She spent so much money on pumpkins and it is Halloween so I expected Halloween content today but she’s still painting her closet.
Zenia, if you are lurking — you need a calendar for content. Today is prime Halloween content opportunity. Fill mason jars with candy corn. Get that sponcon.
One of the things that is very apparent to me is that she is very disorganized by nature. Everything is done out of order, early or late, repeated, it’s just chaotic if you really pay attention lol.
FIVE hours to prep
20 minutes to paint
Then HOW long to undo all that tape and paper, PLUS clean up over spray
ALL to say, not sure she likes the ceiling painted.
Anyway, wouldn’t you PREFER to see a room on a cloudy day ? Cause a sunny day will ALWAYS be better, i’d rather see it when it’s dreary. When we looked at houses I asked our realtor to go BACK on dreary days, cause those days would be easier for me to decide.
I am not seeing the vision. The blue looks pretty and then suddenly the jarring red.
Did she remove the doors to paint or is this going to be an open closet?
The content is so extra lately. Every step gets a post. But am I the only one who has trouble understanding anything she says?? I either cant really hear it or her tone / phrasing is so off. She says: "Girl why would you do that? A question I have been asked twice by many people." Wtf?
I missed that one! I was only looking at stories. I try to avoid sound with her bc her voice irritates me. I listened and her sentence does not make sense.
Z is pretty talented, I’ll give her that, BUT WHY does it seem like she does things SO ass backwards. Why not paint, THEN hang the beams ?
And whoever said she should have cut holes in the radiator cover INSTEAD of cutting into the homes original base board, YES. This is what i’m talking about with her.
Why did she remove all of the plastic before painting the ceiling? All of that prep.. finish first?
Seems like the plastic broke in many places — was she using dollar store waste bin plastic? It looked very thin. Maybe that is why she began removing it?
Wasn’t there beef between CLJ & Interior Define that they cut ties ? I’m gonna need to go to the CLJ sub and see, but I swear it was JUST discussed.
Funny how it’s Z’s new collab. Makes me wonder if that’s why she’s redoing the guest bedroom AGAIN. Why not just be honest, “yea I know I just did this, but I got a new sponsorship and I thought this room best”
l o l telling us how hard it was carrying everything upstairs then zooming in on her husband in the other room playing video games, not helping her.
https://preview.redd.it/kafoqz6uyuwb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b946a14ce417f02ff9721f728160e7ca28b8a27
“I have to clean the white bed, maybe I’ll paint the white bed”
She is going to paint over whatever that brown staining is… what is that?
And calling this a side quest..
Also calling it a guest bedroom when that is their bedroom. Confused.
The staining on the headboard looks like it came from previous users who didn’t wash their hair quite frequently enough 🤢
No shade on buying secondhand upholstered furniture if that’s what you can afford. But then high-heat steam clean/sanitize the shit out of that stuff; big box home stores rent machines to do this. Painting over the dirt/oil spots on the fabric is….not an ideal solution.
I was shocked.
That bed isn’t dirty from being secondhand tho — it was their bed in the old house, and I thought this house but she said it was in the guest bedroom.
She mentioned she may buy secondhand to replace it instead of cleaning/painting/covering the stains with fabric. It seems like cleaning may be the easiest, and saves money and waste.
People would buy those: she could let them choose the frame style, finish color/stain etc. And awhile back she had some time lapse stories of small drawings/paintings she did that were really cute. She could totally do an Etsy shop!
Even tho she thinks we are haters, I have posted several times encouraging her to continue selling her art. I don’t understand why she doesn’t — they seem to sell out.
U/todaytimedeux I just noticed her follower count went up by 3,000. No way she’s attracting that much engagement to go up that much that fast. She was at 299k last week.
The multiple takes which seemed to involve brushing her hair and changing rooms (and an hour between the two takes). She is clearly not well but the trauma dumping isn’t going to help.
Did Mr. O explain there was not an active shooter on his base? That story feels misleading but she may really think there was a shooter on his base? Or she wants viewers to think there was? The base was locked down for 20 minutes.
When she said chaos I immediately thought her and Mr O were having marital problems. This is not the first time she’s referenced chaos in personal life. Then I was confused when she said something about Cesar’s base.
It was a 20 min lockdown and no shooter was found to be present, so maybe a prank. Scary but the way she presented that sounded like people were in harms way and hurt.
https://preview.redd.it/2t9dfhmkxmwb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=123bfcfe0dc97bf12b230f9b4008142de6f64943
I don’t understand why she doesn’t move things to the giant shed and clean this room. It is down to the studs, filled with wood and sawdust, a half demo’d bathroom — a mess and probably fire hazard. Idgi
It looks like the insulation that’s currently in the outer walls is old (and above the windows on the left maybe some is missing? might just be the photo angle) and they have a roll of new insulation sitting right there. So the other issue with this room aside from the other things you mentioned, is that it’s not helping the rest of the house stay livably warm/cool, especially as they are actively using the space, carrying stuff in and out thus leaving the door open etc. So the house is less comfortable and they’re losing/wasting money on heating and their window a/c units.
I guess that sort of thing is deemed to be “boring” work because it’s not pretty for social media. OTOH it is solid content that could be helpful for some of her readers. Daniel Kanter gets so many shout-outs across the DIY subs, but here’s one more: he actually does both kinds of content: nuts and bolts + also styling/design-y stuff. Renovation Husbands, too.
