12 Best Lessons I Loved Learning When I DIY - ed My Old Room

1. Brain free.  This was the time I got burnt out from work and decided to take a Sabbatical.  I finished all projects and informed some people that I will be out of touch for a week.  During this  week long Sabbatical, I did not take any calls and only went out to buy materials.  I vowed to finish my room before I do anything else.  Laser focus!

2.  Personal design challenge.  I shared my room with my son.  This meant having our own storage areas and not making it too girly.  He was 3 and I was 29,  and we both had TONS of stuff:  from clothes, school and office materials, to toys and decor.  We already had more than enough furniture in the 12sqm room that you can barely move.  I knew each and every little item we had, so designing it had me considering storage as a main factor, and not just aesthetics.

3.  Edit, edit, edit.  I am a hoarder.  I realized it's okay to hoard little things but some bigger things had to go...like furniture.  I've collected furniture through the years that, it was spread around my parent's house when I was still living with them.  So you can imagine how spacious their house has become when I moved out, haha!  I had to let go of the most prized furniture in my room which was my "high tech" drafting table.  My dad purchased this drafting table from a firm that closed down beside his office when I was in college.  It had tubular steel legs with a white laminated top and built in slide rule.  I loooooved how easy it was to draft on this table because I can draft while standing up or sitting down on the adjustable swivel chair that went with it.  Don't you just hate it when that T-square just doesn't stay in place on that ugly brown drafting board???  I was already doing all my work on autocad or sketchup at this point so it was time to let this go.  I moved it to my tita's house, in the hopes that one of my cousins will take up architecture one day (and he did!) and use it. 

4. Budget.  I was so thankful I did this because I then truly understood my clients' dilemmas on spending for interior work.  It was the first time I was spending my own money for my own space.  I diligently applied all the estimate skills I had so I can work out a proper budget and shopping list.  This saved me from doing numerous trips to the hardware.  Paint, nails, hooks, window treatment, paint brush, putty, sanding paper and even rags...yes, every little thing that I will need was accounted for.  This is also the main reason why I love hiring a contractor because EVERYTHING is already included in their costing.  Every thing, step, or even mis hap is already accounted for, based on experience and not just the usual 10% allowance dictated by books.  My budget was P10,000 and finished at P8k plus. 

5.  Step by step.  I had to tackle this in a very organized manner so I made a list / schedule of the work that needed to be done and finished in a week's (7 days) time. I got huge boxes and threw in all the small items so I can move it out of the room.  I did not sort out the items because I knew this would take time because I often get distracted when doing so.  I then moved all the furniture out.  Kewl!  The empty room produced echoes!  I then removed the window blinds.  At this point I got to check every nook and cranny to see if it needed repairs that I didn't notice before.  I then finalized my shopping list and went out to buy materials.  I cleaned, prepped, painted, drilled in all holes, cleaned, moved in furniture, then accessorized.  Last to go in were our personal items that I sorted out.  Sounds simple and easy right?  NOT!!!  

6. First hand experience.  You think painting is easy?  Try painting in the summer!  I was constantly drenched in sweat and so parched that I'd drink a glass of water almost every minute.  Painting my ceiling was the hardest part because it had a textured finish, so I had to use a paint brush to get into the grooves.  To add to the difficulty, I only used a console table to step on, which meant having one arm stretched to the ceiling while holding the paint bucket on the other.  The table was light so it was easy to move it around BUT it was unstable so I had to do a balancing act. Yeah, work it, core, work it!  Painting the walls with a roller brush was a breeze, but it was the repair and prep that I had a hard time with.  Filling in cracks and holes with putty and using sand paper to smoothen it out was terrible!  The next grueling task was drilling all that holes for the hooks I got to fill one wall.  There were 5 sets of wall hooks that had 3 screws each...I just bore 2 holes each instead.  I figured, it didn't need that much support because it was a cement wall anyways and I wasn't hanging anything that heavy ;)  I used to love using the drill but drilling more than 10 holes in a row in that heat is exhausting!  So yeah, lifting and putting back all the heavy furniture suddenly became the easiest task. 

7.  Think and rethink ahead.  I only realized I had a spare ceiling fan with lamp that I wanted to use by the time I moved my furniture back in.  This meant that I already threw out most of my leftover materials.    After replacing my old round central ceiling lamp with this fan, there was a round mark that got left behind and I didn't have the materials to paint it with!  So there's the reason why we need to keep leftover materials, for those minor repairs and touchups even when everything looks over and done with.  

