By Guest Correspondent ChoHey everyone! It’s Cho, your favorite Survivor recapper on the internet! I really enjoy engaging with Tamara’s community here so I decided that in between seasons, we would try a new series featuring me and my home renovation projects! If you love Tamara’s Tomato Talks, you should feel right at home here! My partner Eric and I live in an old historic home that was newly renovated. While beautiful and full of charm, once you own a home, you realize there is always more work that can be done. Ever since I’ve known my partner, he’s always had a huge to-do-list. Only the Lady of the Manor would have a longer to-do list for her interns. If you know me at all, you know I am no fan of manual labor. I get out of bed at 10am every morning. I don’t use hammers. I wear scarves on a regular basis. Suffice to say, I haven’t had any interest in helping Eric out with his projects until now! With no experience whatsoever, I’m excited to embark on this new journey with him. From throwing together a set of stairs to building a new backyard patio, I’m sure I will learn many things along the way. Life is too short to not learn new skills.
Hopefully this series of posts will enlighten and inspire you to do work on your own home or simply enjoy reading about me struggling with a set of pliers. Regardless, I’d love to hear your feedback in the comment section. Over time, you’ll get to know our house better and the goals we have in mind. Do give advice on our future projects or even lessons you’ve learned from completing your own!
Because Eric has little hope in me, and rightfully so, he wanted the first project to be a “small one”. We wanted to move our thermostat from one side of the wall to another with the goal of creating a better placement for art pieces. If this is sounding like a huge first-world problem, you’re exactly on the mark. Art is very important, and the placement of such is a part of that. Placing it in line with the light switch just makes everything look a bit more uniform don’t you think? We want to hang a larger piece of art that covers most of the wall. What types of art do you have in your home? Projected time to take was 1 hour plus or minus 30 minutes. Spoiler fucking alert: it took us 3 times that amount!
We started off doing the basics like unscrewing the switch plates, finding the stud and measuring where exactly we would set the new location for the thermostat. I think I looked really good holding the power drill. I felt so butch! Have you used one before? In our home, we love to use smart devices due to the convenience they add to our life. With Nest, we can control the temperature from our mobile devices as well as monitor our home with cameras. After drilling a hole in the wall, we retrieved something called fish tape which would later be used to connect the two holes in the wall. All I could think of was my childhood of eating disgusting fish sticks. Am I the only one who has cravings for them from time to time?
After unwiring the thermostat, it was time to feed it through the new hole. We used electrical tape to connect the thermostat wires to that of the fish tape. We fed it through the basement hole by pulling up from the first floor. As I pulled, I noticed that the tape snagged onto something. Fearing that we would lose the thermostat cord if I pulled harder, I gave the cord to Eric. If he pulled too hard and lost the cord, at least he couldn’t blame me for it. Lo and behold, he pulled too hard, and the thermostat cord was ripped from the fish tape. In my head, I dodged a bullet except for the fact that it then took TWO MORE HOURS to reattach the fish tape with the thermostat cord!! My darling Eric has a lot of patience with me in particular, but to hear him cuss like a sailor for two hours straight was both hilarious and scary at the same time.
After finally getting the fish tape through to the basement, we had to once again connect it the thermostat cord and pull it back to the first floor. This time we were successful! I literally yelled with excitement when I saw the black electrical tape pop through the hole on the first floor! After struggling for 2 hours, I felt as amazing as Kathryn Calhoun should feel now.
Everything was smooth sailing after that monumental success. It was simply a matter of reconnecting everything we had undone before. Due to the sheer amount of time it took for us to simply move the thermostat 2 and a half fucking feet, we ran out of time to properly clean up the old spot. Can you tell how happy I am?! We did have a bit of time to apply some joint compound into the holes left from the old placement. That was kind of fun, because it reminds me of silly puddy!
So what was meant to be a simple project to start this series of blog posts ended up being a nightmare. Is this what owning a home is like? Have you had a similar experience with a project in your home? If you liked this post and would like to see more like these, do let me know in the comment section below!
