I got a lot done today, and I’m feeling pretty productive right now. I also feel that I legitimately leveled up in my handy-woman-around-the-house role. Which feels… good.
I have always been the handyman of our house. I am the one who fixes the things. Early in my relationship with my husband, my FIL got me a power drill and it was one of the first time I realized he really saw me. His son has never used it once, but I’ve completed many a project with that power drill.
When something needs to be built, or hung, or tinkered with, I’m the one to do it. Just last month I replaced the dishwasher waste tube that was leaking under the sink. I’ve built all the IKEA furniture in this house (most of the furniture in this house is from IKEA). I’ve hung both my kids swings from their ceilings. I recently jury rigged a hanging projector set up on the ceiling of our new space downstairs. I am proud of my handiness around the house. I like to get things done, and to feel confident that I can do them myself.
Over a month ago I ordered a sink from IKEA. It will go in our downstairs bathroom, where the current sink is very small and very low quality. I have been very excited to switch out the sink, because the one down there barely functions.
The sink finally came (ordering from IKEA online is not nearly the positive experience that I find purchasing stuff from their warehouses to be). I started putting together the cabinet this weekend. Finally, I got to the bamboo top, which was the whole reason I bought it. Imagine my surprise when I took a solid piece of bamboo out of the box, with no hole for the plumbing of a sink.
I opened the sink next, and found the directions for installing it on the cabinet. Here they are.
Um, is that a jigsaw? This is a piece of IKEA furniture – the whole idea is that they give you everything you need and you easily put it together. WHAT THE ACTUAL F***!
To be clear I didn’t even know what that thing was when I first glanced at the directions. I had to send a picture to my dad and he informed me that it was a jigsaw and that he had one. So evidently I was going to cut a hole into the beautiful piece of bamboo with a jigsaw. It feels like a lot of things can go wrong when cutting a hole into a piece of bamboo with a jigsaw. WHY?!
The answer to that question is that because the sink sits on top of the bamboo, it can be at any angle you want. You can turn it sideways a bit and make it more artsy. I was not interested in this, and I wish IKEA offered the option of buying the beautiful piece of bamboo with the hole already cut it in for boring, straight down the middle, placement of the sink.
I immediately decided that I couldn’t handle any of this and emailed my plumber to ask him to do it. But after a couple communications back and forth I realized I’d rather figure it out myself than hope he was actually understating what I was saying (and showing him via that photo above). Also, I didn’t want to pay for an hour more of plumbers’ fee (I guessed it would actually be longer than that and cost even more).
I figured out (from some google inquiries) that the adhesive shown in the directions was silicone, so I bought some of that before driving down to my parents’ house to get the jigsaw.
This morning I traced the cutout and drilled the initial hole and used the jigsaw to cut out the hole. The jigsaw was hard to wield and I’m still surprised I was able to follow my guidelines, but I did it. Then I sealed the cut wood with silicone and let it dry.
Later today I used silicone to glue the sink down. I feel confident that the seal is complete around the entire sink.
The plumber comes Friday to take out the old sink, and install the new sink cabinet and faucet and connect it to the plumbing.
I am quite proud of how it turned out. I didn’t think I could do it – and even asked a professional to do it for me – but in the end I did it myself. I definitely feel like, with the sawing and the silicone, I leveled up in my handyman credentials with this project.
I also cleaned the playhouse that has been growing mold in the backyard for half a decade (the water conservation Californian in me just couldn’t dump all the water from that inflatable pool, so I was finally inspired to clean the playhouse before I emptied the pool). It looks nice enough now that I think someone will quickly pick it up when I post it on free craigslist. I have been dreading cleaning that because it really was a gross, disgusting mess.
Sure I didn’t get any “work” done and I’ll be up late tonight, but I got a lot of personal goals checked off today and I feel pretty darn good about it. I promise I’ll send pictures of the sink once the plumbers install it (I really hope there aren’t any issues and it goes in without a hitch – with my house there is usually a hitch).
How has your week been?
I am super impressed! You did a great job.
YOU ARE FABULOUS and AMAZING. Again, super proud and impressed by who you are and what you do.
Really wonderful.
Amazing. I can’t do anything. It would never occur to me to even try. My husband once fixed a cabinet door and we still talk about how proud we are of him.
Even after you explained it, I still have no idea what you did and what the instructions say! How did you figure this out? It would never occur to me to buy a sink that required me to do any work to set up. I like full service everything! I’m beyond impressed.
I did not buy a sink assuming I would have to do any of this! It’s from IKEA! I assumed you put it together like any regular IKEA item (well except for the faucet and plumbing which I expected a plumber would have to install. I was totally flabbergasted when I saw the solid piece of bamboo and the directions. Maybe with bathroom and kitchen stuff they assume a professional is handling it? I really don’t know.
Wow I am super impressed!! Go you! I am the opposite of handy and I hate that this falls along traditional gender lines in my home because I literally cannot fix anything, and my kids don’t even ask me anymore, and go right for my husband.
Impressive! Thank goodness my husband is handy because I look at something and I’m like oh that will be easy and I discount all of the steps that need to happen to do it right as opposed to just powering my way through something to get it done….. LOL
I salute your handywoman skills! Dh is fairly hopeless in this area. I think I probably *could* do a few things in this area if I set my mind to it, but dh’s self-esteem in this area is low enough that I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to show him up. Luckily, BIL is pretty handy and we now live close enough to call him over (COVID notwithstanding). And I have no qualms about calling in & paying for the experts if necessary.