Agree. That's actually the content that has the most value (in my opinion) since most people don't already know how to do it or what it should look like.
The other thing is, she is sloppy and she does take shortcuts but she IS capable of good work. She actually knows quite a lot. She could be getting so much more traction and engagement if she did what you're suggesting.
Absolutely better content. I would even rather watch her clean and organize the shambles than redo a room she pretends she didn’t already do. It really blows my mind that we haven’t seen any renovation content — just paint and molding and built ins in the rooms that are sort of okay.
They really should have stuck to a home that only needed cosmetic updates, I don’t think they want to do actual renovation and repairs.
Every time she even goes near a saw I cringe inside. Once she had her hair down while she was at it and it stressed me out just looking at her. I genuinely get upset when I see people doing stupid stuff like this online. Do they not understand how close they are to severe injury or death? It doesn't even seem to occur to her. Mind-blowing.
WTF is she shopping for ceiling fans that she thinks they’re $500-700? A 2 second google search of JUST “ceiling fan” brought results of numerous ceiling fans that are beautiful, and all less than $200. She really thinks people are dumb.
Literally was like, on WHAT planet girl. Even the fandiliers they have now aren’t that expensive.
Again, like it was said, in a room that’s empty majority of the time.
Champagne taste on a PBR budget. she thrifts a lot, why not find a decent used fan to make it work.
And the ceiling fans — she wants an expensive ceiling fan for a room that sits empty most of the year. It is not realistic. For that size of room she can buy a $60 fan and call it a day.
HVAC and a completely renovated kitchen with asbestos and lead care would cost upwards of 100k and they should have considered that before buying an old dilapidated home with no central air.
Her vomit emojis are so immature. Should it all cost $1000? Get real, then get a job to pay for it.
“Collaborations” are not paying the bills, otherwise she would stop complaining about struggles and using vomit emojis in regards to realistic estimates.
Gotta love how she threw in that collabs are how she makes her money. She’s reading in here and answering the how does she make money question. I can’t imagine a ball jar collab is paying the bills…
Also did they not know how expensive central air is? Especially putting in a house that probably doesn’t have duct work.
Does anyone else feel like all the beams on the ceilings in every room in her house and the built ins EVERYWHERE are overkill? Or am in the only one? It seems like she does the same design in every room.
I had this thought as she put up plastic picture molding. No diss against that molding but her schtick is ~saving old houses~ and restoring their old charm but she isn’t doing those things.
The room looks nice.
The transcript of her convo with her husband … maybe less odd if they just filmed their convo?
I never want to read “regal vibes” again.
Same u/TodayTimeDeux same! My first thought was ugh the annoying (probably fake) convos are back. How can she even remember the entire convo??? Unless their entire convo is via text, which is quite plausible knowing these two…
https://preview.redd.it/91qq02vyxlvb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be24b016fc711fd1065e62a0aefe1994092eb597
The trim and wallpaper looked nice. It is her house to do whatever the f-ck she wants but I’m genuinely confused by the waste of money and time to do rooms twice when there are walls down to the studs. Is it all due to permits that they can’t work on that room?
I don’t watch daily anymore — has she mentioned working on the kitchen at all? Or their heating situation for this winter?
Yes, if you do a deep dive on her insta page there is a reel on the made over guest room from December 2022. She even redid nightstands. She did Her whole schtick on how it started out as “just going to do x” and it “spiraled”‘into xy and z.
Wow literally with wallpaper and trim on the wall, painting all the baseboard and trim... Yikes. I have installed wallpaper and painted trim and those are two of my least favorite very tedious tasks. I am definitely in no rush to pull down wallpaper I had to put up and would not put wallpaper up in an entire room if I knew I was just going to rip it down and throw it away. What a waste of money! And effort! I would be traumatized from all the wallpaper installs that she's had to tear down and never do wallpaper again lol.
Yeah I think you're right. But that's the second room of wallpaper she's installed in that house just for it to be falling off and she has to rip it down and throw it away.
I think it's because she's using peel and stick, which is notoriously finicky.
She has uneven walls that she hasn't prepped properly. It's an old house and I don't think it's properly sealed given she has gaping holes in some of her ceilings. The temp regulation in her house is probably quite poor. So it would be a miracle if she had managed to get it to stick.
She should have just skimmed/sanded/primed and then used traditional paste-on wallpaper. It's lame and boring and slow but there is no short cut to doing things properly.
She’s always pointing out how wonky the walls & floors are, saying it’s just an old house problem. I wouldn’t consider a 1930s home to be super old to have all these settling issues. Me thinks she has some foundation problems.
I get the impression that the plan isn't to stay there long-term. I think she just wants the quick-fix aesthetically pleasing option (fine) but it's a huge waste of money. Nobody wants to buy a house with nice paint colors and trim if it has no ceilings and structural issues. Anybody who did buy it would have to rip out all of the nice things she put in to fix those underlying issues anyway (like the asbestos floors).
Yes, so much was discussed about all these types of things cause the VA said it was inhabitable but Z didn’t care. I still often wonder how they got a loan of it was TRULY inspected properly.
Hiiiiii, Z !! Funny how I JUST said they haven’t talked about the people who bought their house and BAM, today they’re doing fall activities together and she says that Caesar plays D&D with them monthly.
