Author Archives: TheDIYGirl

Gray weathered wood finish – success at last

Posted on by September 17, 2014avatar

My end goal with my house is to covert over to a beach themed cottage decor so I would love to have some pieces with a gray weathered wood finish. Most of the stuff I will be staining to look like weathered wood will be pine so I have been testing various solutions. Helpful videos For those of us considering a solution of vinegar and steel wool to stain wood there are a couple of videos I would recommend to learn about the process. Rundown – Ebonizing Wood Follow Up explains what iron acetate — the result of steeping steel … Read more…

How to fix a sliding toilet seat

Posted on by September 8, 2014avatar
How to fixing a sliding toilet seat - TheDIYGirl.com

Brand new house and brand new toilets and the seats wouldn’t stay in place! It was driving me insane. With the total craziness of moving and unpacking and you can’t even have a calm respite when you go to the bathroom that’s free of problems so it was time for a little toilet repair. I figured out the problem was the bolts were smaller than the holes in the toilet, so even though they were tight they were able to slide around inside the holes. Enter the Ginsey Toilet Seat Tool kit available on Amazon and even a little more … Read more…

Tips for ceiling fan installation

Posted on by July 31, 2014avatar
Tips for installing ceiling fans - TheDIYGirl.com

Having just installed 5, count them 5 (house came with no fans) ceiling fans since moving in, I have some pointers for newbies that will make the process a little easier. Ceiling fan installation isn’t bad, even when doing it alone. Some of this information comes by way of learning from my past mistakes… Know the support you’re installing into: If your outlet isn’t a braced outlet do not trust it. My builder said all ceiling lights were braced to hold fans, even the light on the outside covered patio. I’m not thrilled that I have to go on trust and … Read more…

Improving pantry shelving

Posted on by August 8, 2014avatar
Improving pantry shelves - TheDIYGirl.com

I moved into a home with a decent size pantry, but it only had three 12” deep wire shelves. While I find them tolerable in clothes closets, I don’t like the way everything falls over on wire shelves in a pantry. It was really a pitiful use of space that wasn’t going to work for me and I wanted to improve the pantry shelving BEFORE I started unloading boxes.   I went to Home Depot and purchased four tracks and shelf clips which are technically called pilaster standards and supports. I also bought a 4’ x 8’ sheet ¾” MDF. I … Read more…

Best way to clean stainless steel appliances (and keep them clean)

Posted on by August 8, 2014avatar

Let’s get this up front – I am not sponsored in any way by Pledge or SC Johnson. This is a totally unbiased user review by someone who stumbled onto great advice. I could not keep the stainless appliances looking good The house I moved into came with new GE appliances. While the French door refrigerator is really pretty, the noise from it is enough to drive me insane so I called GE to have it checked out. I thought my stainless steel appliances looked terrible. A neighbor had told me a repairman said to use WD40 – I thought … Read more…

DIY shelves for garage storage

Posted on by September 21, 2014avatar
DIY shelves for garage storage - TheDIYGirl.com

After moving I was desperately in need of storage space in the garage (I basically went from a 4 car garage to a small 2 car garage – talk about downsizing) and after researching I decided to design something similar to the shelves on DIY Design Fanatic with some minor modifications. Another site suggested moving the legs in at least 5” from ends to prevent sagging in the middle of the shelves, at the last-minute I decided to add center supports under each shelf. Other than that, DIY Design Fanatic had a perfect plan. Below is my finished DIY garage … Read more…

My builders grade house before pictures

Posted on by October 13, 2014avatar
TheDIYGirl.com

I moved to northeast Florida to a new construction home. Big change from the foreclosure fixer upper I came from, but not any less work. I went into this knowing it’s not a perfect house. It’s seriously lacking in storage – of any kind. I’m going to be on a mission to utilize every square inch of useable space since I’m downsizing big time. The house is also builders grade, builders grade, builders grade. I’m not knocking it – it provided me a home in the price range I could afford – but sometimes builders grade isn’t great quality and it tends … Read more…

Cloning a failing operating system hard drive

Posted on by March 20, 2014avatar
Cloning a failing operating system hard drive - The DIY Girl

This is not a how-to. No pictures. This is rather the tale of a fairly proficient user who isn’t afraid to beat her way through computer problems. The key to success is that most people have more than one computer in the home these days, so if you get stuck you just use the other computer to research until you find the answer. FYI – the computer is a Windows 7 desktop. I’ve known for a while my hard drive was failing. I started getting the dreaded BSOD (blue screen of death) and the system would shut down and restart. … Read more…

Restoring auto trim

Posted on by March 13, 2014avatar
Restoring auto trim - The DIY Girl

Sheesh — I’ve been so bored waiting between house showings that I’ve worked on all sorts of weird projects that were easy to quickly put away. Here’s another one. I have a 2006 Xterra. I love my little SUV and plan to drive it until it drops. I bought it used in 2008 and it has been a trooper requiring very little in the way of repairs. The fuel gauge sensor died around 50,000 miles, a known failure, and that’s been about it except for normal maintenance. Plastic trim While I love the vehicle I have not been happy with … Read more…