Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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When Home Projects Go Wrong

I learned in grade school that trying to be perfect would probably result in a caffeine-pill-fueled freakout a la Jesse Spano (yes, many of my life lessons were learned thanks to Saved By The Bell). Pretty much since then I’ve been in the camp of try-to-do-it-right-but-perfect-isn’t-possible.

So sometimes it’s weird when people mention that they think we live in this perfect world where nothing goes wrong and we never fight and life is just hunky-dory from the minute we wake up to the minute we go to bed. Unicorns and rainbows if you will. I think sharing Clara’s birth story helped a little in that regard (that day was definitely not the fairytale that we expected). But beyond dealing with some serious and scary moments like that, we’re also no strangers to everyday stresses. In other words, just like the rest of the world, stuff doesn’t always go our way. We fight, our house gets messy, we go over budget, projects take way longer than we expected, our moving truck gets stuck in the snow. We like to joke that we’re so normal it’s crazy, so chances are if you deal with it at home (dust bunnies, burned dinners, stupid arguments, spilled milk, broken china ceramic animals) it also goes down here.

Broke Dog Full

But since our blog is mainly just a big diary about our home improvement projects and making our house a home, it’s hardly fitting to devote a post to our latest argument about Clara’s missed nap or the dust bunny under our TV stand (this just in: dust happens, and if you don’t see it we’re just not zoomed in enough, haha). But when things don’t work out like we hoped in the home improvement realm we always try to share those trials right along with our triumphs (the good, the bad, and the ugly all have a place here). Like this post about a ton of mistakes that we hope we don’t make again and this post about a failed recycled glass project and this one about a bummer of a string lantern attempt. We’ve even posted a super candid average day video with junk all over the place and I’ve shared my goo-related secret. Our house is not a showroom, that’s for sure.

Failed Project Boo

And although we pride ourselves on being cheap-os who hunt down deals, save our pennies, and research projects within an inch of their life as we go, we still totally break obliterate the budget from time to time. Take the patio we’re currently putting in, for example. Going into it I was intensely naive. “I’m certain it’s a two day under $500 project.” Famous last words, right? Originally we were going to go for those cheap 12 x 12″ gray concrete pavers at Lowe’s and Home Depot (I think they’re around $1 a pop) so I thought we’d just need to dig out a flat spot and lay ’em down. Maybe it would come to $450 tops with some ground tamping tools and all the pavers. Then we decided we should do it right and match the fancier cobblestone pavers in our driveway, which turned out to be around $2.67 a square foot at Home Depot…

Paver Price 267

…and a whopping $3+ at Lowe’s. Our patio will be around 300 square feet, so $3 a square foot = $900 in just stone (let alone other supplies). We hoped that pricing out something local might save our budget and headed to a place nearby (Southside Builder’s Supply) and found out that they offered even higher quality cobblestone pavers than Home Depot and Lowe’s (that match our driveway and are made locally- score) for just $2 a square foot (67 cents cheaper than Orange and a dollar cheaper than Blue – which really adds up). Plus it was just fun to walk around their multi-stone sample patios to see what things would look like all laid out:

Stone Yard

So after our local stone yard reconnaissance mission we felt pretty good about our deal seeking skillz and returned home to start digging up the side yard. And in a post about that I mentioned that the patio project would hopefully run us under 1K (I readjusted from my original $500 guess after realizing that cobblestone pavers to match our driveway would be pricier than the cheap $1 concrete square pavers that we originally planned to use). How did I get to 1K? Well, 300 square feet of stone at $2 a square foot = $600. And we figured that around $400 in gravel and sand and other materials and supplies should be about right.

More famous last words. But we’ll get to that.

First, we figured we’d do some digging before heading back over to the stone yard to place our order. Just to be sure we could get a nice level bed to place stones and not hit some unforseen craziness like a buried car or something that would make a non-returnable $600 purchase of cobblestone pavers a bad move. Remember that John had a little liriope digging party last week but we still had that brick path to remove? Well, at first it came up really easily…

Patio Brick Demo

… until we learned that half of it was laid on top of a huge thick slab of concrete…

Patio Concrete

… which took some pretty major sledgehammering to get through (and effectively demonstrated how NOT a two day project this was, seeing as we were already on day two without a single paver in sight).