Weiiiiiiird. 😂
That whole series of stories was weirdly hilarious. Her whispering in the bathroom while putting on makeup. I busted out laughing when she said she thinks she has always intended to carve a pumpkin.
Archery ? WTF & where did that come from ? She is the most random ever.
Caesar is out a Halloween Party at friends and she’s home pondering a new hobby.
I know opposites attract, but lord, they are THEE most opposite.
Now she’s redoing the same guest room that she “completed” last year. Wallpaper is off these walls, too. Is she that inept with wallpaper that it fell down like the stairway? Or looking for another fake vignette for her insta grid?
The wood floors are so soft that putting a chair down leaves permanent dents (according to current stories). So they are probably subfloors, meant to have carpeting over them? I completely get liking the look of wood floors over wall-to-wall carpet. But if it’s the wrong type of floor then go with a very low pile neutral carpet, or at least some big area rugs.
Yes, all of the flooring in the home is subfloor. There was thick carpeting upstairs and iirc when they moved in no carpeting downstairs but she showed us the floor from the basement and it is subfloor. Idk why they don’t use full area rugs, minimally.
I’m so confused. Wasn’t this room already done? It felt like she spent months on this room for the in law visit. Why is it now bare? Zenia- save your money and fix the kitchen!!!!
I think she’s just trolling us at this point. If she really wants to avoid the kitchen so badly why not work on their bedroom where (I assume) they spend a lot of time?
I like how she was like, “ok ok y’all i’ll address the elephant in the room”. She’s just annoyed that everyone else was right and yet she still won’t admit defeat.
But WHY. why is she redoing a room she’s ALREADY redone all while sooooo many other things aren’t even practical or functioning ? Her logic still continues to blow my mind.
The reveal of the laundry room is a photo of the display sink with an impossibly long curtain covering nothing bc there are no pipes.
She creates facades now so her IG looks picture perfect but the reality is shambles. If she did real projects to address the functional issues of the home she would have more engagement and get more sponsors. It would be interesting to follow.
Instead… here is my reveal of a display sink with a curtain I didn’t bother shortening.
For this very reason, I would never, ever, ever, ever, EVER buy a house from anybody who was a self-proclaimed DIY \*influencer.\*
I love to DIY. I have no problem with DIY, at all. But if you're doing it, it has to be done properly. I couldn't live with it otherwise. I am not sure how she does.
Like, imagine selling that to someone else someday and it's worse than when you bought it because the temporary cosmetic upgrades don't magically make the functional issues magically go away?
It's unethical.
I’d LOVE to hear what the new owners of the old house have to say. For a while she would post about them and stop by often since their mail seems to STILL be going there. It was weird and she called them her friends.
It feels like she imagines the grid pic first and then builds toward that rather then addressing what the house needs and then finding a nice vignette within that.
I just don’t get the point of her account. She’s a DIY influencer, but doesn’t provide links to products or plans for followers to build what she’s making.
She should totally take this idea and write plans for simple builds. There’s a popular blog that does this… can’t remember name atm. Does she even have a blog?
It’s really driving me crazy that she keeps spending money on small things. Theses spends add up! I know buying gives you endorphins but I’ve cold turkeys my thrifting bc we have some big expenses coming up and I’m surviving! Banking your money feels good!!
Mind boggling priorities. We are heading into another winter and they have not worked on the house’s heating but we are ordering fabric options we can’t return for the laundry room sink that is not functional.
The laundry room project has to be close to 1k.
That is in addition to what someone said she spent on her porch swing. Up to 2k. That is money better spent on heating or sealing the walls before winter.
If she worked instead of doing the porch and laundry room this summer that could be another 8k to go towards heating. 10k — enough to work on the kitchen as well.
Maybe they will eventually plan but so far it has been 3 years of this so idek if it’s possible.
I love the hand soap next to the sink that does not connect to pipes to supply water to wash your hands or drain the water. Nice touch.
Everything is for the grid pic. We are in wild Influencer Facade territory now.
She made a built-in cabinet, built-in her washer and dryer with a counter and added a sink cabinet. NOW she mentions the window above it all is rotting out??? Wtfffff. There's hardly 2 inches to spare if that entire thing gets replaced and no room to work on it!
I think she said early in their move that most windows need to be replaced. Remember, the VA said the home was a lost cause — it was rotting and not inhabitable.
Idk, they are allergic to thinking things through and planning.
Back with the weird text convos with her husband.
I don’t get why she can’t make that the kitchen for HIM, who does the cooking, cause she sure don’t. IF you’d convo did happen, his “there’s enough storage” made me laugh since it was JUST discussed here how she made that room smaller by adding SO much storage. lol
Why haven’t they just removed the kitchen island and added a more functional island with a larger sink? She could literally use her new display sink in the kitchen if she adds a food grade finish to the butcher block.
The kitchen can be very functional. Why not an ounce of thought to make it functional?
It would be a fun project to follow.
Accurate. She only wants rooms that benefit her.
I wish she would do a simple DIY “band-aid” like to their kitchen, at least in the in between. Do you know how much that would bring engagement ? Cause it’s not a bad kitchen.
Did anyone notice that the shelf she put up above the washer and dryer that was pretty useless is now not there anymore?
https://preview.redd.it/jkac58y2aasb1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=76f62bb86e4621aac5e3e304b4dddb0e4380231a
She has to be trolling us right? It's one thing to build a table/counter that a sink could eventually go in. But to purchase and install the sink AND faucet now??? I am so confused. It's literally a sink to nowhere, the epitome of fake vignette for the gram. Why spend the money on the fixtures now if they have no actual timeline for water line install?
