Bathroom Update: We Have Tile! (+Deciding What to DIY and What to Hire Out)

I know what you’re thinking, “How can you have tile when you barely had walls or floors to put it on 2 weeks ago?!?!” I know, right?

Everything has been moving so quickly now and we’re so excited. We worked hard to get drywall done by last week Monday so that tile could start, and after 7 days with 2 guys working, they just finished it yesterday!

(They actually have to come back to do one thing, but pretty close!)

So, if you want to avoid catching details because you love a big reveal, this is where you should turn away. Because as much as I’d love to be able to hide this from you, I just have to share it because we’re SO happy with it:

Wowza.

Stunning!

The tiles are both from Bedrosians, the white one being the Cloe and the black being the Allora.

Want to catch up on where we’ve been and where we’re going in here? Here’s your reading list:

• Black and White Bathroom Mood Board
• An Update on Our Master Bathroom
• Niches, Ledges, Floating Shelves: Let’s Talk Shower Storage
• Save vs. Splurge: Bathroom Edition
• Everything’s Coming Together!

We’re loving the view, and Dustin has thanked me multiple times for being willing to hire this out. It wasn’t cheap, but we knew, with SO much tile in this room, that anything crooked, un-level, or just off looking would be pretty noticeable.

Which got me thinking…

How do you decide what to hire out and what to DIY?

Obviously that answer will differ for everyone, depending on your skillset and/or comfort learning something new. For us, we’ve been willing to take on learning certain things but not others.

I honestly don’t know the right answer, and sometimes you wont know until you’re in the thick of it really, but here are some of the questions to ask yourself when you’re trying to decide if you can DIY something:

What can you pull permits for?

In our city, homeowners actually can’t pull plumbing permits, so we didn’t have the option of doing the plumbing ourselves. (Not that we wanted to!)

What’s the risk?

Speaking of which, the reason we didn’t want to do plumbing? Dustin knew even a small mistake could drip in the walls for years and cause MAJOR issues, sight unseen. That’s too risky for us.

What can you afford?

Let’s not deny that budget is a big factor in whether or not you DIY something. We made sure to factor in the cost hiring some things out into our overall budget, but sometimes you just have to learn something new to save a little cash.

Can you do finish work?

Know thyself—is finishing a strength of yours? Are there some things you can handle finishing but others you can’t?

Dustin was anxious about rebuilding the subfloor, but it only had to function, it didn’t have to look good (or even be perfectly level)—it wasn’t finish work. I was okay learning drywall because I know I have the attention to detail to make that kinds of finish work look good, and the same with painting (Dustin isn’t allowed to paint!). We both knew finished tiles being off would never stop bothering us, so we hired it out.

These are just a few ideas I’ve been thinking about, maybe I’ll flesh this out into it’s own post someday. But in the meantime, tell me: how do you decide what to DIY vs. hire out?