Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Things That Didn’t Work Like I Thought They Would

Cabinet hanging continues in the laundry room (details tomorrow!) so since yesterday’s post had a giveaway worked into it (we can’t believe over 25,000 of you took the poll, John is beside himself with infographic glee), I thought I’d share a quick post about three recent redos. Sometimes things get wonky when you least expect them to, and the second time ends up being the charm (at least you hope it is).

Redo #1. Our cork bulletin board in the office. Back when we made this a few months ago, we used Loctite Spray Adhesive, since the back specifically said it worked for bonding cork to wood. Well… the cork squares slowly started to pop off the wall. To be fair, the directions did suggest spraying both surfaces (since we didn’t want to spray it indoors on the wood backing, we just spayed the back of the cork outside and carried each square in and stuck it up). I’m not sure if that would have made the difference or not (we heard from a reader who sprayed both sides and still had issues with hers falling off) so I took down all of Clara’s art…

Cork Falling Off

… and added some reinforcement in the form of Aleene’s Tacky Glue on the back of each tile, along with a few tiny finish nails to hold the corners down (they’re so small they sink into the cork and can’t really be seen).

Glue Nails

So far, this method has been great, and the cork is staying put this time. Even when it’s super hot and humid.

Cork Back Together

Redo #2. Our red adirondack chairs out back. Remember when we bought these guys two years ago? We hoped that splurging for pro-painted chairs would hold up better than spraying some wood ones ourselves. These are our famous last words from that post: “Chairs that came pre-painted by the pros with polyurethane paint for protection against the weather, heat, and sunlight definitely appealed to us as something that would hopefully stand the test of time. Just didn’t want to spend less but end up with something that looked shoddy by next summer.” Well, they lasted more than one summer, but two summers later they were maaaajorly faded. Sometimes they looked ok in photos, but in real life (especially when the pillows were off) they were very sad indeed.

Adirondacks Before

It was clear they needed more protection and a fresh coat of paint to help restore their bright happy color and protect them from the elements.

Adirondacks Before Close

So I sprayed them with three thin coats of Gloss Protective Enamel by Rustoleum in their Regal Red color. It has a built-in primer and it’s meant for wood furniture that’s outdoors, so we hope it holds up well. Note: you can kind of see from the spray paint pattern on the cardboard that I flipped them over (resting them on the top of the seat and their arms) and sprayed their back/underside first, let that dry, and then stood them up to get all the other parts.

Adirondacks Spraying Process

The happy news is that they look like new!

Adirondacks After1

Only time will tell if this is going to be an every-few-years ritual, but I’m glad to have done it and seen great results (that always inspires me to do those “maintenance” things again down the line if I need to).

Adirondacks After Close

And now they match the red stool over near the egg chair, which is a nice bonus.

Egg Chair Red Stool

Redo #3. My little light-turned-terrarium. I showed you how I made it here, and how everything I planted gave up on me here…

HowYouLikeMe Terrarium Sad Face

… but some of you noticed that things looked less bleak in a recent post.

Paint Moodboard Detail

At the urging of some “I use fake ones in my terrarium!” comments, I grabbed a few faux succulents at JoAnn. I also noticed some pretty white aquarium rocks at the pet store while buying new food for Burger, so into my cart they went. Once at home, Clara and I had fun filling the glass case with white rocks and poking my fakers in there to hang out. Clara insisted that the deer should go back in there too, and five minutes later we had a finished product.

Terrarium After

I still have plants that need to be watered and loved (much like Michael Scott, they want me to fear how much I love them) but it’s nice to have something unkillable in the mix.

And now for a bonus. This isn’t really a redo, just a giant duh moment. A few of you eagle-eyes noticed I was painting a door sign waaaay back here while making little desserts for Clara’s tea parties, and correctly guessed it was going to be one of those “please don’t ring the bell – the baby is sleeping” signs for the front door.

Dessert Pic

Well, after painting the background white, it stalled for a few months. I had big plans for using a thin brush to paint pretty scripty words on it, but after staring at the blank white doorknob hanger on the kitchen counter for way too long I finally just grabbed a red sharpie and scribbled out a message. “There” I thought. “It’s not Pinterest worthy, but it’s done!”

And then I walked over to the front door to hang it… and realized we don’t have a doorknob on our front door.

Door Hanger

I laughed so hard there were tears, guys. How much of a duh moment is that? I mean I literally had months to reach this realization as the door hanger sat on the kitchen counter taunting my in its half-finished state… and yet… nada. So I Tim Gunned that sucker by hanging it over the door knocker. And you know what? It works. The sweet Fed-Ex guys just leave stuff instead of ringing the bell and setting off Burger The Barking Maniac. Just thought you guys would get a kick out of that. Feel free to pin your little heart out (insert winky face here).

