A Spook-tacular Week 2 in the Renovation Challenge

It’s week 2 and demo is complete. Now it’s time to lay the groundwork…literally.

Prepping your space is key to a successful renovation. Being big believers that if you’re going to do something, do it the right way to avoid going back and fixing those costly shortcuts later. To help, our amazing group of DIY Challengers are offering their best advice, tips, tricks and things to look for in any revocation.

Using FrogTape to mark off her kitchen to prep and paint her cabinets is Tracy of Mocha Girl Place. She’s sharing everything you need to know about the Wagner FLEXiO 3500 to make painting smooth and easy, making it a great DIY for one. Rehma also shares how to properly prep, sand and clean your cabinets before you paint.

During demo Rebecca removed all her old flooring, tub, shower surround and vanity, making way for some fresh tile to be installed. While removing materials is necessary to demo, so is removing nails and staples that might be in your floorboards. Rebecca helps to uncover these pesky items while her son rolled up his sleeves to remove the carpeting, making this DIY one for the whole family.

Meanwhile in Montana’s bathroom renovation she discovered a rotted pipe in the shower, that thankfully she was able to replace just in time to prep for drywall, and she’s showing us a behind the scenes look at replacing the pipe.

Libbie removed her countertops in week one of the Renovation Challenge to create cement countertops for her kitchen and, man can you say trans-formation! We were blown away at how far she’s come in one week. Don’t miss her how-to on her marvelous cement countertops.

Kelsey’s bathroom gut is complete with her showing us proper flooring removal and the correct way to install cement board to begin tiling her floors, and we can’t wait!

Working on some finishing pieces, Karissa teaches how best to get accurate cuts to create a picture wall feature, a cost-effective way to make a big impact in design, but not on your pocketbook.

Breaking down kitchen renovations is Jen with her easy to follow 3-step guide on how to prepare for a kitchen renovation. Yay!

Else makes a few interesting discoveries in her bathroom and she peels back the layers of the ghost of old DI-tries gone wrong, which also plays into our mantra of do things right the first time. Don’t miss her blog this week to find out what surprises she found along the way. It’s like a Halloween renovation, and needless to say it’s scary.

So is the black mold DeLancey discovered as she does a complete gut job on her primary bathroom but have no fear she shares the proper way to remove the mold and prep for a fresh new look along the way.

Bryan takes his kitchen renovation to a whole new level with tips on removing existing backsplashes, prepping for a wall-mounted range hood and prepping the ceiling for all-new lighting. Man, that was a mouthful but impressive for only the second week into the Challenge.

If we had a crown for biggest demo, it would have to go to Astra. Her primary bath was a HUGE undertaking, and she did it all herself. Talk about empowered female DIYers. Alex also had a few curveballs thrown her way but she handled them like a champ and shares all the details on her blog.

Adrianna not only took on painting her kitchen she’s doing it with a baby on board. Yep, that’s right she’s DIYing for two and knocking things off her renovation to-do list in record time, even with a few hick-ups.

Its been a spook-tacular week in Season 6 of the Renovation Challenge, but we are thankful for so many helpful how-to’s from each of our DIY Challengers.

Don’t forget to peek at each renovation and vote for your faves. Head over to cast your vote now.

*Voting allows for one vote per day for the duration of the Renovation Challenge.