can I DIY a statement wall in my house out of dirty glass blocks?

Metatube

Thank you to @IntelCanada  for sponsoring this video!  It’s finally time to tackle my least favorite room in the house – the laundry room! This space is in desperate need of an extreme makeover, with outdated pegboard walls, exposed pipes, a dingy ceiling, and no place to hang clothes to dry. In this first part of the renovation, I’ll be updating the walls, creating a window, pulling up the floors, DIYing a glass block feature wall, adding a thrifted door, and designing a custom laundry room sign with my Cricut. This is just the beginning – stay tuned for Part 2 to see the full transformation and how it all comes together! Let me know in the comments what you think about the return of glass blocks – do you love them, or do they belong in the past?  The Intel Core Ultra ASUS Zenbook Duo is the perfect tool for a spring refresh. Its multitasking power lets me switch between tasks seamlessly, and with long battery life, I can work for hours without worrying about charging! Grab yours now at @CanadaBestBuy here: https://bit.ly/IntelxTheSorryGirls  #IntelCanada #IntelCoreUltra #intelAI #ASUS #Zenbook    @ASUS_Canada   Submit your space for a virtual redesign: https://bit.ly/3WCISnc   Submit your small space for an IRL makeover (must be GTA based): https://bit.ly/4gv6phW   Check out our Ultimate Room Makeover Course! https://bit.ly/tsg-course   Brand partnerships: partnerships@thesorrygirls.com    Subscribe for more DIY's!: http://bit.ly/subthesorrygirls  __________________________________  MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO: Silicone: https://bit.ly/3Xp0OlD Wood stain: https://bit.ly/4i20TUC Chrome light switch plates: https://bit.ly/3Dd5nIX Ceiling lamp: https://bit.ly/41PHf8R  Glass block supplies:  USA: Glass blocks: https://bit.ly/4bfWVFr Glass block installation kit: https://bit.ly/3Qzxrcz  CAD (materials + supplies I used): Glass blocks: https://bit.ly/4ipnkTm Glass block accessories: https://bit.ly/41DzQZP  __________________________________  VIDEO CHAPTERS: 0:00 - intro: laundry room demo 7:14 - planning  10:05 - sourcing & cleaning glass blocks 12:04 - building a glass block wall 16:30 - wood paneling and painting walls 19:13 - thrifted door & vinyl sign 22:22 - staining walls, trim & ceiling 23:21 - final touches  __________________________________  VIDEO CREDITS  Host & Creative: Becky Wright Producer: Nina Pikula  Creative Director: Emma Keat Production Assistant: Anne McCormack Video Editors: Tara Crawford Social Media: Giuliana Rucchetto & Melanie Parkinson  __________________________________  OTHER PLATFORMS @thesorrygirls everywhere!  BLOG // http://www.thesorrygirls.com TIKTOK // https://vm.tiktok.com/bFtvUH/ INSTAGRAM // https://www.instagram.com/thesorrygirls FACEBOOK // http://www.facebook.com/thesorrygirls PINTEREST // http://www.pinterest.com/thesorrygirls VLOG CHANNEL // https://www.youtube.com/TheSorryLife  click to never miss a DIY: http://bit.ly/subthesorrygirls  __________________________________  Please note that we are not profession

Transcript

00:00My laundry room is situated beside my bedroom and it is, quite honestly, my least favorite room in the entire house.

00:06There's not a single thing in it that I like or want to keep besides the actual machines themselves, which work pretty well.

00:12But every single wall is pegboard, which is not functional for me in this space.

00:16The ceiling's kinda gross and the floor is just not my favorite.

00:19And on top of a ton of different trim that's installed a little wrong,

00:23and so many exposed pipes and just things that I want to fix,

00:27I think it's fair to say that today's makeover is going to be fairly extreme.

00:34Welcome back to the series where I challenge myself to use thrifted materials

00:37and a love of all things retro to DIY our family home from this farmhouse to that 70s house.

00:44Thanks to Intel Canada for sponsoring today's video.

00:51So to get right into today's very extreme laundry room makeover,

00:54I say we just get started with some good old-fashioned demolition and get all that bad outta there.

00:58Let's go!

