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Make It Happen Monday Is Back!!

Well, hello and good morning to you all! This past weekend was the very last link party here on A2D, and as I was talking to Matt about the change on my blog, he encouraged me to bring back Make It Happen Monday. He never really understood the whole link party thing. 🙂 But he said that he felt like Make It Happen Monday was more “me”…a better fit for my blog, and much more beneficial not only for me, but also for my readers since both bloggers and non-bloggers can participate (unlike link parties, which cater only to bloggers).

I listened, I considered what he said, and I agreed. He’s a pretty smart guy! 😀 So here we are…

So for anyone who may be new around here, let me give you a quick explanation. I envision Make It Happen Monday as a place where we can find encouragement, motivation, and even accountability to get those lingering projects done around our homes. Do you have a guest bedroom that has turned into a storage room that really needs to be cleaned out? Let’s get it done! Do you need to re-roof your house? Pick up that hammer!

See what I mean? In other words, it doesn’t have to be only the “pretty” stuff — the decorating and making pretty accessories. I’m talking about gettin’ stuff around the house done. I’ve got a whole condo full of projects waiting to be finished, and I’m looking for people who will partner with me to motivate and encourage each other.

Are you in? I sure hope so!

So with that said, I actually have progress to report on my kitchen and breakfast room floor!!!!! Oh, happy day! It’s one step closer to being finished.

No, it’s not grouted. 🙂 But that’s the next step. I realized yesterday that before the floor could be grouted, I needed to do a bit of repair work. The tiles under the breakfast table were looking a bit worn because I scoot the table back and forth several times a day as I’m getting up from, and sitting down at the banquette. You can see the white areas where the color had literally rubbed off. (By the way, that brown stuff is paint.)

And then on these two tiles, they had gray marks all over them from the constant back and forth of the table being moved.

Since we live in a condo right next to a university campus, I didn’t want any high dollar flooring, so I used the peel and stick tiles from Home Depot. They’re actually great quality–very heavy and thick–and I’ve been very pleased with them overall. And I really do like the fact that if one gets damaged, they’re not too difficult to replace.

It did take quite a bit of prying to get each tile up. I had put the tile down over a painted concrete floor, so the hardest part of the process was removing all of the paint that was loosened when I pulled up the tile.

It was nothing that a little (or a lot) of scraping couldn’t fix. (And yes, I used a steak knife from the kitchen. Let’s not tell Matt about that, mmmkay?) 😀

So after repeating that six more times, I now have a floor that’s ready for grout!!

No more excuses, and no more dragging my feet. The floor has been cleaned, vacuumed, damaged tiles replaced, and it’s ready for grout. I’ll have it done for next Monday! Heck, I might just have it done by the end of the day today. 😀

So tell me about your project(s)? What do you need encouragement to finish? Let’s help each other out! I’ll be your cheerleader if you’ll be mine.

 

 

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39 Comments

  1. Peel and stick gets a bad wrap. I think it’s pretty cool stuff for the money and it’s come a long way. They even have strips that look like hardwood now. Pretty cool if you ask me 😉

    I have to finish my fireplace but I have other obligations I have to take care of first, so it’s actually like a prize. If I get the boring stuff done, I get to finish painting the fireplace and reveal the new mantel and hearth :)))

    Wish me luck, it’s tedious stuff! Have fun grouting 🙂

  2. Kristi,
    You might want to consider putting those little stick on felt pads on the bottom of your table base to protect the floor (and make it easier to slide) after you get your floor completed. It’s looking good! I think bringing back Make it Happen Mondays is a great idea.
    Dianne

    1. Thanks for the reminder, Dianne! I’ll grab some while I’m at Home Depot today. I actually did have those little stick-on glider feet, which are supposed to protect the floor. They worked great as long as they stayed on, but with all of the moving back and forth, I just couldn’t get them to stay on. Hopefully the felt will work better!

      1. I got something even better than those stick-on felt things (that always come off!) These are from Lowe’s, I’m sure Home Depot has them too, they are metal ones that hammer in and have a white hard plastic bottom that slides almost silently across the floor and leave NO marks! Check them out!!

      2. I have the felt pads on the bottom my my table and chairs and it’s made a huge difference. I think they’ll work fine for you. Can’t wait to see your grouted floor. It’ll be beautiful.

  3. Love the Make It Happen Monday idea! So funny, I installed the same exact flooring in my kitchen and bath. I have yet to blog about it, but it is holding up beautifully! This isn’t the first time I have used peel-n-stick and I have never had a problem with them. Inexpensive fix. I am not planning on grouting mine, though. You will have to check out my post…once it is up. 🙂
    Thanks for all the inspiration!

    1. I’d love to see yours when it’s done, Laurie! In hindsight, I wish I had gone groutless. Oh well. 🙂 I really like the peel and stick stuff too! It’s definitely come a VERY long way in the last decade or so. I remember using peel and stick in my very first apartment, and it was nothing like this stuff. It was thin, gouged easily, and the tiles would even move over time. It was awful stuff.