8.  Know your limitations.  DIY is almost always an experimental experience.  We do this to either save money, try something new, or just for the fun of it.  On this huge DIY project, I was ready to face the challenges and probable mistakes of the tasks I chose to take.  One thing I didn't DIY was changing the lamp.  I did not want to deal with electrical stuff because it's something I don't have much knowledge of.  Also, when choosing which items to DIY, I think of what's the worst thing that could go wrong.  If I screw up the electricals, I can get electrocuted or even cause a fire to the household.  That versus an irritating lump on the wall due to poor prepping skills?  Yeah, can deal with the eyesore but not endanger my own life and others.  

9.  Do it right.  Do you sometimes already know the right thing to do but still do it the wrong way just because it's easier and faster? Like lifting a heavy pan without mitts then getting burnt and saying "sabi ko na nga ba mainit pa eh!"  Yup, I did this in my room makeover and regretted the decision soon after.  I decided to paint over my ducco finish closets with latex paint.  I painted the cream color with red, super nice btw! BUUUUUUT soon after it dried, just as I was putting my clothes back in, I accidentally scratched it with my long nails.  And there it was, the cream paint sticking out, waaaaaaa!  I wanted to hit my head on the wall!  So yeah, just do it...the right way!

10.  Understanding Workers.  Having experienced this entire process myself, I now have a deeper understanding and respect of what goes into the work masons, carpenters, peons, etc. do.  Why it is important for them to have drinking water, proper food, and rest during their break times.  I only did their kind of work inside one room for a week.  I can't imagine how much harder it is under the sun, all day, for weeks and even months!  Though it's sometimes reasonable to bark orders and blow one's top at how slow all the work is going, even the most brilliant workers will have a hard time under poor working conditions.  I have 2 things (quotes) to say about this..."before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes", BUT if I can do YOUR job better than you, then I don't need you.       

11. Knowing why contractors do what they do.  This experience gave me an in depth look into the WHY of it all.  Why is it taking so long?  Why hire so many people?  Why not do this and that at the same time?  How come the total bill is like this?  Why is this clause included in the contract?  Because the workers need proper ventilation.  Because they need other materials and tools, not just paint, to finish a wall.  Because workers have different skills and specialties.  Because we don't control the weather.         

12.  Filtering scammers.  Have you ever asked for quotes from different contractors?  Ever wondered why there are varying, and sometimes huge discrepancies, in cost?  Given that these contractors have different methods, tools, worker salaries, etc., there are a few that are truly not worth your hard earned money and trust.  Based on this experiment, I learned how long it truly takes to repaint a room.  It took me 2 days.  So if a painter tells me it will take them 5 long days to paint a room of the same size, that's bogus!  If a contractor tells me they'll be needing 5 buckets of paint, I can firmly disagree because I only used one.  But if they tell me they need several paint brushes, masking tape, rags, yes, that's fine with me because I used 3 colors, and maybe they want to have several painters work on it at the same time to finish earlier.  Knowing how much work and materials that go into a project has helped me spot a faulty quotation at just one look.  It is often not advisable to go for the lowest bidder.  I've had several clients come to me after being scammed by contractors.  It can be as simple as cabinet work.  One client had an unfinished cabinet in her home.  She said the "contractor" bought all the materials, did some work, then never came back.  When she told me the total contract price, that's when I knew why.  That amount could've covered for just the materials alone and the "contractor" did some work the same day just for show and never came back upon realizing they weren't going to profit from this venture.  On a bigger scale, I had one client who awarded the contract to the bidder who quoted half the price to build her house.  HALF the price???  Too good to be true!  Masonry work and the roof went by in a breeze and then I waited, waited, waited,,,up until I thought they just finished the project on their own.  After almost a year, they called me and asked for a site visit.  That's when I found out the entire story, the headaches and long string of events.  In short, they latter found out that in spite of all the workers being present everyday, they had no materials to work with!  At this point, my client started buying the materials themselves just so the workers can proceed to finishing the house.  That is why it is best to compare quotes and be wary of the cost.  Some may look more appealing because of the cheaper price tag, but that sometimes doesn't equate to good quality, or what's worst, a finished product.

P.S. Sorry for the off photos.  I was supposed to attach proper before and after photos but  I was so sad to discover that the CD I burned those photos on (this was way back 2007) is empty!!!  I am hoping that it's just an incompatibility problem, waaaaaaaaa!  I still can't get over it!