01:10Just found some sort of exposed wires just chillin' in the ceiling.

01:15That's illegal.

01:19Potential house fire?

01:20That's extremely illegal.

01:21Gonna find out who ever did this.

01:29What the heck?

01:30Well, it's a good thing that we're finding all these.

01:33Yeah, but now I gotta fix this.

01:35So this cub right here, you think, gun storage?

01:38Yeah.

01:39Just rip it out. Come on, Bean, just rip it out.

01:48That was a really secure gun safe.

01:50Yeah.

01:51If I really wanted to get to those guns, there's no way I could have done it.

01:56Also, can we just take a minute to appreciate the color of the pegboard used to be?

02:01It was this yellow, but then also you can tell it was orange.

02:06So this room must have been like all sorts of funky colors back in the day, which I don't hate.

02:11I hate the pegboard.

02:12Don't hate the color scheme, maybe, that it was.

02:21I definitely just got a discount bin of assorted screws and nails for 50 cents instead.

02:27Whatever it takes.

02:28Yeah.

02:29Yeah.

02:49Whoever hung these doors is a real winner.

02:51Just random piece. Everything's different.

02:53Don't even bother to cut this piece here.

02:56Just random screws, all different screws.

03:02It's not even for anything.

03:04Like, why put such fancy cabinet doors on just like a random recessed shelf?

03:09He's definitely not storing books because I don't think he can read.

03:12Oh, no, don't go to Home Depot.

03:14We got wood here.

03:22I think that was a window.

03:23Oh, that's fun.

03:24Should we make it a window again?

03:25There's a wall on the outside of that, no.

03:27But it's the hallway, no?

03:28That would be kind of cool.

03:29But I mean, like, what did the guests see in the laundry room?

03:33Well, they all have doors on their bedrooms.

03:35It would serve no purpose other than to be-

03:37And there's not even light in that hallway.

03:38To be a little weird, and I love that.

03:55The nice thing about this is it's not really, like, glued down in any way.

04:01So it's coming apart super easily.

04:06Like, that's great.

04:08Okay, we're making really good progress.

04:11We have the paneling off the wall.

04:13And now that we have the walls off and I'm realizing this wall is brick,

04:16I've come to the realization that likely-

04:18I'm going to pull up the diagram of my entire house here.

04:20This rectangle in the middle is the original house.

04:24And all the rooms around it have been add-ons over time.

04:28So it actually makes sense that this was probably a window at one point that looked outside.

04:34Now, back there is a hallway and other bedrooms.

04:37But I feel like I've been presented with an opportunity to make an interesting design choice.

04:43Like, now that I know there is a window here in this brick wall,

04:46which would otherwise be very hard to put in because cutting through brick is not easy,

04:51should I do something with this?

04:53Do I put an interior window in my laundry room that looks out onto a hallway?

04:57It is super strange.

04:59And there's nothing I want more for this house than for it to be filled with quirky, interesting design choices

05:04that make you think, who would think to do that?

05:06And I can't think of a thing that would make you say that more

05:09than an interior window in your laundry room that looks out onto kind of nothing.

05:13Nothing.

05:30Hello?

05:32The laundry room is out that way, and then you come down a flight of three stairs.

05:38And these bedrooms are a little lower.

05:41Which is why, in the laundry room, that window doesn't look like it's that high.

05:47But now that you're down here and you're lower, it's right up there on the wall.

05:59Whoops.

06:00We're going to put a frame around the window anyways.

06:02Big frame.

06:12Bye.

06:13Hello.

06:14You want a prize in that?

06:18It's so weird how far down it is out there.

06:22Like, that's a bedroom down there.

06:24Should I do a little more cutting?

06:26Yeah, I think so.

06:31Do you want me to pull it?

06:34Beautiful.

06:35Do you want me to pull it?

06:39Beautiful.

07:02Ta-da!

07:03Okay, we made it through the not-so-fun demolition process, and the space is back to its bones,

07:10back to a blank area, and I'm ready to start thinking about what I actually want this new

07:14space to look like.

07:15I've been playing around in Photoshop, and I have a vision that I'm very excited about

07:18that I want to talk us through together right now so we can get on the same page.

