and emotionally draining month, what with the film crew here (and putting on a big dinner for family and friends), and then trying pull together financing for making a big land purchase (before losing it at auction), on top of all the other required life activities like doing my job well, and making sure the animals are fed.

Oh, and I got this crazy idea that before Sarah showed up I should try to make the guest room in my house look a little less… well. A little less like this…

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Nothing says “WELCOME TO THE FARM YOU’RE ABOUT TO GET AXE MURDERED” like a guest room straight outta the Bates Motel.

So, before Sarah got here, I painted, and bought some things (like this quilt and this bed) and…

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Okay, it’s better. But this room still looks a little ridiculous because 1.) The bed ended up being A LOT lower to the ground than I anticipated, and 2.) I couldn’t find any appropriately-sized side tables. Plus the room needs curtains and some shit on the walls (not actual shit… yeah, I’m looking at you, chickens) and I need to do something with this mess…

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BUT the nice thing about having another DIYer who lives in a perpetually under-construction house come and visit you is that they totally get it. DIYers have a no-judgement code about this stuff, and if Sarah had any issue about living in the middle of my mess for a few days, she sure didn’t show it.

We spent a lot of time talking about life and houses and dudes and power tools and how crazy-awesome it is that we live at a time where we just sort of toss these really honest and authentic stories about our lives and the work we do out into the world (via internet), and such amazing friendships and inspiration (and the occasional kick-in-the-pants to get things done) comes from it.

Sarah also taught me about a new app called Periscope that allows you to livestream whateverthehell you’re doing AND allows other people to ask questions and participate real-time. I’m highly skeptical every time bloggers jump on some new social-media platform (sometimes it feels like a mad-rush to be a part of “the next big thing” just to get more readers, regardless of whether or not it’s actually a good storytelling medium.) But, first of all, I already know and like Sarah (she’s younger and more hip than I am) so I trust her judgement on this stuff, plus give me a few beers and a video camera and ALL BETS ARE OFF, amirite?

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(I’m the one on the left that looks like an effing goofball… Sarah is the one who looks fairly sane.)

So with Periscope you can view a livestream (and comment while it’s happening) OR it’s available to watch for 24 hours after it goes live… and after that all of the hilarity disappears into the ether, uh, apparently. I’m pretty sure our funniest livestream was Wednesday night, but that video has already disappeared… however if you want to see our tired faces you can check out last nights completely exhausted and somewhat incoherent discussion on Sarah’s feed until about 1AM Saturday by downloading the Periscope app and looking up @uglyducklingdiy.

I’m not sure if this is a thing I want to do regularly (or if anyone will think it’s actually interesting) but it got me thinking… specifically about the Ask An Expert chat I did about home improvement over on Lifehacker a while back and how hard it is to describe things real-time without being able to physically show pictures or draw things out. SO. I have an idea.

I always have an idea…

This Saturday (9/5) I’m going to do a Beer & Building Hour under my current Periscope handle (@kitliz). If you have any burning building questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer them OR join the Periscope chat tomorrow (which I think will be around 4:30 EST, but with all the things that go on around the farm and/or the amount of beer I hope to consume tomorrow, who the hell knows?) I’ll post to facebooktwitter, and insta before I go live…

We’ll see if this is any fun… if so, I’ll make it a weekly thing.

In the meantime, I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to spend quality time with Sarah and couldn’t be more thankful for the work she did on the spare bath…

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Because it’s a far cry from what it looked like a year ago…

tub_beforeUgh. I just gagged.

I’ll definitely have more updates soon, but this weekend I’m going to take a little time for rest and recovery and laying around in my hammock, because it has been one hell of a month…

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And then I’m going to finish what Sarah started on that damn bathroom. I swear.

20 Responses

  1. A few years ago, my oldest kid broke his ankle. By the time his ankle was healed, my toilet flange was broken. It’s my only bathroom and I’ve been putting off a major renovation on it forever because a)money and b)it’s the only bathroom in the house. But, last weekend I found a toad stool growing beside the toilet. For real – a toad stool.

    So the rusty tub is nowhere near as nice as the tile, but it looks a whole lot better than my bathroom!

    The toilet, or should I say what is under the toilet, is hopefully on my to-do list this weekend.

  2. I enjoyed the periscope sessions. I look forward to seeing what your Q and A sessions bring.
    I’ll be honest, I don’t know how many questions I’ll ask. I felt kind of like a stalker after asking about your red cabinets. Haha
    Seriously though, you were about imaged and entertaining.

  3. I am so freaking excited!!! I stumbled upon your awesome website a few months ago when I was looking up bathroom remodels, (I love your subway tile, btw) I kept reading and waiting for the finishing of this room, I ended up really, really, really enjoying your website!!!! I promise I’m going to keep following you even if you finish the bathroom!!!!

  4. Up Periscope….ha! quite creative amazing silly fun app, I have yet to download it, I have no doubt it is entertaining n informational 😉 Inspirational, motivational bestie dyi net buddy and yourself did a nice addition to the bath tile project ( the Sistine (spl) chapel cealing wasn’t painted over night and it’s not like you haven’t had other more pressing things on your list or have been hanging out in bars ( they can be the wurst ) playing beer pong all night. It’s nice that you have other facilities available so you don’t have to rush a project you want just right. The part of a project like that, which keeps me on it wanting to get it done and finished is the cleaning up the grout film on the tile and sealing it all, buffing and standing back admiring your creation you designed and did yourself. It’s turning out awesome and very period for the vintage of the house 🙂 It would look great on my shop / Cave floor in 18″ X 18″ cognolium flooring in the storage area, w/flexible latexgrout…but that’s down on the list a ways. I’ve had a hammock for 25 yrs. (new in the box) I’ve moved twice with me I need to build a stand for and get some use out of 🙂
    ~ constant growth ~

    Jack

  5. Awesome job ladies. You two are at the top of my favorite blogs. I love how you are getting things done but aren’t afraid to be all “Eh, that shit ain’t going to happen right now. I’ll finish it later.” I do love seeing other bloggers fly right through a project but I wonder how the hell they have time and energy to do that.

  6. Hey Kit,

    Amazing work, that is surely one hell of a “before and after” picture of that room. Love the white color and the light that is coming from the windows – great combination. I wouldn’t worry about putting a picture on the wall, it looks good the way it is.

    Am a big fan of Sarah’s blog and make sure to visit it often – good to know that you are off line friends as well. Good work on the bathroom tile, it sure is fun when 2 Diyers hang out together.

    Personally, I haven’t started out with Periscope yet, every now and then something is thrown in via. technology and we have to jump in … I guess facebook, twitter, pinterest etc. is just enough to get along for now …

    thanks,
    – Pakhi

  7. Bathroom looks great! Bedroom does, too, and without seeing the room in it’s entirety, it looks like the low bed might be just fine as the ceiling slopes down towards the window. Suggestion…cut the nightstands down!

  8. Hi sweetheart,

    I thought I’d leave a post because you must’ve mixed my number up with a previous boyfriends or possibly a red headed step child’s !!! It’s the only reason I could think of you haven’t called me back. I hope your visit was nice and you get a chance to relax. Call me when you get a chance. You know I’m old so don’t wait too long. Xoxoxo

  9. Please come and help me finish my tile surround now! Either of you. I’ve got ample beer and assorted booze options. 😀

  10. Love, love, love you and Sarah together. I’ve always thought you two look a little like sisters, but seeing a side-by-side of you guys confirms it. Thanks for sharing!

  11. I’ve been following custom products & information recently and found the tips to be solid. However some tile installer they showed drew his trowel lines parallel with the long side of the tile instead of perpendicular like they advice to me

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