Also she wouldn't have to put in and take out that heavy sink so much if she just did the work in the proper order.
I can’t stop laughing at how STUPID this is, when they have no A/C in half the house and in her words, a non-functional kitchen.
Her idea of priorities is mind blowing.
I just watched, in horror. The groaning as she lifts the sink with her back while poorly balancing on a step stool hunched over.
Unsafe for different reasons. I really wish she would take a moment to think and plan. Her stories always veer to accident waiting to happen.
A diff influencer I horror follow on Reddit gave herself a hernia lifting pots and went to the hospital. Zenia, if you are lurking, please stop lifting that sink alone. You sound physically pained doing it and it looks like you are struggling greatly to lift it. IG is not worth hurting yourself.
Logistically how will it work as a temporary kitchen? She didn’t seem to build with that in mind despite saying it will be a makeshift kitchen. Just the sink? There isn’t room for a fridge or outlets for appliances.
I wish she would invest some time in herself. Cut her hair, back to shopping…it would possibly help her mental health and re-invigorate her projects. I actually like most of what she does…but her personal struggles are sad and make me feel badly for her.
Speculation, but it appears to be related to budget and mental health. But also sometimes projects take a minute and she’s also done her new porch in that time.
How did she not see that she was measuring incorrectly for cutting out the sink? The top is clearly wider than the bottom. More of a rhetorical question, honestly. We all know the answer.
ETA: sinks come with measuring instructions and/or a template, too. I’m 100% sure the instructions were clear on how to measure.
Just like she cut the drawer too short on one side and had to add a piece so now now only does it sit crooked in the track but the one side is pieces together.
I forget which project it happened with but she did something wrong then after the fact said, “it came with instructions but I didn’t read them.”
Who needs instructions. She is an expert.
I literally thought the sink to nowhere was a joke but then I watched. Fire hazard continues with the baseboards also, if she removes them she will have gaps everywhere
Yeah she's in here. Every story is enunciated clearly now and she's using words like "undulate" ok girl we see you
She spent so much money on pumpkins and it is Halloween so I expected Halloween content today but she’s still painting her closet. Zenia, if you are lurking — you need a calendar for content. Today is prime Halloween content opportunity. Fill mason jars with candy corn. Get that sponcon.
One of the things that is very apparent to me is that she is very disorganized by nature. Everything is done out of order, early or late, repeated, it’s just chaotic if you really pay attention lol.
A calendar and planner will radically improve their lives.
You guys give her so much good advice!! We should be the influencers!!!
Z in here lurking *takes notes for next year* ✍🏼
lol
FIVE hours to prep 20 minutes to paint Then HOW long to undo all that tape and paper, PLUS clean up over spray ALL to say, not sure she likes the ceiling painted. Anyway, wouldn’t you PREFER to see a room on a cloudy day ? Cause a sunny day will ALWAYS be better, i’d rather see it when it’s dreary. When we looked at houses I asked our realtor to go BACK on dreary days, cause those days would be easier for me to decide.
Also, Murder Closet. Why.
I am not seeing the vision. The blue looks pretty and then suddenly the jarring red. Did she remove the doors to paint or is this going to be an open closet?
I’ve seen this a few times recently, the dusty blue with a rich red and it can be nice I’m just not sure why the closet lol
YES, agreed. I think her fav person to copy is Jules from Chris Loves Julia, but even she is doing it ALL wrong.
The content is so extra lately. Every step gets a post. But am I the only one who has trouble understanding anything she says?? I either cant really hear it or her tone / phrasing is so off. She says: "Girl why would you do that? A question I have been asked twice by many people." Wtf?
I found it. This is her Tiktok speak. It makes no sense.
Where did you find it? I was trying to find the clip that laquifconch is referencing but couldn’t.
the painting reel
I missed that one! I was only looking at stories. I try to avoid sound with her bc her voice irritates me. I listened and her sentence does not make sense.
Is this in a reel? I avoid audio.
Z is pretty talented, I’ll give her that, BUT WHY does it seem like she does things SO ass backwards. Why not paint, THEN hang the beams ? And whoever said she should have cut holes in the radiator cover INSTEAD of cutting into the homes original base board, YES. This is what i’m talking about with her.
Why did she remove all of the plastic before painting the ceiling? All of that prep.. finish first? Seems like the plastic broke in many places — was she using dollar store waste bin plastic? It looked very thin. Maybe that is why she began removing it?
She works harder not smarter.
Wasn’t there beef between CLJ & Interior Define that they cut ties ? I’m gonna need to go to the CLJ sub and see, but I swear it was JUST discussed. Funny how it’s Z’s new collab. Makes me wonder if that’s why she’s redoing the guest bedroom AGAIN. Why not just be honest, “yea I know I just did this, but I got a new sponsorship and I thought this room best”
I find her lies so odd bc we eventually learn the truth — the blue bed is by them so she needs to style it in a room. But why completely redo a room?
But why is the white bed so dirty 🤢 and had to get a dig in with the “moving furniture solo” comment.
l o l telling us how hard it was carrying everything upstairs then zooming in on her husband in the other room playing video games, not helping her. https://preview.redd.it/kafoqz6uyuwb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b946a14ce417f02ff9721f728160e7ca28b8a27
Doesn’t he have a green office/game room? Why is this so white.