07:22Okay, so here on screen is how the space is looking now, and I know all the good stuff

07:26is going to happen inside the room, but before we even do that, I want to take a moment to

07:30talk about the outside of the room.

07:32This area of my home is a spot where there's a lot of doors, a lot of similar-looking doors.

07:37One goes to my bedroom, one on the left here goes to a little linen closet, there's another

07:41one on the other side that goes to bedrooms, and another one that goes to a shoe closet,

07:46and another one that goes to a bathroom.

07:49Door city over here.

07:50Uh, yeah.

07:51So I really want to find a way to differentiate them so it's not so confusing when you walk

07:55through my home.

07:56So to do that, we're going to make a statement wall.

07:59This is going to be the statement wall to end all statement walls for Laundry Room.

08:04Yes, because every room deserves all the attention.

08:07So we're going to need to put some new drywall up, and of course, I'll paint that a nice

08:11creamy white.

08:12And it would not be my home if we did not incorporate some wood paneling somewhere,

08:16so I think this big wall gets the wood paneling.

08:19We'll do a different light on the ceiling than the one that's there.

08:21Of course, boob light has got to go.

08:24And of course, a brand new door.

08:25I'm thinking wood, but I love the look of these all glass sort of frosted doors.

08:29It feels very mid-century, like executive office boardroom.

08:33And the last thing that I really want to do to this wall that I can't seem to get out

08:36of my head recently, so I must do it, is a glass block wall.

08:41Are you with me?

08:42Are you excited as I am to do this?

08:44Oh, if I can pull this off, this is going to be so sweet.

08:49And doing all this rendering work has been so much easier using this Intel AI PC, which

08:53brings me to today's sponsor.

08:55The Intel Core Ultra processor has such a powerful performance for doing demanding tasks

08:59like video or photo editing and graphic design.

09:02That's why I grabbed this any time I need to get my design plan all sorted out, because

09:05I know it can handle me multitasking and switching between multiple different apps without any

09:10freezing or lagging.

09:11Also, the battery life on this thing, I can go so long between charges.

09:14There are days when I'm working at home, but also days when I'm in the office, and

09:18this thing keeps up with me anywhere I go.

09:20Okay, now to figure out how many actual glass blocks I will need to make this happen.

09:24This thing has not one, but two 14-inch OLED touchscreens that are perfect for drawing

09:29out my ideas.

09:30And then when I want to have two screens, I just take off the detachable keyboard, pull

09:34out the kickstand, and then my workspace expands to 19.8 inches.

09:39And I've honestly been loving this laptop.

09:40It's officially called the Intel Core Ultra Asus ZenBook Duo.

09:44This dual screen mode has been such a time saver when I'm doing a task that needs multiple

09:48things open at once, like my mood board and my notes.

09:51Okay, so I've done the math, and I've mocked it out, and I now know that I'm going to need

09:5448 of these glass blocks.

09:56But if you want to get your hands on one of these, you can learn more at Best Buy Canada

09:59using the link that's in the description.

10:01And I am off to source some glass blocks.

10:10Good morning.

10:11I am on my way to rescue some glass blocks for this project.

10:16And I say rescue because I saw the listing for them online on Marketplace, and the seller

10:21said that they're currently sitting under a ton of snow, all this snow that we just

10:25got, and she said I can have them if I'm able to free them.

10:28That's the mission for today.

10:30I didn't actually bring a shovel.

10:42And turns out this was a mission.

10:44There was so much snow, my hands were freezing, the blocks were stuck together with ice, and

10:49honestly, seeing them in person, they were pretty rough, and I was getting a little worried

10:53that this glass would not clean up very well.

10:57We did it.

10:59I'm back with the blocks.

11:01But honestly, they're in pretty rough shape.

11:03They're covered in dirt because they've been sitting out for who knows how long.

11:07So we're going to do a little bath time, okay?

11:11This is the bathroom that I have not yet given a makeover to, so that's why it looks not

11:16that familiar.

11:17That is why.

11:18But I'm not going to use anything fancy here, just plain old soap and water, and I'm hoping

11:23that will do the trick.

11:26I'm really hoping this washes off.

11:31The woman that I got these from told me they were salvaged from a diner in Kitchener.