Hi Cho! Oh my gosh you’re hysterical! I don’t watch Survivor anymore so I haven’t read your posts, now I feel I’m really missing out. I’ve never been a homeowner but, I really enjoyed reading about your project. You and Eric sound wonderful. My ex could build/ repair pretty much anything and I know from him that staircases are very tricky. If you’re building one from scratch you have to be extremely precise. A few centimeters off and you’ll trip all the time. Same goes for hanging a new door, precision wise. Those were the two jobs he really hated. But, it sounds like Eric has a really good handle on all this stuff and of course a lovely assistant. I’m excited to read more and see your progress!
Hey Fizz! Thank you so much for your comment on my first post! You should definitely go back and read my recaps. It’s quicker than watching the entire season. There are some great moments and a lot of lack luster moments, but the finale was AMAZING! And my recaps were a hoot and a half!
Eric definitely has a great handle on most things. I’m the one you should be concerned about! haha I’m hoping I will get Eric set up to post here so that you all can interact with him as well! He is super patient when it comes to my [lack of] understanding! He explains everything really thoroughly.
Don’t I know it! One wonky staircase and there went my ankle!
You have survived the first and already knew the most important part….let him be the one that things mess up on. Here…SOMEHOW…it will still be my fault 😉. To the point it has become a running joke. Here is my advice….double the time you think it will take, NEVER let them start at 5 or 6 (someone was helping cleaning out gutters until 9pm and still had to finish the next day)….enjoy the feeling of accomplishment you will have after you are done. Manly grunts and chest pounding is fully acceptable once the project is complete.
Thank you very much for commenting! Hopefully you will continue reading and chatting with us. Somehow I survived. How, idk. Pray for me as we embark on future projects!I can’t imagine cleaning a gutter. The thought grosses me out completely. And until 9pm and the next day?! haha
I’m a night owl and Eric is a morning bird. We are currently trying to meet in the middle somehow. Maybe I can start by noon? I just can’t imagine getting up at 8am on a Saturday!!!
K, just put this together, you two? Happy face insert here!
I actually thought about a spreadsheet at your suggestion Eric… for about 30 seconds! That’s more time on something I won’t get done either, sigh.
Eric has many a spreadsheet. It helps, because when you have as many projects as he does, sometimes you even forget what you have to do!! haha
I need a partner like Eric.
Thanks for the idea. I think cleaning the muck out of the gutters will be an excellent project for Cho. They are three stories high too. Keep an eye out for his next post. You’ll see why he will be up there and not me lol.
I’m sorry. I represent Cho and he will not be doing any gutter work. He does not do gutter work. Also, he has fragile bones. You will be needing to hire someone to put gutter guards on your gutters. Thanks for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Auntie TT, Esquire (Degree by Google)
You heard her, Eric.
I love this so much! What a great idea. I’m about to have a baby, and my husband and I are putting up charred shiplap on our stairwell as our final big project before she arrives. I was looking for a grey to put on wall next to it and am obsessed with the color you chose. What name and brand is this?! Keep this up – it’s helping my nesting urges!
Hey Boogie! First off, Thank you so much for reading this post. I’m glad it’s something you can now look forward to every couple weeks! Eric LOVES Chip And Joanna, and actually pointed out to me that Joanna is the one who got “shiplap” trending. I’m unfamiliar with this, but he just explained it to me again just now. He’s going to comment soon on the paint color and brand.
Btw, have you picked out a name for the baby?
That’s hysterical! My husband became a shiplap nut thanks to Joanna. I was in the same boat, l was like, “huh? It’s from a ship?”
No name on the baby yet because I’m hormonal and hate all my husbands ideas.
LOL that’s hysterical. You know I had an old boss of mine who was pregnant and used to crave highlighters. Specifically, she liked the different colors, because they reminded her of Starbursts.
Congrats tho. That’s a pretty magical process. Whenever I tell people happy birthday, I also say: “thank your mom from me!”
I keep a tab on my to-do spreadsheet specifically for paint colors. This color is Poised Taupe, Sherwin Williams SW6039. We used it in the main hallway that you see as well as the main stairs and second floor landing.
I can tell by this comment alone that you are the reason that house is so clean. I need you to come down to the ghetto and help me out!
Yeah, Cho blogs, streams, and tweets. I clean lol.