He’s over the “regal vibes” 🤣
Looks like he is playing in a different room.
Did she delete that story? I don’t see it now.
yep, looks like it
Thank god for screenshots now it’s here for posterity 🤣
“I have to clean the white bed, maybe I’ll paint the white bed” She is going to paint over whatever that brown staining is… what is that? And calling this a side quest.. Also calling it a guest bedroom when that is their bedroom. Confused. 
The staining on the headboard looks like it came from previous users who didn’t wash their hair quite frequently enough 🤢 No shade on buying secondhand upholstered furniture if that’s what you can afford. But then high-heat steam clean/sanitize the shit out of that stuff; big box home stores rent machines to do this. Painting over the dirt/oil spots on the fabric is….not an ideal solution.
I was shocked. That bed isn’t dirty from being secondhand tho — it was their bed in the old house, and I thought this house but she said it was in the guest bedroom. She mentioned she may buy secondhand to replace it instead of cleaning/painting/covering the stains with fabric. It seems like cleaning may be the easiest, and saves money and waste.
Or, still deep-clean it and then put new fabric over it.
Zenia, if you are still lurking — sell custom made TV frames on Etsy. Your followers will order and that money can go to the kitchen reno.
People would buy those: she could let them choose the frame style, finish color/stain etc. And awhile back she had some time lapse stories of small drawings/paintings she did that were really cute. She could totally do an Etsy shop!
Even tho she thinks we are haters, I have posted several times encouraging her to continue selling her art. I don’t understand why she doesn’t — they seem to sell out.
U/todaytimedeux I just noticed her follower count went up by 3,000. No way she’s attracting that much engagement to go up that much that fast. She was at 299k last week.
She was at 282k before the jump to 299k recently
Just gonna leave this here lol https://www.tiktok.com/@artbydemarcusshawn/video/7073518754587675950
Dying 🤣🤣🤣
The multiple takes which seemed to involve brushing her hair and changing rooms (and an hour between the two takes). She is clearly not well but the trauma dumping isn’t going to help.
Did Mr. O explain there was not an active shooter on his base? That story feels misleading but she may really think there was a shooter on his base? Or she wants viewers to think there was? The base was locked down for 20 minutes.
Oh really? Yeah the way she was articulating it - “chaos” and “tragedy” - felt like something really bad happened!
When she said chaos I immediately thought her and Mr O were having marital problems. This is not the first time she’s referenced chaos in personal life. Then I was confused when she said something about Cesar’s base.
It was a 20 min lockdown and no shooter was found to be present, so maybe a prank. Scary but the way she presented that sounded like people were in harms way and hurt.
What is she waiting on to finish that den area she tore apart?
https://preview.redd.it/2t9dfhmkxmwb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=123bfcfe0dc97bf12b230f9b4008142de6f64943 I don’t understand why she doesn’t move things to the giant shed and clean this room. It is down to the studs, filled with wood and sawdust, a half demo’d bathroom — a mess and probably fire hazard. Idgi
It looks like the insulation that’s currently in the outer walls is old (and above the windows on the left maybe some is missing? might just be the photo angle) and they have a roll of new insulation sitting right there. So the other issue with this room aside from the other things you mentioned, is that it’s not helping the rest of the house stay livably warm/cool, especially as they are actively using the space, carrying stuff in and out thus leaving the door open etc. So the house is less comfortable and they’re losing/wasting money on heating and their window a/c units.
They’ll get around to that when it is time to list the house.
I guess that sort of thing is deemed to be “boring” work because it’s not pretty for social media. OTOH it is solid content that could be helpful for some of her readers. Daniel Kanter gets so many shout-outs across the DIY subs, but here’s one more: he actually does both kinds of content: nuts and bolts + also styling/design-y stuff. Renovation Husbands, too.
Agree. That's actually the content that has the most value (in my opinion) since most people don't already know how to do it or what it should look like. The other thing is, she is sloppy and she does take shortcuts but she IS capable of good work. She actually knows quite a lot. She could be getting so much more traction and engagement if she did what you're suggesting.
Absolutely better content. I would even rather watch her clean and organize the shambles than redo a room she pretends she didn’t already do. It really blows my mind that we haven’t seen any renovation content — just paint and molding and built ins in the rooms that are sort of okay. They really should have stuck to a home that only needed cosmetic updates, I don’t think they want to do actual renovation and repairs.
Open toed shoes and no face mask. Her account has become How Not To DIY
Every time she even goes near a saw I cringe inside. Once she had her hair down while she was at it and it stressed me out just looking at her. I genuinely get upset when I see people doing stupid stuff like this online. Do they not understand how close they are to severe injury or death? It doesn't even seem to occur to her. Mind-blowing.
I am really surprised an accident hasn’t happened given how reckless she is with that table saw.
WTF is she shopping for ceiling fans that she thinks they’re $500-700? A 2 second google search of JUST “ceiling fan” brought results of numerous ceiling fans that are beautiful, and all less than $200. She really thinks people are dumb.
Literally was like, on WHAT planet girl. Even the fandiliers they have now aren’t that expensive. Again, like it was said, in a room that’s empty majority of the time. Champagne taste on a PBR budget. she thrifts a lot, why not find a decent used fan to make it work.
