Laying the Groundwork

All-Star Renovation Challenge Week 2

Welcome to the week where your all-stars really show us what they’re made of.  This week is normally the time where renovations decide to challenge you to the max. All the things that can go wrong, go wrong. They require at least 101 trips to Home Depot, pizza for dinner, and recruiting family members to help control the madness. 

This week is no different. Laying the groundwork is essential for any successful renovation. 

While Lindi + Russell made great progress on their playhouse, they faced having to move the whole structure across the yard onto raisers to elevate the whole thing. They brought in some heavy-duty back up for this + thankfully shared all the details for your own here. 

ProTip: Don’t try this at home, leave it to the pros. 

Shara gutted her parent’s master suite and prepped the walls with cement board, framed the doors and laid tile. 

Virginia wrapped up demo + fixed up any remnants of the water damage and even had some time to go thrifting to score some great finds for your basement apartment. Her gorgeous selections can be found here. 

In converting her half bath to a full bath Nicole added in some insulation, a vapor barrier to help with the moister and her shower pan to prep her space for a custom-designed tile install. 

For Jessie, it was all about calling in some backup. 

“Sometimes no matter how hard you try or how many YouTube videos you watch, you just have to call in the BIG guns and that’s exactly what happened this week,” said Jessie of her bathroom renovation. 

While the plumbers handled the ahh…dirty tasks, Jessie prepped her space for paint thanks to our partners Behr + FrogTape. 

Meanwhile, Emily installed her floating shelving in her mid-renovation laundry room to help guide her tiling a feature wall. 

ProTip: Be sure each row of tile is level + don’t be afraid to triple check, as this sets the way for the rest of the feature wall. 

Amy started tiling her floor this week while sharing step-by-step on how to prep your floors, that is great to keep handy if it’s your first time taking on this kind of project. 

ProTip: Don’t have the corners of your cement board align as this causing lifting after your beautiful tile install. 

Kelsey + Ryan wrap up the week with well…

“We started this week installing cement board, and basically ended this week still installing cement board,” said Kelsey of their progress for week three. 

They did manage to make their tile selections found here and completed work on their vanity refresh. 

ProTip: Vote for your favorite designs daily as voting is officially open and only you can determine the winner. 

See all the progress, how-to’s, and challenges week 3 brought on for the All-Stars and how they overcame them to vie for the grand prize. 

To vote, click here.