11:36So if any of you are from that area and remember a restaurant that had walls probably built

11:41with these, let me know.

11:42I want to see pictures.

11:44That looks so much better.

11:46Okay guys, so on top of block bath time yesterday, we did get to doing a little bit of the drywalling

12:10in this space.

12:11It wasn't too bad, but it is going to need many coats and lots of dry time in between

12:15to get a nice smooth finish.

12:16Drywalling is just simply not my favorite thing.

12:18Actually, it's one of my least favorite things.

12:20That's going to give me an excuse to procrastinate on that a little bit.

12:23So today, we're going to do the glass block wall.

12:26I have watched so many videos on how to install this.

12:29I have all the things that I think I need, and I cannot think about it anymore.

12:34We just need to get into it, get started, and do it.

12:37So let's go.

12:38Let's do this thing that I have never done before.

12:42So to do this, I am using some silicone and this track system, which just goes between

12:49all of the bricks to help keep them aligned and in place.

12:52I'll link all the products I'm using for you below.

12:54If you stumbled across this video looking for a tutorial and want to know how to do

12:58it, this might be helpful for you.

12:59Which, by the way, if you are one of those people who just found this video looking up

13:03how to do a glass block wall, then I would ask you to consider subscribing because truthfully,

13:08it's so free for you to do.

13:10It takes probably one second of your time to hit that subscribe button, but it means

13:14so much to people like me and this channel that's here every single week bringing you

13:19quality, long-form content, and it helps us keep doing what we do.

13:23So just as a little thank you tip from you to me, I'd appreciate you so very much.

13:28So with that out of the way, let's get to it.

13:34So this track system is made up of two different styles, one-sided and two-sided.

13:39The one-sided pieces go on the outside perimeter of your entire wall where it's going to touch

13:43the wood, and the double-sided pieces go between all of the glass blocks.

13:48Other than the two styles, all the tracks are exactly the same, they're just cut into

13:52different sizes depending on where I need them.

13:54So there's longer horizontal pieces that span a row of blocks, and shorter vertical

13:58pieces that go in between each block.

14:00The whole thing gets glued together with silicone, so every time you're adding a new piece of

14:04track, make sure there's lots of silicone on it, and then add in your blocks.

14:09So the system also comes with these metal clips that just slide into the edges of your

14:20horizontal pieces, and then you screw those into your wooden frame as you go to keep your

14:24whole wall straight and in place.

14:26Oh my god, so sturdy, so secure, so brick wall.

14:33And then it's just a matter of layering horizontal pieces with the screw-in clips, with rows

14:38of blocks, and the vertical spacers in between.

14:40And then that gets continued until your wall is complete.

14:43The height of my wall wasn't exactly perfect to fill it entirely with glass blocks, but

14:47that's okay, I'll fill in the hole later.

14:49To finish it off, I just capped it with another track piece with two more clips.

14:53Okay, I've been purposely not coming out here to look at it from this direction because

14:57I want to give myself a mini-reaction.

15:00You know, I never get these moments because I'm always giving makeovers, but this time

15:03I have the chance to see one for myself and see it from this view for the first time.

15:09Are you ready?

15:11Holy crap, you guys.

15:16It looks like out of this world cool.

15:18Like, I knew it would be cool, but that, that's cool.

15:21And it's so straight!

15:24Look at her go!

15:26And you know what?

15:28A pretty easy process.

15:29I would do it again.

15:30I so would do it again.

15:32Okay, that's, that's so sick.

15:34That's so sick.

15:36I really want to let the glass block wall harden and have that silicone really set before

15:40finishing it, so in the meantime, that means doing more mudding and sanding and drywalling.

15:46Okay, so to finish this glass block wall, I have two choices.

15:49I can either fill the joints with traditional grout that you would use with tiles if you

15:53want it to be very visible, or you can actually use the same clear silicone that we've been

15:58using this whole time to fill the joints.

16:00That's the method I'm going to go with because I really want all the joints to be seamless

16:03and for this to look entirely like a glass wall.

16:07If you have the choice, get the kind of caulking guns that are battery operated because my

16:12hands are killing me.

16:15It's a pretty easy process of just adding the silicone into all of the joints and then

16:18smoothing it out with your finger before it fully dries.

