Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Tackle It Tuesday: New Seat

Disclosure: I hate dealing with toilets. Too many have malfunctioned in my past and I view them with extreme trepidation. This explains, in part, why a brand-new toilet seat sat unused in its box for a good 8 months.

However, this recently changed. In a flutter of nervous activity, and extreme embarrassment that our old seat, which, while cushy and resplendent with butterflies on the lid, presented a cracked and scratchy experience to all users, I forged ahead to change out the lid.

Now if I am attempting something for the first time, I dither too much and worry I am not going to do it the PERFECT way and/or destroy that which I am trying to do. This is where Google and self-helpers online save me. I entered "how do I change a toilet lid?" into Google's search field and voila!
Folks, it doesn't get much easier than this.

Here are the simple steps it took to upgrade our bathroom experience:
Pop the screw covers with my fingers and use wrench to start loosening the screws with the raised tabs.
Fare the well, beautiful butterflies!

Screws removed. I used the wrench on top, and then my fingers above and below the head of the screw.
I then removed the toilet and screws.

New lid. different seat/lid combo, or I would have preserved the original butterfly lid.
The tabs on the screw heads were indented, so I used a screwdriver and my fingers (to tighten the washer underneath).

Fini: smooth, yet boring toilet seat & lid.

I was so proud and excited! I did it - I vanquished my fear of toilets and made a good improvement. The kids, however, assured me they liked the other seat better. It went "whoosh" when you dropped onto it, and it was not hard and cold, like the new one.

I told them they were welcome to find and buy a new toilet seat, and I would then install it. They've been more appreciative.

What did you tackle and accomplish? Do you need some encouragement or inspiration to tackle a project? Check out on Tackle It Tuesday over at 5 Minutes for Mom. They have a great post this week about preparing for a garage sale. I am taking notes, as we need to do that too.

Tackle It Tuesday Meme

2 comments:

Sanstrousers said...

Good job, you! I would have skeered, too!

Anonymous said...

I am scared of toilets, but it is more of germ thing. Good job on the DIY job!