Some DO's and DON'Ts of Home Repair

BATHROOM FLOOR

DO take bathroom laminate that looks like this and somehow make it better.

It grosses me out everytime. Jake had just taken off some weird glued on plastic strip where the floor meets the tub. Ick.

DON'T forget to take the toilet tank lid off before you set it in the bathtub. It may possibly fall and shatter.
DO have friends who already have the necessary tools for you to tile your floor.
DO recognize that projects for the inexperienced are nearly always harder than they seem, and believe husband when he says, "I'll never do that again. NEVER."
DO stand back and admire your handiwork and recognize that $70 to tile your bathroom floor is pretty great.

We still need to caulk the plumbing fixtures, but you get the idea. Muuuuch better.

DON'T expect to just buy a toilet tank lid at the store, especially when said toilet brand hasn't been around for 20 years.
DO (maybe not the best advice here, but I'm going with it anyway) make a new and different brand toilet tank work with the existing bowl.

BACKED UP WASHING MACHINE DRAINPIPE/FLOODED CARPET

DO your best to clean up watery mess in front of the washer.
DON'T believe that "your best" stops at a towel dried carpet.
DON'T spray a ton of Febreeze on said carpet when it smells a bit mildewy a couple of days later and expect that it will take care of everything.
DO try Liquid Plumber/Drano to see if you can fix the problem yourself before calling a professional.
DON'T have your husband pour said Liquid Plumber down the washer drain without having communicated and agreed on what the next step should be.
DON'T assume you and your husband think the same way.
DON'T run a small load of wash the next day believing that the smaller amount of water will be fine, even if the clog isn't completely clear.
DO check to make sure that the hook-pipe-dealy-thing was put back in the drain because if you DON'T, it is pouring water out on the floor both times that washer load drains.
DO panic if you turn the corner toward your laundry area and step into a marsh.
DO borrow a shop vac.
DON'T believe that toweling your entire hallway and part of your bedroom dry after this is actually going to work, even after an entire night of fans.
DO pull up your carpet to try to dry it from underneath.
DO call someone who knows what they are talking about (i.e. Dad and Sandy) and face the music when they tell you the carpet padding is gone. Time to move on. Get it up, and get it out. Apparently the big sponge underneath carpet takes a miracle to get completely dry.
DO head to nearest Home Depot for carpet padding, and proceed to Tetris your dry carpet padding together in place of your cut out nasty wet floor sponge.
DO your best to stretch the carpet back into place.
DO rent a RugDoctor to get that icky smell out of your carpet for good, and borrow a massive floor fan from the best HT around.
DO express gratitude for saving the carpet from a financially untimely death.
DO get around to calling a plumber, because babysitting the washing machine during each load is getting old.

DON'T ever assume we have any clue what we're doing when it comes to home repair.
DO recognize that we'll pretend we do.