I want to hear your funniest design stories!

DanielaAraya · 2024-07-07T15:28:05+00:00

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Does any particular story come to mind?

For me, thinking about my husband and I renovating our kitchen cracks me up. We were very naive and optimistic about doing the work ourselves. I wanted to record everything to document the process and pretend to have my own little home reno show. When we started tearing down the kitchen walls to reinsulate and put drywall up to tile, we had no idea what would be hiding behind the walls — and let me tell you, it wasn't anything good! 🐭💩

What design projects/DIYs make you laugh now that they're over?

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Comments

CullenOrmond

@DanielaAraya! Your kitchen tile is so gorgeous! I think the funniest design project I have is trying to bring my couch into my living room. I didn't measure correctly and had to call the couch doctor to take it fully apart outside and then put it back together inside of the living room. If/when we move he'll have to come back over and do the same thing 😂 It's worth it though because I cherish this couch!

DanielaAraya

@CullenOrmond thank you re: tile 💛 It took forever but I'm so happy with it!

LOL that feels like a classic design oopsie! But wait I need to hear more about the couch doctor!! How do they take it apart and put it back together so that it looks totally normal again? I've always been so curious

SNandez

My fiancé and I are right in the middle of one…for some reason (of course after watching a ton of home reno shows) we decided we could strip the paint off of our window frames. Our building is 100 years old and…I'm about 99% sure this has never been done before. So we're trying to peel through at LEAST 50 years of layered paint…Maybe longer? It's umm….been an adventure so far, but we're determined!

losfrangeles

I have yet to live in a place that has a beautiful old fireplace mantel, so I bought a fake one at an antique store. It had to be partially disassembled to fit into my dinky hatchback, then reassembled and carefully taken upstairs. And it’s way too shallow for my antique andirons, so they’re positioned at a VERY weird angle to “fit”. Oh well. Someday I’ll get a nice fireplace (real or fake).

DanielaAraya

@SNandez omg haha this is great, please keep us posted! That's so tedious but will be SO rewarding once you power through and see what's underneath it all. I'd love to see some photos!

DanielaAraya

@losfrangeles aw I actually love this story! A memento of the journey that it took to get to your house. I feel like I've experienced a version of this all too many times. I just try to make it work until it doesn't anymore 🙃

mlg6k

@CullenOrmond , now I’m dying to know what kind of magical couch you have? (In the hunt for a new one!)

DanielaAraya

@mlg6k Cullen just posted a photo in this thread!! It's sooo gorgeous

ArizonaRed

Here's a good one! Many years ago, I rented a house from my parents. My dad was a big DIY'er but he was the measure once and cut twice kinda guy. He often had projects that had to be redone because of one small mistake.

The house was in the midwest and had basement access through the floor in the hallway. It was one of those that you pulled up the floor and went down the stairs kind of setup. Anyways, he decided to add a small set of shelves in the hallway for towels (about a foot square). Once it was done it looked great. However, the first time I needed to open the door to the basement, I just couldn't get it open. I was baffled until I looked at the shelves and he had built them slightly too large so that one corner extended over the door to the basement. I told my mom and we couldn't stop laughing as I let him know the problem. A few curse words later, he had rebuilt it an inch smaller, and now the door would open. I reminded him why you should always measure twice and cut once!

SNandez

https://community.apartmenttherapy.com/discussion/comment/1099#Comment_1099

Will defo share when we've made some good progress! I think we're finally getting the hang of it haha.

DanielaAraya

https://community.apartmenttherapy.com/discussion/comment/1129#Comment_1129

This is equal parts hilarious and incredibly sweet! Thank you for sharing! I never want to measure twice but the headaches that come later are my reminder to just do it 😂

SNandez

https://community.apartmenttherapy.com/discussion/comment/1099#Comment_1099

Making some progress! It's looking so good, we've uncovered so much hidden detail! Still got a loooong way to go though haha.

DanielaAraya

https://community.apartmenttherapy.com/discussion/comment/1321#Comment_1321

Wow!!! You can really see how many layers you've gotten through. Good for you!!! 💪

SNandez

https://community.apartmenttherapy.com/discussion/comment/1437#Comment_1437

Thanks!! It's wild ride. Still working on it haha.