Your OCD in the first post about having a to-do spreadsheet tipped me off. I have a list of things I should be doing in my head that never get done. I live in the ghetto and keep thinking I should meet my neighbors and hire a meth head to clean. But they’d just steal all my stuff. 🙂 I just need to make friends with an OCD person. One of my exes would wash my dishes while I was getting ready to go out. That was his best quality. 🙂
If Eric tries to make me clean the gutters, I’ll ship him to you down in Atlanta. He’ll clean for you!
My friend and I post paint chips on the front doors of the neighborhood homes when we take our morning walk. If everyboddy would cooperate, we’d have such a lovely view. Ok, we don’t really, but we want to!
My hero!
He’s my knight! I even have him in my phone as such.
Do keep us up to date on your color search! I’m sure Eric could give you more recommendations. Eventually you’ll see other paint colors in our home.
Hello, Cho. You write it, I’ll read it. Just not right now. Too many beers in to be articulate beyond 5 sentences.
Dainty, I ALWAYS appreciate your support. You are too kind.
And let’s be honest, beer >>>> everything else on a weekend. Take your time. Looking forward to your comment.
I needed a good laugh. My daughter and her beau are new homeowners. Their home was built in 1932 and solid as can be with awesome architectural details. Brad took out the old stairs going into the basement because he didn’t like the angle. He came to find out the hard way (is there any other way?) the angle was necessary. Wishing you and Eric the best of luck.
Thank you Radchick for commenting. You are definitely RAD for your support. Wow sounds like that staircase was a pain in the you know what!
Definitely let your kids know about this blog. I’m sure they could definitely relate to Eric and I’s current projects. They might even inspire us and vice versa!
I spent 4 hours bleaching scrounge off of the gutters and trim. We had a fairly mild, but wet winter so everything is sporting a bright green patina of algae and moss. Still a lot more to do, but at least I made a dent in it.
Hey Jr. Thanks a lot for commenting! It seems like there’s a common trend tonight in the comment section: GUTTERS! What a dirty job that is to do. I hope I never have to experience it myself. haha
How long do you think it’ll take to complete?
Thankfully we have GutterGuard, so I am not having to clean out the gutters, but the black scrounge that gets on them is the devil to scrub off. As for the time frame, it will depend on the humidity. Heat I can handle, but the humidity is something else.
If you don’t mind me asking, where do you live? We are in Ohio and the humidity here is straight from hell.
We are in North Carolina. Not to mention that the humidity does unspeakable things to my frizzy j-fro.
Oil, flat-iron, blow dryer, 4 brushe and spray all for nothing as soon as I open the door.
Le sigh.
A J-Fro in North Carolina humidity?! Chiiiiiile! I’ll put you on my prayer list.
Yes! Please pray!!! 😂
JrLeaguer, I’ve installed, rehung gutters for proper runoff, and cleaned them out, I’ve never heard of the problem you describe. Does the gunk get on your house also? Are they plastic or metal gutters?
Great post. I’m sure you figured out that every new job will always take minimum of twice the amount of time you think it will
Hey Lisa! Thank you for the compliment on the post. I’m really happy you enjoyed it. I have OBVIOUSLY learned the hard way. I’m glad it’s the first thing I learned though. haha
Have you done any cool projects lately or looking forward to one in the near future?
Hi Cho. I haven’t read your recaps because I don’t watch Survivor anymore and I am not even sure if it has been on since I discovered TT. This site has THE BEST writers of ANY entertainment site. What I really enjoy is that you all have distinct voices. And you all make e laugh.
Good to see you have mastered the first skill of DYI with a partner — making the
other guy do the stuff that might mess up so you don’t get yelled at!
Nanette. That is SUCH a thoughtful compliment. Tamara is so talented at what she does, and I believe in her brand 100%. The content here is not to be surpassed by anywhere else!
If I didn’t have Eric, nothing would get done. Literally. And yes, he’s always going to be the scapegoat as to why something goes wrong. NOT ME! haha
btw, Survivor is still going strong! They’re licensed for the next 3 seasons I believe. Definitely check out those blog posts. It’s a fun read. 🙂
Haven’t read all the comments Cho but I was so excited to see and read your post!
I don’t watch “Survivor” but I have read some of your posts and still I’ve giggled not even knowing what heck is going on! Your comments are spot on (imho) on TT’s posts.