The lesson for all of these redos? If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. Also, check your door for a knob before making a door-hanging sign.

Update – Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint colors we used? Just click on this button: 

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Comments

  1. Stevie says

    All of the redos are great, but I especially like the chairs. In searching for furniture for the front porch, I’ve been looking at beige and browns, but I’m thinking a pop of color is what we need to spice things up a bit.

    Reply

    • Sarah M. says

      Love me a pop of color! We went with the tan chairs and added funky/trendy pillows for our pops color. The bonus us we can change them our with the seasons, Summer is more funky, Fall is more orange, Christmas is sparkly… and so on. I have a pillow problem :)

  2. Sarah M. says

    I love! And when we try again we are teaching our kiddos that it is ok to fail or mess up. Also that anything can be fixed with a little paint and glue.

    BTWs, maybe if you spray your chair with clear coat or lacquer seasonally it would hold color better?

    PS… My “baby sleeping” sign was printed on regular old printer paper, slipped into a clear envelop and taped to the storm door. AND we used the same one for both kiddos :)

    Reply

  3. Julie says

    It took me a while to actually process WHY you were upset about not having a doorknob on your front door… Probably because I have a new baby not much younger than Teddy! I was just thinking how I wish I could have a “the baby is sleeping” sign for our phone. I love the art wall!

    Reply

    • Beka says

      My mom used to turn the ringer off on the phone while my siblings and I were sleeping/napping. Or she’d just take the phone off the hook. I can still remember that beep beep sound from the phone being off the hook in my sleepy nap memories.

    • Brigitte says

      My iPhone has a Do Not Disturb function and it’s glorious. No app alerts, no text alerts, no email sounds. No phone calls from random people. But if someone calls twice in a row, it rings the second time. And if one of my favorites calls, it rings. With family in a different time zone and sleep schedules, it’s GREAT to know that if it’s important they can still reach me but otherwise they won’t wake the (Someday) baby–or for now, ME!

  6. Heather says

    I think I remember from science (or maybe a science-y tv show) that red always fades faster than other colors when exposed to UV light. Something about the wave length. I used to have a red mailbox, had to repaint it every other year or so.

    Reply

    • Ang says

      Supposedly for the same reason, if you color your hair red, it fades quicker than other colors!

    • Jenna says

      Yes! My husband had a red car in high school and had to get it painted after less than 2 years of owning it because it was so faded. Red will do that to ya. At least it’s pretty while it lasts!

    • Ashley C. says

      Oh man, a chance to put my degree to use!

      We talked a lot about pigments in one of my bio classes, and it turns out that red pigments fade fastest, and blue pigments fade slowest. It’s because of the wavelengths of light they absorb or reflect – things appear to be the color they’re reflecting. So red objects are reflecting red wavelengths of light, blue things are reflecting blue wavelengths, etc.

      The trouble is, blue wavelengths are the highest-energy wavelengths of light, so any pigment that’s absorbing rather than reflecting them is actually going to be damaged by then over time. Hence red objects fading quickly, and blue objects fading slowest of all.

    • Anne On says

      I came here to say the same thing!
      It will help somewhat to keep your chairs out of direct sunlight but yeah, you will still need to periodically repaint them.
      Keep the red though – it really pops.

  10. Olivia says

    Love this post! Part of the reason your Adirondack chairs likely needed a refresher is probably because they are red. I noticed that you didn’t mention that the paint was chipping or peeling (likely due to a professional first paint job), but only faded. The color red will always fade — I work in construction and we are always trying to persuade owner for selecting red finished outdoors because they simply turn a shade of faded rose in a couple years. Yours look great now!

    Reply

  11. Courtney says

    Our ups guy is great about my note on the door. FedEx still rings the bell. And we have 2 dachshunds, who wins each other up, so once they get going it’s a full 5-10 minutes before they calm down.

    Reply

  13. Kim says

    For the doorknob holder, if it is strong enough, you could cut a slit in the “3 o’clock” position (pretend the hole was a clock) so it can slide over your door handle. Although it is definitely noticeable where you placed it! I love your blog!