  4. Hi Kristi,

    Awesome progress on your floor. I work in bursts of energy too. I gave my son’s room a facelift this past week–couldn’t have done it without a few fabulous helpers but it came together beautifully, I’m so, so excited about it. I just posted.

  5. Suggestion: I can’t remember where I got this from…what else is new… but put the felt pads on with Gorilla Glue or super glue or something instead of just the original stickiness on the pads…they stay on longer.

  6. Well, I was going to paint my kids/hall bath this week but it has to be postponed due to the wet weather (I live in the FL panhandle). I have sooo many postponed projects that I sometimes feel overwhelmed and can’t do anything! I bought and washed a couple drop cloths last month to make a slip cover for my hand me down love seat I could work on that. I’ve never maide one before but I have made lots of clothes and new zippered cushion covers for my outside furniture so I’m willing to give it a go. Doesn’t have to be dry to sew. Any encouragement or words of wisdom are appreciated.

    1. Hi Erin, I can understand the feeling of being overwhelmed by too many projects and not knowing where to start, which is why I think this party is good for making you focus. I’ll support your efforts to make that slip cover and look forward to seeing what you come up with.

  7. I need to get the outdoor deck and slats scrubbed and ready for a new coat of decking oil… that’s my task for this week!! Would much prefer doing something creative but maybe next time :0)

  8. Yay!! I love your Make it Happen Monday! And I especially love your ‘get real’ posts for Mondays, too! Great choice to bring it back and ditch the linky! (That Matt is a smart guy!) I know before blogging I felt like an outsider because I couldn’t ‘share’ my projects. But, I was grateful when Melissa – The Inspired Room allowed people to link from the Facebook page at Christmas. That was fun for me as a non blogger.
    Glad you’re getting your floor done! I love it when not-so-fun projects can get check off the list.

    Hope your week is Extraordinary!!!

  9. After being single for nine years I have remarried and what was my home is now our home. We have almost totally gutted this house and have redone almost everything. But we have left little things undone. Only annoying and noticeable when we have friends or family over. Funny how that works. Then forgotten until the next time. The one small wall that was textured that didn’t turn out right needed to be resanded and textured and repainted. Hour tops. The trim that needs to be finished. Even through its up and done it doesn’t look professional and polished. Re-sanded, holes filled and chalked and re- painted. I will make this my Tuesday goal. I have tons of things I overlook until other people are over…why is that?

    1. Hi Sherrie, I know what you mean. I think you look at your home differently when you have visitors coming – you look to see what impression you are making and some things just don’t come up to standard. Congratulations on the new marriage.

  10. Kristi, your floor looks great! Congratulations on taking up the tiles and “doing it right” by replacing the worn ones. It’s so tempting to cut corners — but not nearly as satisfying!

    Speaking of cutting corners, I am canceling a project — and that actually feels like progress! We moved at the beginning of the summer, and I’ve spend two months painting sample squares on our peachy living rooms walls. And I can’t decide. And the semester has just started. And that peach paint doesn’t look as bad as it did in June! So I found an old can of it in the basement and I painted the original color back over the samples; now I can put my bookcases in place and call it quits. I’ll probably get the urge to paint it again later, but for now, it’s such a relief NOT to have to do it!

  11. I’m glad you brought this back, too. It really is a gentle kick in the pants. Now…..to decide on which project I need to finish first. Repairing the caulking in my upstairs bath and then sealing the tile….or finishing decorating the upstairs guest bedroom…or maybe removing the stuck-on veneer from the table I started months ago…or…well, the list goes on. 🙂

  12. I have so many projects started, I don’t even know which one to choose! We are renovating our entire home, down to wiring and plumbing and new walls, but we seem to never be able to finish one task before we start the next, so there are little projects in need of completion everywhere. I think maybe the big one to tackle right now might be to get the kitchen sink installed and my countertops tiled. I’ve been washing dishes in the bathroom for almost two months now, and that is really starting to get old.

  13. I used those exact same tiles from Home Depot in a guest bath as a temporary solution until I can afford to install hardwood. Grouted them, everyone thinks the are real tile and a year later they still look great.

  14. Another fan of peel and stick tiles here. I’ve used them in rehabs, in rental property I own, and in my own home. In fact, what I live with every day in both my baths looks a lot like your tiles. I think if you stay away from the really cheapo ones, they wear amazingly well. I always butt each tile up to the other, no grouting. Is grouting your idea? I don’t think that’s what the manufacturer had in mind. Jus sayin. I’m wondering if there is enough depth for the grout to really get a grip. This might be your excuse for calling the project “finished as is.” ha ha

    1. Barbara, actually the kind of peel and stick tiles that I bought are actually called “groutable vinyl tile”. As in, it says it right on the box, and then in the instructions, it tells what kind of grout can be used. I thought it would be some kind of specialty grout, but it’s not. I just bought the pre-mixed stuff they have at Home Depot. 🙂 I had groutable vinyl tile put in a client’s house (actually it was John & Alice’s master bathroom), but we used the more expensive kind that was purchased through a flooring company rather than Home Depot, and it was put down with some kind of adhesive with a trowel. Anyway, I think the whole idea of groutable vinyl tile is relatively new.