Patio Dug Out

But lo and behold, John got ‘er done. Ding dong the path is out. It took longer than we guessed and hubs was more than a little sore but it was a pretty sweet victory indeed (we worried we’d have to rent a demolition hammer for the thick concrete slab but John was a rock star with the sledgehammer).

He’ll drop in with more details about the entire digging process soon, but back to our stone order. After all that brick was up, we headed back over to the stone yard to place our order and were blown away when they worked up a grand total for us. Are you ready? $1,565. I almost dropped the baby. How could $600 worth of stone nearly triple when it came to the total cost? After I got a little color back into my cheeks I managed to stammer “ok, what can we do to get that down, because it’s waaaaaay over our budget.” Notice I was the one doing the talking stammering – John hates negotiating so it falls into the things-I-do category. Oh well, he does laundry so it’s all good. Anyway, we worked with this lady Jeri (she was great) for at least an hour to get costs down (we reduced the amount of gravel we were getting, which then allowed all of our cargo to come in one truckload- which reduced the delivery fees we were being charged and we even negotiated a discount on the stone and downgraded from the fancy top layer of sand to regular sand).

In the end we got our total down substantially, but nowhere beneath our 1K goal. We walked out of there paying $1,260 for all of the stone, gravel, sand, border edging, and stakes that we needed (well actually $1,340 but we’ll get an $80 deposit back when we return some of the bags that our shipment comes in). But that total still doesn’t include the tamping tools, landscaping fabric, and a few other supplies we still have to purchase/rent. And you might remember that we mentioned wanting to add a 6′ privacy fence along the back wall, so if you toss that expense in on top of everything else it’s fair to say that this might end up being a $1,500-2K undertaking when it’s all said and done. Which is definitely a far cry from that original stupid-me $500 budget that I tossed out in the beginning. Oops.

Patio Plan Sketch

But there’s no use whining about it right? I mean don’t get me wrong, I whined the whole way home from that stone yard, even after we negotiated our total from nearly $1,600 to $1,260, but there’s no sense in blog-whining about it (although sometimes sew-crying can lead to blog-whining). But we did want to share our budget explosion with you guys to demonstrate that junk like this just tends to happen in the home improvement game. Not all the time, but definitely some of the time.

In the end we’re still psyched to save some major money by tackling it ourselves (hiring someone to whip up a 300 square foot patio with the same materials would run us around 5K+) and we’re sure we’ll get a ton of use out of it so it’s still well worth the time, loot, and effort. See there I go being all cheerful about something annoying that happened. Haha. More pluses: I get to see John get all dirty. Which is always my idea of a good time. And Clara can have some fun with chalk and a baby pool out there when it’s done, which is going to be priceless. We just try to keep plugging away, even when curve balls like broken budgets or broken spirits threaten to derail us. Such is the DIY way I think. You just gotta keep on keeping on or you lose momentum and might never pick up the ol’ hammer (or crowbar or shovel or paintbrush) again.

So all of this is to say, I know that I’m annoyingly enthusiastic most of the time, and John can be a pretty chipper guy too. But crap happens. We just try to make the best of it. And you’d be surprised how helpful it is to blog/blab about failures and shortcomings (the entire reason we started this blog was because John wanted to blow off some kitchen-planning steam and we thought it would be fun to keep our family in the loop about it). So I highly recommend publicly airing your dirty home improvement laundry to come to terms with it and maybe even find a few folks who can commiserate, offer some helpful advice, and encourage you along the way. Seriously, blog-venting = our Prozac. And you guys are our therapists. So thanks. You know we love a good deal, and free therapy is up there with paint sales and appliance close-outs.

Psst- Ahhh, Mother’s Day is coming. Check out this week’s BabyCenter post about how I spent the last one and how I’m guessing we’ll spend this one (aside from hopefully laying some pavers).

Comments

  3. Kate says

    That clip is classic. I remember watching Saved by the Bell when I was a kid, and I definitely remember that episode (which I loved and found insanely corny at the same time). But sometimes in high school that pretty much was me, except sub in pop for pills and a little less melodrama, haha.

    Here’s a question for you: I know you two have a lot of DIY under your (tool) belt at this point, but what were the biggest “opps” that happened when you were just starting out? Were there any early accidents that pop out in your mind? Paint all over the ceiling? A trip to the ER when a screwdriver slipped (that happened to my dad…)?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We painted all of the trim in our house with flat paint. Had no idea it should be semi-gloss or gloss so it’s wipeable. There was more than a little swearing when we had to redo the entire house with the right paint.

      xo,
      s

  4. Ann says

    Be careful when using a tamp! My son tamped himself (he was bending over it and it rebounded and hit him in the forehead)and is now healing after enduring 10 stitches. Of course he thinks it looks cool and has made up a story to make it sound better… We tease him that he needs to stay away from power tools if he can’t handle the manual ones!