16:22Next up is adding the wood paneling to this wall and we have the tedious job of measuring

16:26where all the holes need to be cut for the switches and outlets.

16:29So we're done with this wall and we have the tedious job of measuring where all the

16:32holes need to be cut for the switches and outlets.

16:36Guys, I need to be so for real with you right now.

16:58I feel like I have hit the point in the project where the burnout is starting to come out.

17:03I just, I keep working on it and plugging away at it every single day, but it feels

17:09like I'm just making more and more mess and we're not getting anywhere.

17:13It's a never ending list of small little things that won't go away and that is the reality

17:19of this process.

17:20Like this wall behind me, it needs so many little pieces of trim to finish all the wood

17:24paneling and like the door needs trim and the ceiling needs trim and there's trim that

17:28needs to go on the bottom and there's still so much more drywall in there that has to

17:32get sanded and patched.

17:34But as you can see, I'm moving on to paint out here because I think that one thing that

17:39helps me in moments like this is just moving on to something else, even if the task before

17:44it isn't done yet.

17:45I know that might seem counterintuitive, but if you get stuck in a rut of a very, very

17:50long, never ending task, leave it for another day, move on.

17:54And something that I know that I can get done today, a small, easy task perhaps, is painting

18:00this one little wall here and the one little wall over there.

18:03Because you know what?

18:04I just need to get the exterior of this laundry room in a much better place and worry about

18:09that in there next because I cannot live like this.

18:12Let me show you my POV guys.

18:14Just look at this.

18:15Like look at all of this that I've been having to navigate.

18:20This is the main hallway that goes into our bedroom every day and I've just been dealing

18:24with this.

18:26So yes, these are the realities of just working on a space that you also happen to live in,

18:30but that's okay because I would not have it any other way.

18:33This is so fun for me and I just need to get past these moments because they happen every

18:37time with every makeover.

18:38So I think we're going to move on to some smaller, easy wins today like painting a wall.

18:43And also speaking of wins, I just found my dream door for this space.

18:48It is exactly what I pictured in my brain.

18:50If I could have anything, it would be this door and I happened to find it on Marketplace.

18:54So we're going to grab that.

18:55Even though it's maybe something you would do last, I just want to put the door up.

18:59I want to see it.

19:00I want to feel good about something.

19:01So we're going to do the door today.

19:02I also have like a fun little, I think, DIY project that I want to do to the door once

19:07we get it in.

19:08So I'll tell you more about that in a second.

19:11Okay.

19:12It's really heavy.

19:13Okay.

19:14Okay.

19:15Okay.

19:22Okay.

19:27Get the other pin.

19:30Where the heck is the other pin?

19:34Oh my God.

19:36Wait, did it do it?

19:42Okay.

19:43Oh, I need a doorknob here, but that's fine.

19:45Oh my God.

19:46It looks so good.

19:49It looks so good.

19:51Stop.

19:52You're so cute.

19:54It's perfect.

19:56Cool.

20:03So now it's off to the craft store to grab some supplies for the DIY I have in mind for

20:07this door.

20:13So to this door, I want to add a sign.

20:17Now the vision for this is to do a sign that looks like one of those old timey hand painted

20:22signs, you know the kind.

20:23I'll put some examples on here.

20:25They're usually on the fronts of like cafes or restaurants or private eye detective offices

20:30doors.

20:31But for whatever reason, all the examples I pull, it's done with gold and a black drop

20:34shadow.

20:35We're going to attempt silver.

20:36There's a lot of chrome in mid-century design, so I think this will look sweet in silver

20:40instead of gold.

20:41And I don't see why it wouldn't work, but we shall try.

20:43Okay, so we've got chrome, permanent vinyl, black gloss, permanent vinyl, and we'll see

20:47what we can do.

20:50So to make this faux painted door sign effect, I'm just using my Cricut machine and some

20:54permanent vinyl.

20:55And then how I did this was by cutting out two different layers.

20:58So the first layer I cut out was on the black vinyl, and that was my lettering plus the

21:01drop shadow combined into one layer.

21:03And then the second layer was just the lettering cut out of the chrome vinyl.

21:07Now here's where having transfer tape would be very helpful, but I misplaced mine.