I want to thank Tamara for recognizing your gift with words and humor. I’m going to enjoy reading about you and Eric’s reno journeys. I’ll probably share on the never ending, sometime taking forever to finish (…), home loving adventures! I have never thought about “moving” a thermostat! I’ve (all these many years and homes) just worked around them! Congratulations and good job!
BTW? Your home? The floor, trim, wall color and choice of artwork? Yummy! Thank you Cho!
Kipper it’s so nice to talk to you again! Thank you for coming along my journey with discussing Survivor and now Home Renovation!
I implore you to talk our ears off. The thing about building a community is that we can share ideas and help each other grow. I’m not the expert here but I’m sure you have awesome ideas and projects in mind that could even help Eric come up with new ways of doing things! Everyone has some wisdom to share. And yes, we literally just moved a thermostat 2 and a half feet away to make more room for larger art pieces. lol
Thank you for the compliments! Excited to share more!
Hugs!
Loved this! Makes me want to watch some Youtube videos to learn some stuff for house projects.
I’m glad it’s an motivator for you. Do stick around for future posts!
Hey there Cho
Every weekend I get a “honey do list” so I relate 100%. Something I feel I am good at – I only learned via google!
Wow you are def. into this remodel! awesome and cheers! I ended up hiring General contractor that made $$ off me!
Thank you for speaking up for us Weekend remodel dudes!
If I had my way, we would be hiring a contractor and they’d be getting rich off of us too. But if we did that, we wouldn’t have anything to write about. And also, Eric refuses to let people do things that he can do himself. Very stubborn! haha
Btw, I see you around TT very often! I’m happy to have you in this community!
Cho and Eric I loved the post. Surviving diy with a partner and not breaking up during or after is a huge accomplishment. After 40 years of marriage and many renovations by my husband and sometimes my sons, I learned to be the cheerleader and the support team. I keep him in food and drinks and praise him a lot. Other than that I just stay out of his way. Lol. May sound like a cop out, but we have found through the years that this works best for us. Eric is a keeper if he has that much patience to teach you and explain things several times. Can’t wait for your next post. My hubby is tearing out the 2nd bathroom next week. Wish us luck. We are having a holiday in the middle of the week. TT once again you’ve found the perfect person to post on here. Keep up the great work.
Eric is my knight in shining armor. He is definitely a keeper. However, if I mysteriously fall off of a ladder from the 3rd floor and die, KNOW THAT ERIC GOT SICK OF MY COMPLAINING. I’ve arranged for my Auntie TT to be in the will if it comes to that.
Good luck with your bathroom. I couldn’t imagine being without one for a long period of time. Do you have another bathroom while he works on that one? Any cool upgrades that you’re excited about? And what is it with people tearing WHOLE rooms out during holidays? I feel like everyone does that and it’s always a mess! hahaha Wishing you all the luck I can muster darling! <3
Thanks, Cho. I enjoyed your post. The more things I can get to motivate me, the better. Now that I’m alone, I really miss having my husband around to help me get the little repairs done. We used to be a great team – I came up with the ideas, he did the work, I was the go-fer, and we admired it together. When his Alzheimer’s took that teamwork away, I realized how much he had always done and how much I relied on him. Since then, I tried hanging a rather large painting by myself – used a level, measured carefully, and still ended up with about five holes before I got it right, plus I fell sideways and twisted my ankle. Not a huge success. So glad you and Eric compliment each other – it’s a real gift.
I love you EnglishRose! You are a true partner!
EnglishRose hello!! Thank you for the compliments. I believe you commented on my Survivor posts on occasion as well?! It’s so good to hear from you. Maybe in these posts we can get to know each other on a more personal level.
I’m glad you have been inspired by your husband, and hopefully we can help to motivate you even more. Believe me, I am in the same boat as you. I have never done the things we are currently doing. It’s never too late to learn and practice. I believe in you!!
***complement***
I’ve enjoyed your Survivor recaps even though I don’t watch the show so I’m eagerly awaiting your renovation recaps even though I’m lazy af. Who knows. I may get inspired to do something. I blame Tamara for motivating me to parent a tomato plant. Which I should water…
Awww thank you for reading my Survivor recaps! I had so much fun writing those. Survivor remains my favorite show in the entire world, so I’m thankful for the community here.
