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Dudes…. Long story short we’ve had to gut our entire basement. It’s been a super slow process, especially trying to figure out when to accomplish things while chasing around and almost 2-year-old…. So, slow and steady wins the race. One of the things we focused on getting done first was the ceiling.

Originally there were nasty old dirty ceiling planks up there so we decided to rip them down. In the living space we’ve left it open and rustic looking. In the guest bedroom (which is right under our son‘s room) we needed a little magic.

Initially, when I start a project, I google the crap out of it. I watched 9 million YouTube videos I post on Reddit for advice and sometimes. I harass our poor neighbor for tips and tricks.

Ultimately, we decided to drywall. This way you get a little bit of installation you get sound proofing and it’s just a nice seamless look. So we trucked over to Lowe’s, got all the goods, came home and got to work.

Let me tell you it is not easy!! We had so many doozies throughout this project especially with cutting around specific edges.

Drywall is super heavy and obviously you’re holding it up against the ceiling and so you need to have people to support you probably if you could have multiple people to support each corner. It would make your life easy. Pizza is a great way to pay friends lol.

So after we finally get the project done, it doesn’t look bad but it doesn’t look great so I get into figuring out how to make it a seamless look.To create a seamless look essentially you take drywall, mud, and tape and you go over it multiple times with sandpaper and in between to make it look smooth and seamless. Well, I tried that and it was not easy. It did not look good and to be honest with you, I didn’t want to get dust everywhere from sandpaper.

So my next step was to research solutions to cover up the drywall.I found these amazing wonderfully priced PVC tiles. It made this projected dream. They’re simple easy to use look great and literally all you have to do is glue them up. You use a simple X-Acto knife when measuring where you need to make cuts and I’ll link all the products I used to blow.

This project turned out beautiful. I honestly wouldn’t change anything because I’m still gonna have the insulation and soundproofing from the drywall but now I have a beautiful timeless looking ceiling that took me maybe a total of four hours to complete with some glue.

We love this so much that we are actually going to use the same tiles to finish our bathroom That we’re redoing downstairs.

A couple of upgrades that I did get just to make life easier or a caulking gun. We got one made by Ryobi because we already have the batteries. Honestly just saved a little bit of hand strength. I used clear gorilla glue, and an exact knife. 

Links:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ONE-18V-Cordless-10-oz-Caulk-Adhesive-Gun-Tool-Only-PCL901B/318870486

https://amzn.to/4j9DzEc

https://amzn.to/4dzB6ld

In this blog you will find all my tips and tricks on how to really, for real for real, DO IT YOURSELF!!

We had our upstairs bathroom done a few years ago and paid an embarrassing $10,000!!! as I watched the men demolish, and then replace everything- I thought to myself “self, you could totally do this”. So here I am now in the process of redoing my downstairs bathroom. And, guess how much it’s going to cost……… ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!

So yeah, I’m gonna show you the nitty gritty, the sweat, some tears, and money back in your wallet. You are more than capable of doing hard things- especially around your house. So here we go!

Cheers, 

Ash

Hey everyone! 

My name is Ashley, or as my close friends call me (which you will soon be) Ash. I am a registered nurse in Women’s health. I have been with my husband for 20 years.  We have an amazing (almost) two year-old son, a wild golden retriever named Thelma, and a cute little mutt with the best underbite ever named Percy. And a 67 year old house that needs a lot of help.

In this wildlife I try my hardest to continue to grow and learn in all aspects. I’m currently working on getting my certification to be a certified lactation consultant.  I am also currently learning how to gut and redo my basement bathroom! 

Through the years I have self taught myself how to do electric work, plumbing, yardwork,  landscaping and generalized house maintenance. Part of the reason that I like to continue to grow is because I also refuse to pay anybody for something I can do on my own! The cost of labor absolutely freaking kills me. Why would I pay someone $10,000 when I could do it for just under 1000? Also, I hope to teach my son this because I have been in and out of debt so many times in my life and being under a large amount of debt, no matter if it’s frivolous or needed its crippling. I won’t lie to you. I still have a crap ton of student loans that I’m slowly paying off, but I currently have no credit card debt after working really really hard to pay it off, which I’ll totally write a post about to help you get through it. And I am trying to work on our old house while staying on a budget. 

I also wanna talk to you about my struggles with weight, the fact that I now drive an electric vehicle, and share life up and downs with you. 

Life is really freaking hard, but it is what you make it and I’m here to take this journey with you and teach you the skills I’ve learned along the way, so you too, can refuse to pay people for something that you can do on your own! So after my rant about me WELCOME! Let’s crush this together.