Category Archives: Household Tips

Household Tips for Cleaning and Organizing

Cleaning Stainless Steel Coffee Mug

Posted on by April 4, 2021avatar

A little over a year ago I purchased a Mukoko 20 oz Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Mug. I like a big cup of coffee in the morning and I have to admit I love this mug. I had grown tired of my coffee getting cold and this mug keeps it warm a long time even when not using the lid. What I haven’t loved is the coffee stains that ended up lining it. I tried vinegar, Bar Keepers Friend, and a variety of other cleaning options and nothing really cleaned the mug. It stayed stained. Then I tried denture tablets. … Read more…

Cutting metal bar stool legs

Posted on by January 28, 2015avatar
Cutting metal bar stool legs - The DIY Girl

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…

New media cabinet and TV wall mount

Posted on by September 18, 2014avatar

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…

Cleaning paint brushes and rejuvenating them with Murphy Oil Soap

Posted on by September 17, 2014avatar
Cleaning paint brushes and rejuvenating them - The DIY Girl

Just a quick post with a tip on cleaning paint brushes. Not quite sure why I tried it or if I read it somewhere, but after painting with a brush for 10 hours and finding a mess of dried latex paint on it I decided to let it soak overnight in Murphy oil soap. I didn’t even submerge it — I had a small rectangular plastic dish, coated up both sides of the brush with straight Murphy Oil Soap, and let it sit. When I walked by I squish the bristles to make sure the soap was thoroughly coating them. … Read more…

Cabinet hardware – great stuff at great price

Posted on by September 17, 2014avatar
Gliderite Cabinet Hardware - The DIY Girl

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…

Wall Anchors – my new favorites

Posted on by September 18, 2014avatar
wall-anchor-feature-The DIY Girl

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…

PVC dog cots – measurements for small dog cot

Posted on by September 16, 2014avatar
small pvc dog cot

I was approached by a reader to assist in coming up with measurements for a smaller dog cot for her dogs. Donna was kind enough to send pics of her puppies and the cots so I could post them. Aren’t they cute? [Show picture list] Donna built the PVC frame using 1″ pipe: the long sides of the PVC were cut 24″, the short side of the PVC were cut 18″. Donna told me that when assembled there was 22″ and 16″ of the PVC exposed between the corners so that had to be the width of the finished slings Donna told me the circumference of … 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…

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…