21:11So instead, I'm just using some painter's tape.

21:13And honestly, this kind of worked.

21:15I put the tape over the silver lettering so I could pick it all up in one layer and then

21:19place it on top of the black.

21:21And now they're combined.

21:22I have this super cool faux hand painted sign effect sticker.

21:26I think I really only have one go at this.

21:30I've taken off the back and again, using the painter's tape method to hold it all together.

21:36Here we go.

21:37Oh gosh, guys, I'm stressing.

21:38Committing, committing to the placement.

21:39Oh my God.

21:40I'm not sure I spelled it wrong.

21:41It just, this thought came into my head.

21:50No, that's spelled correctly.

21:54Okay, we're going to ride the high that I'm currently experiencing after finishing this

22:06door and having it look literally divine.

22:08Let's carry on by banging out the rest of this trim, a little bit of stain, a few more

22:12layers of paint, and I think we're going to have what looks like a gorgeous exterior laundry

22:18room project.

22:19Yes, I know.

22:20There's still more to do.

22:21We'll talk about that later.

22:22Instead of going with my new favorite teak looking stain color, I'm going with one that

22:26actually just matched the door since I thought that was the most important thing here, that

22:30it all looked like one cohesive type of wood.

22:32And I'm always on the hunt for the best way to apply stain because I find it such a messy

22:37process.

22:38Typically I'll do the scrap fabric and wipe it on method, but that can kind of get drippy.

22:42And since this is a wall and not like a piece of furniture that I can put on a drop cloth,

22:46I wanted to try something different.

22:48I'm using a chip brush and painting on the stain, which allowed me to be a little more

22:51precise and honestly, this worked pretty well.

22:54It did take a little longer, but I found the process a lot less messy and that was kind

22:58of nice.

22:59Don't forget to come back after a few minutes and wipe off the excess since the brush can

23:03put on a lot of product.

23:04Okay, so this is just going to be me for the next bit, staining all the walls and the trim

23:09and the ceiling, and I will catch you guys tomorrow.

23:24Good morning.

23:25Okay, I have to show you guys something.

23:26So the space is coming together.

23:28We got the stain done.

23:29It's looking incredible, but there's a few small details still missing, namely a doorknob.

23:34So while I was doing all the stain, Austin was out making me a special little DIY that

23:39is just the coolest thing.

23:41Check her out.

23:42This is a doorknob for a door made out of a pool wall.

23:46Our table came with a couple duplicates of some of the numbers.

23:49I'm not sure why, so we did not need this one.

23:51How it works is there's a hole that's been drilled out in the back that matches this

23:55bolt, which should fit on our door, and I just need to give all the credit to Austin.

24:01I didn't ask him to do this.

24:02I think it's so perfectly me.

24:05The man knows me well.

24:06It's perfect, and I think we should go install it and see how it looks.

24:21This handle fit in so well with this space.

24:23Now I'm on to adding some chrome accents like this light switch plate.

24:27Guys, we can have cool light switch plates.

24:29Treat yourself.

24:30Then I'm adding this chrome flush mount light to finish off the space.

24:35So I'm sure you're realizing that we have so much work left to do, and this is true,

24:39but let's just take a moment to reflect on how far we've actually come because the inside

24:44of this laundry room, all the grossness is now out.

24:47We have a new window that I need to figure out what to do with, and then not to mention

24:51the amazing glass block wall of my actual dreams, the coolest door and doorknob, and

24:56just plus all this fun wood paneling and fresh drywall is making me so happy.

25:00But that means I'll have to catch you in the next part where we finish the inside of the

25:04laundry room, which speaking of, I need to know right now what are your favorite laundry

25:08room tricks and hacks because I know there's so many clever storage ideas and things to

25:13do in a laundry room to make it function better, and I know that you know.

25:17So please comment below what features I should implement inside the laundry room just to

25:20make it the best that it absolutely can be.

25:22Thank you all so much for joining me on the first part of this laundry room journey, and

25:26I cannot wait to see what we come up with in part two.

25:28I will see you then.

25:30Actually let me make sure that this light worked.

25:32Yay!

25:33Oh, that's so nice.

25:35Okay, bye!

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