MichaelMcKinlay.com

I bought my first place just over a year ago now. When I moved in, the place needed some serious work. Some of it could be done by me and some of it could only be done by a professional.

I started my little do it yourself projects by painting and putting down baseboards with my Dad. While most of these projects went well, some of them did not. One specific example I can think of is my bathrooom. I had a plumber install a new a new sink, toilet, and bathtub/shower unit. When the plumber installed the tub, the walls of it did not align perfectly with the existing wall and so it was left unfixed. My Dad and I tried to give it a go by putting tile up above the unit but we then quickly realized that the tiling would look off as the walls were not straight. It’s been very frustrating cause I’m not sure what to do.

They say that, knowledge is power if you are planning to take on a home improvement project I would suggest you take a look at DoitYourself.com before you start. For example, if you are going to do some interior painting then check out the site as they have some great tips on this subject. You may even want to purchase their dvd as it will help you get better results! I wished I had, then maybe things would have gone smoother.