    Reply

  5. Callie says

    Sigh isn’t it crazy how expensive landscaping is! I totally understand. We’re currently saving to pave our crappy-gravel driveway – I’m drooling over stamped-cement edges, but not sure if we’ll be able to spend the money – so like you Sherry I’m negotiating any way I can! Looking for pavers, I always keep an eye on craigslist under the Materials section…just in case… ;)

    Reply

  6. Bryn says

    Hi Sherry,
    We definitely can relate to home improvement mishaps around here:) When we did our patio I thought it would be a 2 day project as well. And we were like you in originally planning on the cheap HD pavers. Luckily for you, you changed your mind before you hauled all the pavers home. We bought our pavers, took a few trips of loading them in the mini van, driving home, carting them to the back yard in the wheelbarrow….only to then realize we wanted something else! We wheelbarrowed them back to the car, loaded the mini van back up, and took a few more trips back to HD to return them. Then we bought the new pavers and started the whole process again! A whole day wasted and almost nothing to show for it except a dirty van and sore backs:) Such is the price of DIY and getting it done right. Our patio was a lot of work but as I type this I am sitting on my patio and watching my 2 year old twins naked and splashing and playing with their sand/water table….it will be worth it the end.

    Reply

  7. Ashley says

    Ha ha–I can totally relate–we did a paver patio with the same product and when it came time to order the gravel and sand I TOTALLY miscalculated the amount of sand we needed, so we ended up with probably two or three times too much sand. Which meant that we payed more than we should have, not only for the sand, but for the delivery because we went over the weight threshold for the cheap delivery rate. And then we had to figure out what to do with all the excess sand! Sigh….. I guess you shouldn’t put an English major in charge of the math.

    Reply

  8. Genevieve Ferraro says

    So refreshing to hear things don’t always go smoothly at ‘younghouselove’ land. And it’s also entertaining to see how you deal with the goof-ups. Do you have a favorite ‘project failure or mistake’? That maybe worked out for the best?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, I think the one we linked to in this post about the failed string lanterns wasn’t too bad in the end because it helped us think outside the box enough to turn bulb covers from the home improvement store into hanging lanterns on the porch.

      xo,
      s

  9. Marjorie says

    DH and I undertook a similar project last spring. In the midst of an already major remodel that included re-graveling a driveway and excavating a sinkhole, dh had the gravel guy use his bobcat to rip out our front sidewalk and enormous ivy bushes. http://lettresdemonmoulin.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/adding-a-stone-walkway-part-i-the-front-landing/ Not that he knew what he wanted there – just not an old decrepit sidewalk. A trip to the stone supply store and a DIY class in installing a dryset flagstone walk later, 4 tons of materials arrived and we embarked on a huge – but rewarding – project. Now we are thrilled we spent the extra dinero and did it ourselves! http://lettresdemonmoulin.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/stone-walkway-petit-a-petit/

    Reply

  10. kristiina says

    Personally, the reason I keep coming back for more (a few times a day!) is the upbeat/positive/humorous vibe you put out. I don’t want to hear about your little fights, etc!! This is my happy place—for easy, funny, informative reading and pretty pictures LOL

    I love your candor in your writing and also appreciate you leaving out the most of the less fun stuff ;)

    Keep up the good work–we’re depending on you for our daily dose of happy :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s not just the color that would be off, it’s also the size and shape and rounded edges. Our driveway has a bunch of square and rectangular pieces that lock together to look like slightly rounded and antiqued cobblestone, so it’s nothing we could retrofit with the cheaper pavers (unfortunately). But in the end we are convinced it’ll all be worth it. We shall see…

      xo,
      s

  13. Kate @ Savour Fare says

    I would love it if you guys would post actual cost breakdowns for some of your DIY projects. As a fellow cheapskate, er, frugalista, I find myself constantly trying to price things on the internet and getting very frustrated at how opaque things are. We’re thinking of putting in a similar (smaller) patio, but I’ve been trying to think of the relative merits of doing gravel only vs. putting in cobblestone pavers (the previous owners of our house left a whole stack of them from the driveway behind the garage, so Free! for a small patio. Very small.) Anyway, I’d love to know cost breakdowns, though you could have it as a separate part of the site, like the source list.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We do! Check out the tab on the tab up near the search bar that says “Topics” and then scroll down to “Budget Breakdowns” – all of those posts in that category either talk about budgets (like this one) or actually have budget breakdowns that you can read through to see how much everything from our basement makeover to our bathroom reno cost us!

      xo,
      s

  14. Angela says

    Is it odd that I wish we were neighbors?