    Reply

  14. Jennifer says

    It’s comforting to know that things don’t always work out right away for you guys but man, the suspense is killing me! :-) Can’t wait to see the end state of the laundry room and the cabinets will really start to bring it home. I’m sure you are even more anxious than me especially with a newborn. Have you been breaking out the disposable diapers for now with the laundry machines out of service?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh man I can’t wait! We had the dryer running for a second yesterday but no washer yet. Ahhh! We switched back to disposables for this reno, so I can’t wait to get back on the cloth train!

      xo
      s

  16. Sassafras says

    Yup, just like on cars, red AND SILVER are the two fastest to fade out and oxidize. Your chairs look fabo once again! I have a terrarium that my mother-in-love made a bazillion years ago. All fake plants and small ceramic animals. Still looks great!

    Reply

    • Bethany says

      I never knew this! I recently noticed my poor silver car is looking pretty rough, super faded in some spots on the top and trunk. It’s 10 years old though, so it took a while to fade. Or it at least took me 10 years to notice…I’m not the most observant. Will definitely remember this for car #2 one day!

  18. Christina B. says

    The chairs look great! My husband and I recently built some ourselves and are trying to get them all painted. We also opted for spray paint (Valspar Outdoor), but found it took 3-4 cans per chair to cover evenly. I’m wondering how many cans you went through with the Rustoleum. We’ve got another set of chairs and tables to do and would love to find a more efficient (in cost & time!) way to paint them!

    Reply

  19. Laura @ Rather Square says

    I’m kind of surprised that those “pro-painted” chairs only held up for two summers? But maybe that’s to be expected for outdoor furniture. Anyway, your fix turned out great!

    We’ve definitely had many moments of “well, that didn’t turn out how I thought” with our house projects. I think that just goes with the territory of homeownership. Even pro contractors make mistakes sometimes. I figure that houses are like people – imperfect and always changing – so it makes sense that they don’t always behave how you expect/hope them to!

    Reply

  20. Steph says

    Thank you so much for keepin’ it real. I love to blatantly copy some of your projects (bathroom floor stencil – love it!) but feel like a failure after my version flops. Cork board wall, anyone? After my cork squares started falling off I figured it was me….

    Reply

  21. Isabel says

    I love plants but I’m totally digging the fake, zero-maintenance terrarium! I have an adirondack chair redo in my future (maybe next summer). I bought the unfinished chairs and painted them with semi-solid stain. For some reason one chair turned out brighter than the other. My guess is I needed to re-condition the second chair after having waited more than a week to paint. I think I’ll do spray paint next time!

    Reply

  22. erin says

    these redos are great. we had to come up with new backs for our fabric outdoor chairs.. desipte using outdoor fabric, it’s already faded again. I’m about to call it.

    totally random, but one thing i wouldn’t mind in your comments is whether we can like someone else’s commment?

    Reply

    • Heather says

      I think sometimes it would be nice in this diy age of pinterest and social media where people only show the best and the prettiest, to show the handwriting up close. :) Also, I love that you wrote this post to show people the upkeep, and the not so great. It’s much more true to life. It’s part of the reason I’ve gone on a “no instagram filter or editing” kick!

  24. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    This is a good reminder post for me as I near the end of our remodel that the other maintenance things staring me in the face need tended to. It might be time to whip out that ‘honey do’ list. ;)

    You must live in a nice neighborhood, if I stuck a sign like that on the door, our old UPS guy would’ve knocked louder.

    Reply

  25. Brittany says

    Where did you guys get the little succulent and cement planter in your laundry room scheme photo? Been looking for a small succulent plant (definitely fake) with a nice rustic/industrial base–and that fits the bill!

    And your door sign killed me. DEFINITELY something I’d do. I almost bought a doorknocker the other week, and the whole time wondered why I felt like I shouldn’t buy one. Till I got home and saw the giant license plate star that I’d bought a few months before hanging from the door–which would completely cover up the knocker (and I’m not willing to give up the star)! Duh.

    Reply

  26. Carrie says

    Man. It’s nice to see that you guys have epic fails, too. And I think red is the worst color for fading in the sun. But the chairs look amazing now so hopefully the spray will last longer than the factory finish!

    Reply

  28. Danielle says

    Our baby is sleeping sign is…me unplugging the doorbell. Constant UPS packages due to the joys of Amazon Prime, mixed with a delivery guy who did not pay attention to the original sign was not good.

    And my baby is 3. But I still cherish naptime too much! :)

    Reply

  30. Pat S says

    You are a genius with those spray paint cans. I never manage to do a decent job.
    Love the photo with Burger in the egg chair.
    25,000 people took the survey … wow … I guess John will be buried in statistics for a month. :-)

    Reply

  31. Taylor C. says

    I would have had that same “duh” moment with the doorknob! That stuff happens to me all the time in our house ;) LOVE the bright cheery red on the chairs! We really wanted a pop of red to go with our new, YHL inspired outdoor couch, but I found the coolest teal egg chairs & couldn’t turn them down. So, our pop of color is teal!