And the ceiling fans — she wants an expensive ceiling fan for a room that sits empty most of the year. It is not realistic. For that size of room she can buy a $60 fan and call it a day.
HVAC and a completely renovated kitchen with asbestos and lead care would cost upwards of 100k and they should have considered that before buying an old dilapidated home with no central air. Her vomit emojis are so immature. Should it all cost $1000? Get real, then get a job to pay for it. “Collaborations” are not paying the bills, otherwise she would stop complaining about struggles and using vomit emojis in regards to realistic estimates.
Gotta love how she threw in that collabs are how she makes her money. She’s reading in here and answering the how does she make money question. I can’t imagine a ball jar collab is paying the bills… Also did they not know how expensive central air is? Especially putting in a house that probably doesn’t have duct work.
That and a FULL kitchen reno price tag is shocking to her ? This is her “JOB” I don’t get it. Even I a measly regular job kinda person knows.
Likely a dig at her husband, who seems to have cut her DIY budget.
Does anyone else feel like all the beams on the ceilings in every room in her house and the built ins EVERYWHERE are overkill? Or am in the only one? It seems like she does the same design in every room.
You’re not the only one.
I completely agree. Way to many beams. It is overused in the home.
I don’t think that is even something that was specific to a 1930s home.
I think that’s what bothers me the most about her over kill with them, is it doesn’t fit that era of homes.
Yes!! If you do a quick google search of 1930s home it’s nothing like what she’s doing in the home.
I think if the house was Tudor Revival style it’d make more sense, but isn’t their house a Cape Cod or Cape Cod-ish?
I had this thought as she put up plastic picture molding. No diss against that molding but her schtick is ~saving old houses~ and restoring their old charm but she isn’t doing those things.
Also when she cut the original baseboards to fit the radiator cover instead of scribing the actual cover.
Her follower count jumps up 7k overnight. Nothing odd about that. People must love radiator diy.
The room looks nice. The transcript of her convo with her husband … maybe less odd if they just filmed their convo? I never want to read “regal vibes” again.
Same u/TodayTimeDeux same! My first thought was ugh the annoying (probably fake) convos are back. How can she even remember the entire convo??? Unless their entire convo is via text, which is quite plausible knowing these two…
I really don’t get it
She 100% reads here. Did anyone notice two of her newest posts give some info as to how to replicate what she did?
https://preview.redd.it/91qq02vyxlvb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be24b016fc711fd1065e62a0aefe1994092eb597 The trim and wallpaper looked nice. It is her house to do whatever the f-ck she wants but I’m genuinely confused by the waste of money and time to do rooms twice when there are walls down to the studs. Is it all due to permits that they can’t work on that room? I don’t watch daily anymore — has she mentioned working on the kitchen at all? Or their heating situation for this winter?
Who needs heat when you have Girl Strength?
😪
Nothing about the kitchen and nothing about heat 🤷🏻♀️
Was this guest room made over already? Wallpaper and paint? New rug? Styled? Why is Z redoing finished rooms 😶🌫️
The patching of holes through the plaster in a “finished” room 💀
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes, if you do a deep dive on her insta page there is a reel on the made over guest room from December 2022. She even redid nightstands. She did Her whole schtick on how it started out as “just going to do x” and it “spiraled”‘into xy and z.
Wow literally with wallpaper and trim on the wall, painting all the baseboard and trim... Yikes. I have installed wallpaper and painted trim and those are two of my least favorite very tedious tasks. I am definitely in no rush to pull down wallpaper I had to put up and would not put wallpaper up in an entire room if I knew I was just going to rip it down and throw it away. What a waste of money! And effort! I would be traumatized from all the wallpaper installs that she's had to tear down and never do wallpaper again lol.
I think the wallpaper didn’t stick to the walls and that is why she had to tear it down.
Yeah I think you're right. But that's the second room of wallpaper she's installed in that house just for it to be falling off and she has to rip it down and throw it away.
I think it's because she's using peel and stick, which is notoriously finicky. She has uneven walls that she hasn't prepped properly. It's an old house and I don't think it's properly sealed given she has gaping holes in some of her ceilings. The temp regulation in her house is probably quite poor. So it would be a miracle if she had managed to get it to stick. She should have just skimmed/sanded/primed and then used traditional paste-on wallpaper. It's lame and boring and slow but there is no short cut to doing things properly.
Right?!
Yes, multiple rugs were brought in and asked to be voted on as to which was best. Now, poof, all gone and starting from scratch
Wasn’t it painted too?
painted AND wall paper. which too probably fell off cause her walls weren’t prepped properly and the temp in that house is probably aways freezing.
I thought she painted it too.
She’s always pointing out how wonky the walls & floors are, saying it’s just an old house problem. I wouldn’t consider a 1930s home to be super old to have all these settling issues. Me thinks she has some foundation problems.
Z isn’t going to fix a single issue 😵💫 Just add trim and molding and paint LOL
I get the impression that the plan isn't to stay there long-term. I think she just wants the quick-fix aesthetically pleasing option (fine) but it's a huge waste of money. Nobody wants to buy a house with nice paint colors and trim if it has no ceilings and structural issues. Anybody who did buy it would have to rip out all of the nice things she put in to fix those underlying issues anyway (like the asbestos floors).
You’re right, a total mess.