    I love your attitude. You guys are inspiring, even when things go awry.

    Reply

  15. karen says

    That slab of concrete was a bummer…but at least John got a good workout from it! Sherry, I swear you look 15 years old in the pic with the string. That’s a good thing. Looking forward to the finished job!
    We are doing some landscaping in the front yard. After all the arbors and soft scape material, there was no room in the ‘budg’ for pavers…so we decided to go with a charming gravel pathway. I now think it’s an even better look than what we originally wanted. The sound of gravel underfoot sends me!

    Reply

  16. Amy @ This DIY Life says

    This is soooo an outdoor version of what happened with the wood floors in our house! When we toured our house/project the first time we didn’t have any allusions about it being something we could work on and move in a couple weeks later. We knew it would be a couple months before we could move in and about 7-10 years before we had it exactly the way we wanted it. The carpet needed to be replaced, that was obvious…tons of holes which you could easily see the wood floor underneath. So we examined the carpet through the holes and though “Jackpot!” A little Murphy’s oil and Orange Glo and we’re in business. Then we got in and ripped up the carpet. Well, how about I just say that 17 months later…yep, I’ll stop there :)

    Reply

  17. Lauren B says

    psssst…. my husbands a store manager for Lowes…. and they price match. :) Bring your cheapest quote to them and they’ll (usually) make it happen.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Ooh, good to know! We figured since it wasn’t the exact same paver (just similar in look and color) that they wouldn’t do it. But it’s always worth asking…

      xo,
      s

  18. Elizabeth says

    I hear you on that!! We had to rush in to our landscaping when we discovered (an hour before close) that we had a vole infestation in our landscaping. It’s hard not to feel completely over our heads on this one… :-) I can’t wait to see the finished product (and I’m sure you can either)!

    Reply

  19. Bailey says

    What better way to start the day that with a little SBTB!

    When I start a DIY project, I like to have the budget set aside upfront before any purchases are made to prevent any hidden expenses- like if I would have found out that it was going to be $1300 and I had planned for $500 I would have told them it was going to have to wait for me to save more $. Just curious as what you do to cover the extra unplanned expenses, such as taking it from savings and repay iit later, or using a credit card for installments?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We only pay for things if we have the money. We had $1300 in savings, we just hoped to spend some of that on other projects that are next in line, so they’ll just have to wait a bit while we knock out the more-expensive-than-we-expected patio. We both come from thrifty parents who taught us to only buy what we can afford. Helps us sleep at night. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  20. Sarah says

    We are redoing our front walkway, and local stone suppliers were about $1 less per square foot than the big box stores. And the selection was so much better!! (And the salesmen at the local places were so helpful with advising us what we would need and how we could lay it out.) Good luck with the patio. I’m anticipating some sore backs for us in the next month or so.

    Reply

  21. Rocky says

    Great post! I swear every project we do goes over budget…We usually multiply the amount of time and money we ‘think’ it’s going to take by 2. Last weekend my husband chiseled away for six hours when we found a surprise 12″ concrete pad in our front yard planter :(
    Glad to hear you got your walkway out, victory!

    Reply

  22. Karen says

    Sherry, what are you holding in that pouting picture. I don’t think I have seen those wads of ? before…

    And the patio will be so useful and pretty when you’re done. We had ours enlarged to the tune of about $600 (for plain concrete, no less) and we can’t believe we ever made do with the smaller one!

    Reply

  23. Allison says

    That Saved By The Bell Episode definitely made an impression on me as well! Ever since our kids were born I’ve been known to walk around the house overwhelmed and whispering, “There’s not enough time. There’s never enough time!” I can’t help but think of that episode when my to do list seems never-ending and then I’m reminded that I’m being a little melodramatic :)

    Reply

  25. Sara says

    We just broke our 2k budget on our diy bathroom install this last weekend. I checked your blog to see how much you spent on your full bathroom remodel and was shocked at your thriftiness! I scoured the internet for more examples of what other bloggers spent and absolutely no one posts the cost breakdown! Thank you yhl for keeping it real, I know if we’re taking a project I can always use you as a starting point.