    Reply

  32. Claudia says

    I would have done the same thing with the door hanger… My husband and I were married under a birch tree in our yard, so when a branch fell, I cut a piece and carved our initials and wedding date in it, and hung it on the wall. Very pinteresty… until my husband pointed out that I painstakingly carved his birthday, not our wedding date. Fail.

    Reply

  33. Ashley says

    Thank you so much for these type of posts. It’s encouraging to all of us who often have our DIYs not work like we thought they would. Encouragement to just give it a shot and be prepared to try again if it’s not right!

    Reply

  34. Karen L. says

    Sooo funny about going out to hang it and forgetting there was no knob! Glad to see others do things like that as I do it often…haha.

    Reply

  35. Rose M. says

    Hi Guys. Not related to this post but I was wondering if you guys were going to do a post on Teddy. I feel like we knew so much more about Clara growing up like sleep patterns, cloth diaper vs disposables, etc. Are you guys going to share how parenting with 2 kids is going? Hope all is well!

    Reply

  36. Laura says

    Love your work! Just wanted you to know that Lowe’s sells a potting mix that is made specifically for cactus and succulent plants. I’ve used it for many years with good success. Most potting soils, even with charcoal and the rocks, are too heavy for succulents. Probably just needed to mix it with more perlite and coarse sand. If you think about it, with your layering method, the roots from the succulents sit in the potting soil, even though you have the charcoal in there. You may want to check out the “Fine Gardening” website which has a great video and “recipe” for mixing your own succulent potting soil if you want to go that route. I just take the lazy way and use the premixed cactus/succulent mix. :)

    Reply

  39. Olivia says

    I love these little updates! I always wonder how some of the projects hold up so it’s nice to have follow up posts.

    Reply

  41. Dara B says

    Thanks for keeping it real and sharing the re-do’s with us alongside the perfect projects!

    I used the round cork trivets to create a corkboard in my son’s room. I ended up using a single tan colored deck screw in the center of each one. You can see them, but I tell myself it’s part of the design. :) The trivets seem to be small enough that we don’t have any warping at the edges and the circles create a fun design.

    Reply

  42. Shana says

    LOVE the no door knob story totally something I would do! We need to laugh at ourselves more often instead of stressing over things :)

    Reply

  43. Vanessa says

    Your “baby sleeping” sign is much fancier than the post-it I taped over the doorbell written in sharpie…

    Reply

  44. Michelle says

    For the door hanger couldn’t you tie some ribbon through the hole and then hang that from the knocker? Or maybe hang it with a nail over the doorbell?

    Reply

  45. Thirkellgirl says

    I’ve gotten the impression that you guys leave your outdoor furniture out all winter…we bring in (to our disgusting cubby under the house, or the toolshed) all of our outdoor furniture, and have covers for the stuff that we can’t bring in (the fire pit, a big table). Nothing of ours would last if it was outside all winter!

    Reply

  46. Ashley says

    The color red is so fun and cheery outside, but of all the colors, red is the #1 color to fade. From hair color to auto body paint. Buy extra red paint or learn to love pink!

    Reply

  48. Kirbee says

    Love the sign! A friend of mine has four kids under four (including four-month-old twins they recently adopted). Last week, a Craigslist person stopped by to pick up a nightstand they were getting rid of. Alas, this friend had no such lovely sign, and this person rang the doorbell every two minutes for 27 minutes. (Yes, she timed it). She thought if she ignored it at first, the person would go away and come back later. She was wrong, and then my friend was trapped in her own house, waiting for this person to go away. Needless to say, the babies eventually woke up, and there were ugly feelings all around. And no, she never did answer the door :D I think I need to make her a sign like this! Although, if she has no doorknob either…

    Reply

  49. Lori says

    I have made a lot of terrariums, but I never had luck with succulents. They don’t like the moisture of terrariums. I use “low light” plants from Lowe’s and have had great luck with those and I barely ever water them.

    Reply

  50. Jen @ Domesticated Nomad says

    I’m not familiar with your brand of spray adhesive, but spraying both the wood and the cork does matter. Yet, I will say that spray adhesive does not usually work that well on bare wood. The proper way to use spray adhesive is to lightly coat both pieces and let dry without sticking them together for a few minutes. They should get a little more tacky (actually this is true of all glue including Elmer’s school glue. Everyone uses that stuff wrong. :) ). Then position the two pieces together. One caution, if you do it this way, you have one shot to get it right.

    Reply

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