My gardening skills are trash, so you are my idol for trying to plant tomatoes. I’ve killed succulents; I’ve killed cacti; and I would probably kill a fake plant too.
We hope you stick around through our journey of home renovations!
Is this a sponsored post? I don’t care one way or the other, really, despite my browser already shutting down repeatedly while I’m here. I’m a glutton for punishment.
I have to rebuild a deck. I’m not looking forward to it.
Who exactly would we be sponsored by? To answer the question, NO! haha It’s so funny you ask that, because I showcase a lot of products on my Twitch broadcast channel (https://www.twitch.tv/thatcho) and I’m always telling my viewers: “#NotSponsored” whenever I talk about a product. We mentioned the Nest home system, because it’s what we use, and I think others could find it to be really useful and technologically savvy.
We are looking to build a deck from scratch I believe? I can imagine rebuilding being even worse than that even! Why are you rebuilding?
A mention, a picture, and a link. I’m a curmudgeon that even the cat ladies here hate. I bitch about a lot of things. I miss the internet of 10 years ago when everything wasn’t deceptive/corporatized. The popups as you try to leave a page and the ones across the bottom of every screen page are my personal favorites. Oh, and the goddamned animations for Velveeta and such. I pay for the internet connection, FFS, and the ads are out of hand.
Anyhoo, a DIYer put a deck on the back of my house before I bought it. It’s garbage. I’m selling and dropping of the grid. You can see why.
My intention is to be informative, hence the mentions, pictures and links. I don’t know how the blogging world does things, but in the vlogging world where I work as well, we are REQUIRED to tell viewers if a specific video or piece of content is sponsored or our video is liable be taken down by Youtube/Twitch. I WISH I were getting paid by Nest, but when I am, I’ll be sure to let you know! haha
I’m sure a lot of DIYers do poor work. Things like lack of expertise, budget etc can really prevent certain projects to being completed. I hope you get a great deal for your home and find a nice comfy place to live next!
We love our Nest and I also love fish sticks from time to time, yum!!! Your Survivor posts give me life and now I love your reno posts!!! Have a great Sunday Funday!!
Oh great! Do you also use Nest for the thermostat and camera functionalities? I’m unsure what else you can use it for. I’ll have to ask Eric if our lights are also connected somehow.
And yes, we were in the grocery the other day, and walked by some Fish Sticks. I had memories of being a 10-year old eating them like weekly, and I had this weird craving for them!!
Thank you for the compliments. I really appreciate it and look forward to chatting with you more!
Our smart lights are Lutron. Only the lights on the main floor and a couple others use smart technology though. Nest has a Carbon Monoxide detector too as well as a smart lock that they partnered with Yale for but we don’t have those yet. If there are enough comments and interest in smart technology maybe you can blog about that in the future, Cho.
I am all about this kind of article. I loved it. I thought I was the only one who owned a fish tape. I have worked in telecom all my life and I have learned to pull wiring and cable. Everyone should have one. I have been able to put speakers in every room.
Cho, what do you do with a house with 27 windows? I love my house in LA. It was built in the 30’s. I loved the hardwoods and the light but I couldn’t hang a large piece of art anywhere.
Thanks for commenting Muffin Top. We hope you stick around on our journey! If you notice in the picture, we actually used TWO different types of fishtape. I didn’t go into detail, because I’m always watching my word count. After we lost the yellow fish tape, I think Eric though getting the green one would have better luck? LOL I don’t know, but it eventually worked!
That’s really cool that you have speakers in every room. Back at my family home in Toledo, we have speakers in every room and there is always smooth jazz playing calmly in the background 24/7. Moving in with Eric was weird at first, because he likes it to be quiet without that background noise that I’m used to.
Eric can probably tell you what to do with a house with 27 windows, because our house has 29 windows! haha It must be super cool to have a home in L.A. We could never afford that probably!
The house is a four square built in 1900. The natural light coming in all the windows is one of the main things that attracted me to the house. Strict historical house people wouldn’t do this but I replaced all but the front four on the main floor with modern efficient and easy to clean windows. The four old ones are in real good shape and have historic storm windows. My philosophy is that certain things like the windows, roof, and gutters need to be functional and not so expensive to repair, restore, or be so inefficient so as to take away from the budget for the rest of the house.