    Reply

  26. hollie says

    Thank you for making my day with the video of Jessie Spano’s breakdown. That has long been one of my favorite SBTB moments.

    I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so… so… SCARED!

    That line is priceless, and useful in so many situations!

    Reply

  27. Moira says

    I have to admit that I am a reader that definitely thinks you guys are perfect all the time! So thanks for setting the record straight! i just couldn’t understand how you and John work together on the house AND the blog and yet seem to have no conflicts! I, for one, am glad you threw a line in there about arguing about a missed nap or the dust bunnies (makes me feel so normal).

    Do you ever read Us Weekly? You need a post titled “Sherry and John–They’re Just Like Us!” “They fold socks!” “They pump their own gas!” heehee ;)

    Reply

  28. Girl... says

    Oy. I have many projects that didn’t go as smoothly as a I planned. And that I had to start over. From scratched. That = even more moolah.

    Sigh. Such is life, right?

    Reply

  29. Val says

    Ugh, sticker shock! In the spirit of commiserating over unexpected home expenses, our water heater failed this morning and dumped water all over the garage. $1,100 and day away from work later, turns out that we also have to have a new water pressure regulator installed (right now, do not pass go, do not collect another pay check), to the tune of $400. Ouch! Can I be a renter again?

    But I do love it when you share your mishaps, especially since you always manage to put a good spin on it. So the good spin on ours…none of our stuff got damaged? Is that a good spin? Bleh.

    Reply

  31. eileen marie says

    My husband still believes you 2 are perfect pod-people. I, however,realized a while back that while appearance sometimes show a “charmed life” of sorts, you two have the same trials & tribulations as the rest of us. This isn’t a personal problem blog, but when you do hit a snag in the road -you REACT well. I am trying harder to live the way I think you 2 do -in the infinitely wise words of John Lennon: “There is no problem, only solutions.” :)

    Reply

  32. Sarah says

    Sherry, you’re so charming! I think it’s because you’re so humble despite all your amazing accomplishments.

    Reply

  33. Jami says

    Oh I know your pain all too well-ish. My dad hasn’t even touched our back yard, where we plan on making an additional patio and fire pit and the cost has doubled! We’re working on the front yard (he was a pro landscaper before he became a pastor) and the wholesale nursery we were going to use has let almost all the flowers and plants die so now we have to pay real people prices which is a sock to the gut! The mark up on plants is insane! Good luck! It’s so rewarding and such an exciting process!

    Reply

  34. JeanEllen says

    Such a well-timed post for me! After months of planning and saving to replace our deck (previous owner painted over non-pressure-treated lumber–ugh!), I had the brilliant idea this weekend to add a patio to the project as well. At about the same size as yours (260 sq. feet) and thinking the same concrete pavers, I was totally in “just another $500” bliss. Oh well, thanks for the reality check! :)

    Reply

  35. Cindy says

    I’ve totally felt the exact same way with all of my sculptures. Funnily enough, I made the yarn-ball lamps for a sculpture (http://blog.cindyhsu.net/2011/03/pluto-was-a-planet/) but I used bouncy balls for the roundness, hemp cord, and wallpaper paste and it worked out well. However, I had plenty of failures with the project before getting there (I first used balloons, jute twine, and Elmer’s glue with corn starch–did NOT go well).

    Because of your blog, I can’t wait to start all the home projects I’ve been dying to begin, and I can’t wait to see how the yard turns out. I can’t believe I’m quoting Maid in Manhatten here, but “What defines us is how well we rise after falling.” (:

    Reply

  36. Kalie @ Little house, big plans says

    We just recently purchased our first home… so it’s safe to say we know what it’s like to come in over budget! Man do I feel better that we aren’t the only ones! ;)

    Love what you’ve done with the place, can’t wait to see how your patio turns out!

    Reply

  37. Kel says

    The pic of the brrom and glove creeps me out. Ifeel like you have the invisible man working with you, or that at any moment John will climb out of a crevasse he fell into whilst getting his sledge hammer action on.

    Reply

  38. Natalie says

    Love that you keep it real. But don’t worry too much because we all come here because you are REALLY GOOD at what you do!

