I'm a duct tape sort of guy...

When we bought our place, it was considered "move in ready". I don't dispute that at all. Everything works and is solid. But then you start to look at the little things and realize that even in a "move in ready" house, you still have tons of little DIY projects that have to be done.

I've always considered myself to be pretty handy but I'm not really sure where that perception comes from. I did some technical theater, can carry heavy and dusty boxes, and have managed to fit some simple Ikea furniture together. When I look at very simple projects I am completely baffled by them. I have a variety of projects that I can undertake right now. They are totally do-able and seem really easy on the DIY network.

The first is to paint the bathroom and kitchen. Well they were kind of non-starters because they have so much prep work. I also want to recaulk the kitchen sink. No idea how to do that one either. Hang a spice rack or new clothing hook. Do I pre-drill holes for that?

Its not that these are really hard to figure out, its just that I don't want to mess anything in our place up.

So last night I stuck to an old, OCD favorite: recaulking the tub in the guest bathroom. The whole bathroom is rental white. White tile, white paint, white fixtures. Its also really dirty. A good toothbrush scrubbing revealed an old, scuffed bathroom who could use an update. So maybe some paint, new caulk, new storage, and a new light fixture. Everything but the caulk around the tub was daunting.

I had redone the caulk in two bathrooms before so felt like an "ole pro" at it. The caulking was probably orginal to the bathroom renovation (that happened in 1985) and it took a good 3 hours with a razor blade, vacuum cleaner, and paper towels to get a 3.5 foot section cleaned out. The bathroom is also flush against the original plaster wall on one end and the original wood moulding on the other so I had to be very careful about getting that out as well.

Getting the bead smoothed out and sealed was pretty easy but my hands were cramped and a bit blistered so I only finished about 4 feet of tub. The entire tub, and corners still need to be finished. I'm thinking that I'll probably invest in one of those caulking guns since I have the rest of the tub, all the sinks, and the other tub to finish.