Lesson Learned

Trying to do a kitchen renovation, almost entirely by ourselves has been slow going, but in our defense, we've done pretty good. 

We're trying to keep sane using various methods, which I'm sure will be turning into a future post. A few examples might be wedding crashing, Thanksgiving dinner, and road trips to far away places to pick up semi-important things. 

In addition to that, I've realized I'm not all that helpful at the hardcore DIY projects. Note to self: keep those small projects going, maybe not so much the big ones...

Then again, I did do the insulation all by myself, so maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit! 

We wanted to use spray foam, but we didn't have access to it, so we went with Roxul, which is a really great product to work with and has great insulating and fire resistant properties. We have two by four exterior walls (most construction has 2x6 exterior walls) and Roxul offers R14 insulating value in a 2x4 wall, so that's pretty good!

Check out my insulation handy work! Quick shot as the drywall was going up.

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Funny story, while I'm on the topic of insulation, I've talked about how much spray foam is basically the bomb, but I've been reminded of a good life lesson.

Do NOT touch the spray foam before it dries. It doesn't matter if you over sprayed it. Don't touch it! Let it be.... 

It looks worse than it is probably, but I learned the lesson the hard way. I knew the second I touched the giant glob of spray foam oozing from the newly installed window that I messed up big time. Did I mention that this is the second time I've done this in my life?

Totally embarrassed that I made such a rookie mistake, I ran to the bathroom to wash it off before Adam noticed, lathering on the soap and water. Mistake #2, second time around. Again, I realized this mistake the second I run my hands under water. It wasn't going well.

After scrubbing for about fifteen minutes, I decided it was time for confession and Google. Confession; only because I needed someone who didn't have spray foam all over their finger to Google the remedy for getting spray foam off their fingers.

At least Adam was pretty cool about it, Googled it and let me know that you should definitely not use water, as it sets the spray foam faster. Then some sort of concoction of nail polish remover, pumice, dish soap and tears might help my situation. But probably not. Sweet.

So if I can pass on one lesson to you today while DIY-ing, it's that you should not touch spray foam. And if you do, for whatever reason, you should feel better by knowing that you aren't the first person to do this.

I'm told it wears off. Kinda like how your skin wears off. 
I'm hoping that it will be gone by at least Christmas.

Happy Lesson Learning!

Xo Jena

Side note: A day later, hours of picking dried spray foam off my fingers, and five rounds of using Mary Kay Satin Hands treatment, my fingers do not look so bad! (Thanks Ellen!)