    Reply

  39. Kim says

    Just a quick tip – Big Lots has rolls of landscape fabric for $5 each. I can’t remember the dimensions now, but the exact same roll costs $25 at the local nursery. Looking forward to the redesign!

    Reply

  40. jo says

    Some of my favorite posts are the fail posts! John’s failed experiment trying to cut bottles down into drinking glasses, for example. That was awesome!
    Your successes are pretty much equally awesome. Sometimes I just can’t believe the difference a bit of painted trim or the lack of a bathroom backsplash can make.
    The start of this post had me really worried, though. For a moment I thought you guys were going to announce a divorce or something, in which case, my world would come to an end. I’m so relieved it’s just a budget issue. Maybe, as a reader, I’m a mite too obsessed? I love this blog!

    Reply

    • Heather Jo says

      Thanks! We saved money by eliminating the gravel and doing all of the work ourselves. Since our soil was clay, tampering was enough to keep it solid- so after much consultation with my husband’s buddies (he is a painter that works for a contractor), we took out one extra step.

      Good luck- it’s hard work but SO REWARDING!!

  42. Amy says

    Thanks for sharing your ups and downs! It’s so refreshing to hear other people have problems too! We have a 40’s ranch and certainly have our share of problems! Also, you brightened my day by posting that Saved by the Bell video! I grew up with that show too!

    Reply

  43. Brittany says

    ok so.. I love your site but have yet to comment on much but HAD to when I saw the saved by the bell jesse spano meltdown!!! I actually quote that all the time when things get a little crazy :) “I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so…..” hahahaha!!!(with the crying and all :) it freaked my husband a little the first time as he had not seen that episode (I know… where was he living under a rock?) but anyways just wanted to officially say Hi from Lynchburg VA and tell you guys that you have brought a lot of inspiration into our little abode :)

    Reply

  44. Diane says

    I was thinking of putting in a paver patio, and my friend who did one said that their contractor said the only way to install pavers properly is to cement underneath the bricks. That way they are maintenance free. You may wish to research further before proceeding.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Not to worry, we’ll share all of our research in our next post! True to form we went crazy and not only chatted up local stoneyard experts (who professionally lay patios for corporations and homeowners alike) but we also referenced a ton of awesome DIY videos from Lowe’s (where they detailed every single step of the recommended process thanks to the experts who work behind the scenes at their company). Fun, fun, fun.

      xo,
      s

  45. Diana says

    First of all, anyone who has ever done a renovation is a veteran “whiner”. As your blog points out, things rarely go as planned! It makes me feel better to see your struggle because I realize I’m not in this alone.
    We just took down 4 very tall trees Easter weekend and you should see our log filled front yard!! The neighbors must be thrilled. Once we get the wood out of the way, we start planning retaining walls and walkways. Your posts will really help! Thanks.

    Reply

  46. Elizabeth says

    Sherry – I’m also cursed by bad sewing machine luck and was wodnering if you could share how you selected the new sewing machine model. I want/need to get one and I’m totally overwhelmed by the choices out there and want to avoid getting something so complicated that it ends up as unused “house sculpture.”

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I just went by the recommendation of a friend who had it and also by Amazon reviews (it had 4.5 out of 5 stars by over 150 reviewers so it was up there with the $400 machines when it came to good feedback). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  47. Kimberj says

    One of our household staples is a container of Goo Gone. Seriously the best, handiest stuff some mad scientist ever created. As a bargain hunter, everything I buy usually has at least 2 stickers on it if not more. One for the regular price and another (or four) for the clearance price. The sale ones must be cheaper cuz the glue is yuckier and always leaves more residue. Just rub some Goo Gone on them and in a couple minutes they just wipe off with a paper towel. The stuff is some kind of citrussy oil that seems relatively non toxic (well, I wouldn’t eat it or anything). Then just wash the item off and WALLAHHHH!!! its clean and your dirty little secret is gone forever in the trash. Also works good for getting gum off shoes and out of kids hair! So Sherry, next time you need a mindless chore to do while mulling over your next project… you know what to do.

    Reply

  48. L says

    Haven’t watched teevee since the early ’80s, but I’m totally excited to “watch” your patio project! I’m currently guesstimating a 300 sq. ft. paver patio myself; I want to see how y’all create the base for your pavers!

    Thanks for the reality, you guys rock.

    Reply

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