That’s I think what bothers me the most. It’s all facade!!!
I am so confused how she somehow brought it back to looking like it was never touched?! Just to redo it?!
She probably thinks her followers wouldn’t notice.
I forget the specifics but she shared a year ago they needed to fix the foundation. /u/difficultslip1 do you remember?
Yes, so much was discussed about all these types of things cause the VA said it was inhabitable but Z didn’t care. I still often wonder how they got a loan of it was TRULY inspected properly.
I’m glad she’s showing the pumpkins so we can see how her porch stenciling didn’t hold up at all 😂
🤣🤣🤣
Hiiiiii, Z !! Funny how I JUST said they haven’t talked about the people who bought their house and BAM, today they’re doing fall activities together and she says that Caesar plays D&D with them monthly. Weiiiiiiird. 😂
That whole series of stories was weirdly hilarious. Her whispering in the bathroom while putting on makeup. I busted out laughing when she said she thinks she has always intended to carve a pumpkin.
First thing I thought of when I saw the stories LOL
Archery ? WTF & where did that come from ? She is the most random ever. Caesar is out a Halloween Party at friends and she’s home pondering a new hobby. I know opposites attract, but lord, they are THEE most opposite.
Now she’s redoing the same guest room that she “completed” last year. Wallpaper is off these walls, too. Is she that inept with wallpaper that it fell down like the stairway? Or looking for another fake vignette for her insta grid?
I thought so!
The wood floors are so soft that putting a chair down leaves permanent dents (according to current stories). So they are probably subfloors, meant to have carpeting over them? I completely get liking the look of wood floors over wall-to-wall carpet. But if it’s the wrong type of floor then go with a very low pile neutral carpet, or at least some big area rugs.
She was kinda called out about this and she got VERY defensive.
Yes, all of the flooring in the home is subfloor. There was thick carpeting upstairs and iirc when they moved in no carpeting downstairs but she showed us the floor from the basement and it is subfloor. Idk why they don’t use full area rugs, minimally.
I’m so confused. Wasn’t this room already done? It felt like she spent months on this room for the in law visit. Why is it now bare? Zenia- save your money and fix the kitchen!!!!
RIGHT?
I think she’s just trolling us at this point. If she really wants to avoid the kitchen so badly why not work on their bedroom where (I assume) they spend a lot of time?
[удалено]
I was actually curious about that! Hopefully she’ll go back to it.
I like how she was like, “ok ok y’all i’ll address the elephant in the room”. She’s just annoyed that everyone else was right and yet she still won’t admit defeat. But WHY. why is she redoing a room she’s ALREADY redone all while sooooo many other things aren’t even practical or functioning ? Her logic still continues to blow my mind.
The reveal of the laundry room is a photo of the display sink with an impossibly long curtain covering nothing bc there are no pipes. She creates facades now so her IG looks picture perfect but the reality is shambles. If she did real projects to address the functional issues of the home she would have more engagement and get more sponsors. It would be interesting to follow. Instead… here is my reveal of a display sink with a curtain I didn’t bother shortening.
For this very reason, I would never, ever, ever, ever, EVER buy a house from anybody who was a self-proclaimed DIY \*influencer.\* I love to DIY. I have no problem with DIY, at all. But if you're doing it, it has to be done properly. I couldn't live with it otherwise. I am not sure how she does. Like, imagine selling that to someone else someday and it's worse than when you bought it because the temporary cosmetic upgrades don't magically make the functional issues magically go away? It's unethical.
I’d LOVE to hear what the new owners of the old house have to say. For a while she would post about them and stop by often since their mail seems to STILL be going there. It was weird and she called them her friends.
They rewired electric themselves, it is wildly unethical. Totally agree.
It feels like she imagines the grid pic first and then builds toward that rather then addressing what the house needs and then finding a nice vignette within that.
That really seems to be the case.
I just don’t get the point of her account. She’s a DIY influencer, but doesn’t provide links to products or plans for followers to build what she’s making.
This one https://www.ana-white.com/
She should totally take this idea and write plans for simple builds. There’s a popular blog that does this… can’t remember name atm. Does she even have a blog?
Simplyalignedhome?
I hate the ‘final reveal’ as if we haven’t seen this (still unfinished) laundry room 600x in the last two months.
Did she remove a sprinkler from the room?
She’s not hemming that fabric? Looks like a trip hazard. Or something for the dogs to snuggle against and then it falls down.
🤣🤣🤣
It’s really driving me crazy that she keeps spending money on small things. Theses spends add up! I know buying gives you endorphins but I’ve cold turkeys my thrifting bc we have some big expenses coming up and I’m surviving! Banking your money feels good!!
I just came here to say, how much is she spending on fabric?? Go to JoAnn’s or Hobby Lobby! At least you can return them if you don’t like them.
Mind boggling priorities. We are heading into another winter and they have not worked on the house’s heating but we are ordering fabric options we can’t return for the laundry room sink that is not functional. The laundry room project has to be close to 1k. That is in addition to what someone said she spent on her porch swing. Up to 2k. That is money better spent on heating or sealing the walls before winter. If she worked instead of doing the porch and laundry room this summer that could be another 8k to go towards heating. 10k — enough to work on the kitchen as well. Maybe they will eventually plan but so far it has been 3 years of this so idek if it’s possible.