  15. I love the peel and stick too. Can’t wait to see yours grouted.
    I have a master bedroom and a guest bedroom that have been half finished for 6 months. Also I had to move my craft room last year when son moved home to finish his last year of school and took over my basement space. I used an extra bedroom upstairs and since last years crafting season it looks like a hoarders episode. Oh and I need flooring and the hardwood needs refinishing, and the deck needs staining and……….
    This may be just the motivation I need.
    Funny that I just read this post after finally getting busy on the guest room yesterday. I am on a roll.
    Thanks for Make it happen. I will hopefully be posting my guest room next week.

  16. Hi Kristi
    My unfinished project that I’ll be working on is my den turned office. I have some new Ikea Galant desk items that need putting together and also all the papers that seem to collect on top of the desk need to find their home.
    I’m about to do a house flip and love the idea of the peel and stick tile. After reading your post I’ll look into it for the bathrooms instead of ceramic tile.

    Thanks for the inspiration
    Linda

  17. Your floor looks great and i feel inspired to finally get the giant wall behind my sofa done, done meaning putting up a gallery wall. I just get overwhelmed when I think about it! So maybe instead of thinking so much I should just do it, finally!
    Thanks for Make it Happen Monday! Now lets see if I can do it 😉

  18. I think your floor looks great! Peel and Stick have come a long ways and those are amazing. I’m back at work (school) so my projects are confined to evenings or weekends. I’m hoping to wash windows and window treatments in the bedrooms this weekend. The family and living rooms are done but the bedrooms are in nasty shape and need to be cleaned. One step at a time…

  19. I really want to get our half bath done downstairs. We moved into our “new to us” house a little over a year ago. Everything we want to do is absolutely cosmetic, but I still want to get it done. When we moved in we, I, were planning our wedding so working on the house was just too much at the time. My husband was able to prime the downstairs hallway and half bath – we have the paint color for the walls, we just have to actually paint now. Well, my sister in law and her family (husband, baby and two dogs) started living with us a couple months ago (and will be with us until the end of next month), so I don’t really want to start painting the downstairs hallway walls yet just because it kind of seems like it would be a hassle. With the baby using the walls to stand and there being a total of four dogs in the house and all. I don’t want dog hair sticking to my wet walls you know!? Well, I feel like we could AT LEAST get the downstairs bathroom painted. We have two bathrooms upstairs, so the downstairs one would just be out of order for a few days. I just need to do it!! My husbands wants/needs to patch a couple more holes (we took the wall mounted TP holder off and he needs to patch over those) but other than that, I can paint it if we would just patch already!!!! (Yes, I’ve lived in a house for a over a year that has primed downstairs walls with no paint – don’t judge me!) =]

  20. Oh my gosh, the projects that I have to do…here’s my list to cheer me on — and I will certainly do the same back! My fireplace living room walls need sanded (I skim coated them), primed, and painted and the floors need sanded. I need to decorate my sunporch (right now it’s a sectional from IKEA and a pedestal coffee table I redid) because it is bland. I tore up the carpet in multiple rooms plus the stairs and upstairs hallway and have to refinish the floors. I have to repaint a ton of doors. I also have decorations galore for my son’s bedroom, it’s just a matter of getting the room painted and everything up on the walls. Plus, the basement room with all of the furniture odds and ends I would like to get around to someday. That’s just off the top of my head. I scrutinize everything! Good luck & I like the ability to post because keeping up with my blog is on my list of things to do, but you know…

  21. Yay so glad this is back, it really helped me to focus and get things done. Yes I have painted the tea trolley mentioned a couple of weeks back but I need to take a photo and update the blog. Taking the line from Kristi that the projects are about getting things DONE rather than getting things PRETTY – (I know they are not mutually exclusive), I have a job that is really really bugging me – my sitting room doors! You may recall my mentioning that our house flooded last Sept and we’ve done a makeover? This included painting the said doors from a pine finish to a white finish. My builder provided trade paint and I spent hours (and I mean hours) carefully painting these four doors but I was pleased with the outcome. HOWEVER…I noticed recently that they have gone very yellow (like a clotted cream colour rather than pure white) and it’s bugging me. So my mission for the week is to try and get these doors painted back to a respectable shade of white!

  22. Wow, that is impressive that you can take on a home repair and finish it like that. I have some terrible kind of block that prevents me from finishing projects in my home, unless I am extremely disciplined, as is, guests are coming and I HAVE to get it done.

    I have a garage sale bookshelf that I added lots of extra’s too, painted, and even have it stage. I need to finish the doors that go on the bottom. I don’t know why, I CAN’T do it!

    My office is really so much more under control, but I have been putting off making shelves, I have all the components, just need to cut, sand and stain the wood, (and then hang them)

    I got about halfway through making over my bedroom, but it has stalled at my fireplace (molded concrete that I hate and don’t know what to do with), and a big Country Style armoire that doesn’t fit our new look, it is plain, but I need help in which way to go with this too.

    If you can sprinkle some magic motivational dust over me, maybe I will at least get that bookshelf finished Monday morning…..