I moved from a house with a bar height bar to a counter height bar. I have great sentimental attachment to the bar stools I have to the point I don’t really care if the “go” with the house and decor, I can’t part with them — too many memories when I look at them. Maybe you found a great deal on bar stools with metal legs at a thrift shop but they are too tall for where you want to use them. There is a remedy. Research I found a good starting place with an ehow article How to Cut … Read more…
I have a house with no linen closet, but it does have a room for the toilet. I removed the towel bar that was over the toilet because I couldn’t see what good towels would do there since it was so far from the sinks and shower and badly wanted shelves or a cabinet for linen storage. Here’s the before picture. The problem, that doesn’t show in the before picture, is the exhaust fan that’s not that far from the back wall that I felt eliminated the possibility of a closed cabinet — so that left DIY floating shelves over … Read more…
This was a test project and if this DIY rustic bench seat was successful my next project was going to be a new table for my living room made basically with the same plan. This was going to be a “rustic” bench seat partly because you can’t get 4 x 4 lumber without knots so that dictated the lumber for the rest. Clear pine wouldn’t go with knotty legs. I thought it odd I ended up spending almost as much on screws as I did on lumber but I used self-tapping, quality screws that were easy to put in without pre-drilling. … Read more…
This turned out to be a huge post. The text is details for newbies if they want to do their own shelves or you can skim through the pictures. Right this moment I am reeling from the total beat down hanging the largest 60” shelf turned into. Don’t get me wrong. These shelves are easy and so awesome to custom fit exactly to the space you want them. Now having made several – and I am new to woodworking – I don’t think buying a ready-made ledge or coat hook shelf is a good buy. Not when you can make … Read more…
Having moved into a house with next to no storage I needed a big piece of furniture for the living room to store media, electronics, and other things. I lucked out and stumbled across this cabinet which is the base for a huge china hutch. It was very dark pine, 72″ across, weighed a ton, and cost $50. It may look great in this picture but it was badly beaten up with scrapes and gouges in the top and front that weren’t repairable in its current finish. This was okay since I wanted it to be white anyway. I filled the … Read more…
I’m not going to do a tutorial on how to build a DIY miter saw cart since Ana White provides some of the best plans and instructions on the internet. I ran across the miter saw cart evidently done by Lady Goats on her site and loved the idea. The one by Lady Goats is pictured below. Materials to make it Since the cart is constructed from one sheet of plywood I thought this was going to be a totally cheap way to have a cart. Then I was told rubber won’t last long in the Florida heat and I should get polyurethane wheels so … Read more…
After moving I decided to use my large ottoman as a coffee table so I needed a good size ottoman tray to put on it. I about went into cardiac arrest when I started finding large ones on-line for $80+. No way that was happening so I decided to make my own. This is a great beginner project due to its simplicity. A friend had loaned me a Kreg jig to try so I thought a DIY ottoman tray project might be the perfect test. The gray stain was also a test since I would like to use that on a few … Read more…
While finishing my new pine ottoman tray I was faced with a predicament: The only stain I liked was Minwax Wood Finish Classic Gray 271 and the only polyurethane I had was Minwax Water Based Wipe-On Poly. I really like the poly and wanted to use the stain/poly combination on several pieces so I had to find out if it would work. Research I found a post on DoItYourself.com that supposedly came from Minwax. It was about floors, but I figured if it worked on floors that take so much abuse, it would work on my tray. I received this response … Read more…
Being the frugal person that I am, I have been doing a lot of searching both online and in stores for a good deal on nice cabinet hardware for my bathrooms. Both bathrooms have builder’s grade cabinets and no hardware. I’m currently painting the cabinets so I’ll need the hardware when I’m finished. I’m also going to be building some shelves for the master bathroom that will have hooks, so I need a bunch of those too and store prices are ridiculous. I would like these projects to come in on budget. For the record I am NOT sponsored by … Read more…
I have recently had appallingly bad luck with wall anchors. I was hanging shelves in my sewing room and most of the wall anchors I tried were a complete disaster. I tried toggle bolts, molly bolts and some new contraption and they were all awful. My wall ended up looking like Swiss cheese from my failed attempts and left me with a lot of drywall to repair. All I want is an easy to use anchor that it strong enough to hold things and I can install with pinpoint accuracy so things end up level. I like level. Crooked makes me crazy. … Read more…