UNFortunately not L.A., it’s LA, Louisiana in Steel Magnolia and Duck dynasty. New homes look out of place. It’s beautiful but it’s basically swampland.
I’ve never been near a swamp before, but I can’t help but picture it as charming for some reason! haha One thing to be thankful for is the cost of living. I know we live in Ohio gets crapped on all the time, but I’d rather be Ohio rich than West/East Coast poor.
Related story, but I know a lot of people from NYC who have moved to Columbus Ohio yet retained their same income. Now, they have multiple cars, multiple homes in the nicest areas and a pool. They tell me it’s ludicrous how rich they are now simply from moving to Ohio where things are cheaper.
I love this new feature. Thank you Cho and TT. I’ll be looking forward to the next installment.
I have one of those husbands who can fix absolutely anything and everything in anyone else’s home but, when it comes to our stuff, we need a new one. Due to 35 years of living like this, I’ve learned how to do a lot of stuff on my own. Over the weekend I hung a new light fixture over our kitchen table. When I was finished and the mess was cleaned up, Mr. Wonderful said I did a good job but he probably would have had it done in less than an hour (it took me about 3 hours). Because I wasn’t in the mood to argue (a rarity for sure) I didn’t point out that 3 hours today vs. 1 hour 2 months from now, or whenever he could finally get around to it, still makes me the winner.
Good luck on your future projects!
PS: I have learned that if a project is beyond me, making a great meal while Mr. Wonderful works, often cuts down no the swearing.
Hey Mary! Thanks for leaving a wonderful comment. I really appreciate the excitement for this new series! We will try to crank out as many posts as our budget and time can allow! haha
Mr. Wonderful sounds like a hoot and a half to me! I think you won the battle of who should have installed that light fixture! How does it look? Style?
As of right now, I feel like EVERYTHING is beyond me, but I will be pushing forward and trying my best. Eric is a great motivator.
A journey of a thousand miles begins by moving the thermostat two and a half feet. For arts sake.
LOL TD, I wish you could have seen my eyes roll once we were done. First world problems at their best.
The distance was short but the knowledge gained was worth it, right?
I only have 9 windows in my condo but they are really large, which means replacement would be really expensive.
Good to see you in a new topic, Cho!
The knowledge gained was definitely worth it… I think? lol All I learned was to plan ahead more for a projects. Do them earlier in the day so that my entire evening is wasted. ha!
9 really large windows sounds like a neat set up. Why would you update them? Just to ensure that they are sealed correctly and keeping temperatures regulated?
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you stick around for some more adventures!
Cho and Eric, thank you gir this post. I’ve enjoyed TT through the years but my tv viewing has become less and less.
I will definitely be back to read you two.
Cho, reread Murphy’s Law!s and phrase apply. They have helped me with y impatience over the years.
Yes I completely understand about moving the thermostat for art work. When there was a new heating system being installed they wanted to put the huge air intake vent in my 22’ entry wall making my home look like some cheap apartment. I had them move it around the corner to a upstairs hall wall. I explained how tacky it looked and they went on & on — they put it around the corner upstairs.
I’ve a vintage oak propeller (1/2 propeller) as art hung up on that wall now. Sounds strange but it actually looks nice up there. Never would have worked with vent.
Opposite talk wall has vintage wood long snow skis with wood & leather poles as art.
I can’t afford the artist’s I love.
Looking forward to more from you two.
Please take care of your relationship also.
Thank you for taking the time to read the first post! I’m so looking forward to sharing more of our adventures! This will be a nice little series for you to follow that isn’t directly related to TV. I’ll of course relate some things, when appropriate, to our favorite TV heroes and villains, but for the most part, this should be purely HGTV style! haha
I’m with you on the vent. I would have done the same thing. I can just imagine guests walking in and the first thing they see is a huge air intake vent. We have a similar situation in that technically there should also be an air intake on my second floor. However the stairs are built so they are all supported from one side and the support in the basement for them won’t allow the duct through. I won’t be doing anything that jeopardizes those stairs, so no vent for now at least.
I love your idea to use the prop. Kind of industrial but still natural with the wood. (Assuming I’m right that it is an old wood prop). Love the idea of the wood skies next to them. I have antique tools that I’d like to display in a similar way.