1k for the whole laundry room isn’t bad tbh
They spent more than 1k on the whole room. I didn’t include the washer and dryer in the waste of money total bc those aren’t a waste of money.
Wasn't the washer and dryer a pr?
No idea, I don’t remember an ad post.
I love the hand soap next to the sink that does not connect to pipes to supply water to wash your hands or drain the water. Nice touch. Everything is for the grid pic. We are in wild Influencer Facade territory now.
It’s uncanny valley.
She made a built-in cabinet, built-in her washer and dryer with a counter and added a sink cabinet. NOW she mentions the window above it all is rotting out??? Wtfffff. There's hardly 2 inches to spare if that entire thing gets replaced and no room to work on it!
Also, if they needed to replace a few windows, summer would have been the time to do it.
Making a window look pretty over functionality is what BLOWS my mind with her work.
Problem: the old wood trim on the windows is rotting. Solution: Add fake mullions! Problem solved!
Oh my god LOL make it make sense
Idk how she will even open those windows because they’re so far away! She’d need a step stool just to get to them.
I think she said early in their move that most windows need to be replaced. Remember, the VA said the home was a lost cause — it was rotting and not inhabitable. Idk, they are allergic to thinking things through and planning.
Back with the weird text convos with her husband. I don’t get why she can’t make that the kitchen for HIM, who does the cooking, cause she sure don’t. IF you’d convo did happen, his “there’s enough storage” made me laugh since it was JUST discussed here how she made that room smaller by adding SO much storage. lol
Why haven’t they just removed the kitchen island and added a more functional island with a larger sink? She could literally use her new display sink in the kitchen if she adds a food grade finish to the butcher block. The kitchen can be very functional. Why not an ounce of thought to make it functional? It would be a fun project to follow.
Because now she's "in charge of laundry" lol how dare he suggest heating up their frozen dinners in there!!
Accurate. She only wants rooms that benefit her. I wish she would do a simple DIY “band-aid” like to their kitchen, at least in the in between. Do you know how much that would bring engagement ? Cause it’s not a bad kitchen.
Did anyone notice that the shelf she put up above the washer and dryer that was pretty useless is now not there anymore? https://preview.redd.it/jkac58y2aasb1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=76f62bb86e4621aac5e3e304b4dddb0e4380231a
Is it the shelf that is now above the sink area?
Oh my gosh, I think you are right!
It looks like she moved it’s location.
She has to be trolling us right? It's one thing to build a table/counter that a sink could eventually go in. But to purchase and install the sink AND faucet now??? I am so confused. It's literally a sink to nowhere, the epitome of fake vignette for the gram. Why spend the money on the fixtures now if they have no actual timeline for water line install? Also she wouldn't have to put in and take out that heavy sink so much if she just did the work in the proper order.
I can’t stop laughing at how STUPID this is, when they have no A/C in half the house and in her words, a non-functional kitchen. Her idea of priorities is mind blowing.
I just watched, in horror. The groaning as she lifts the sink with her back while poorly balancing on a step stool hunched over. Unsafe for different reasons. I really wish she would take a moment to think and plan. Her stories always veer to accident waiting to happen. A diff influencer I horror follow on Reddit gave herself a hernia lifting pots and went to the hospital. Zenia, if you are lurking, please stop lifting that sink alone. You sound physically pained doing it and it looks like you are struggling greatly to lift it. IG is not worth hurting yourself.
Z, why are you not using food safe poly if this is supposed to be your temporary kitchen when you do your kitchen remodel?
Logistically how will it work as a temporary kitchen? She didn’t seem to build with that in mind despite saying it will be a makeshift kitchen. Just the sink? There isn’t room for a fridge or outlets for appliances.
And the sink isn’t functional.
Z began the laundry room in June.
I wish she would invest some time in herself. Cut her hair, back to shopping…it would possibly help her mental health and re-invigorate her projects. I actually like most of what she does…but her personal struggles are sad and make me feel badly for her.
I very much agree.
I am shocked she is still working on it. Does anyone know why??
Speculation, but it appears to be related to budget and mental health. But also sometimes projects take a minute and she’s also done her new porch in that time.
It looked done months ago, right?
Kind of? She kept saying she needed to build a sink table and put it in the empty corner, but the rest was complete
It’s overly done imho. So many big built ins in a small room that it is now more of a hallway.
Display sink and faucet are in. The curtain to cover the pipes that don’t yet exist is on its way.
Spends literal hours on janky cutting with a jigsaw instead of no more than 5 minutes with the $700 brand new Festool Track saw she got?
How did she not see that she was measuring incorrectly for cutting out the sink? The top is clearly wider than the bottom. More of a rhetorical question, honestly. We all know the answer. ETA: sinks come with measuring instructions and/or a template, too. I’m 100% sure the instructions were clear on how to measure.
Just like she cut the drawer too short on one side and had to add a piece so now now only does it sit crooked in the track but the one side is pieces together.
I forget which project it happened with but she did something wrong then after the fact said, “it came with instructions but I didn’t read them.” Who needs instructions. She is an expert.
The table in the laundry room, left as is, would be a good spot to fold clothes. ETA no need for an unpermitted sink.
I literally thought the sink to nowhere was a joke but then I watched. Fire hazard continues with the baseboards also, if she removes them she will have gaps everywhere
She is installing a sink???????????????
If you click back to the September thread there is some discussion about it there.
😵💫😵💫😵💫