When I moved into this house I found out the blind on the living room window had all three of it’s pull strings that raise and lower it were broken. I wasn’t surprised because the six foot wide blind is a beast to pull up. After finding out a new blind would cost a minimum of $100 I went to Joann and bought blind cord for $7 and re-threaded the pull cords. Easy fix. That was 8 months ago. Last week I had to blinds open and went to tilt them up when it got dark out. The piece that … Read more…
I love to re-purpose things and when I found myself getting annoyed every time I wanted to make a cut on my compound miter saw because I couldn’t remember where I had set my safety glasses down or put the pencil I decided I needed a solution. I eat strawberries all the time so I grabbed a recently emptied clear basket and cut the top off. There were openings near the top where a cable tie could be threaded through so I made a couple of more holes about half way down the container. Two cables ties and it was … Read more…
I’m sorry I don’t have “before” pictures, but the sink in this house was so bad when I bought it that I didn’t think it could be salvaged. Whatever workmen had been in the house had used the sink to dump everything and clean everything. It was in horrible condition with drywall mud and paint caked in places. It was terribly discolored from chemicals that had been washed down it. I thought the sink would have to be replaced and I was seriously concerned about the condition of the septic tank, but that’s another issue. <iframe src=”http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=FF6000&t=thediygirl-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B000V72992″ style=”width:120px;height:240px;” scrolling=”no” marginwidth=”0″ … Read more…
I wore a new shirt this morning to go get my drivers license and deftly dropped the black ball point pen when completing the application and put a nice ink mark on the shirt. I was bummed. I got home and tried what I’ve done in the past — hairspray. It doesn’t matter if it’s the cheapest stuff they sell or expensive designer hairspray. Put a towel (that you don’t mind staining) under the ink spot. Have another rag towel ready. Spray the hairspray on the ink spot and directly blot the spot without moving the towels around. Carefully move … Read more…
I’ve recently seen some name brand touch up paint containers. They leave me wondering how tightly they seal and how long the paint lasts. I believe in handy to use touch up paint for the rooms you’ve painted in your house. No more trucking out to the garage, maybe having to let the paint warm up. No stirring cans, dealing with possible rusted cans. Just reach under the sink and dab a little paint where you just scraped the wall. I started doing this when my son was little so when he hit the wall with one of his toys … Read more…
The house I’m in had a couple of screens with serious holes in them. It looked like vines had grown up and sent anchoring tendrils into the screen and someone had attempted to rip the vine off. The vine was gone and so were patches of screen. I have replaced screening before. It’s any easy job anyone can do. You need a spline (the rubber stuff that holds the screen in the frame), a spline roller, and screen. The spline and the roller will cost you about $3 or $4 and a roll of 36″ by 25′ fiberglass screen should … Read more…
Update February 10, 2015 – New sizes available I have added instructions below for materials and cutting for medium and small PVC dog cots as well as the original large PVC dog cots. The small size looks so cute when next to the large one. I went to buy smaller diameter PVC for the medium and small and didn’t like the amount of flex (bending) in 1″ PVC so all 3 sizes are designed using 1 1/2″ PVC. Make the legs shorter for the smaller sizes. All the general instructions remain the same — just use the correct set of … Read more…
I had gone into the kitchen update fully expecting to replace the countertops so I dribbled paint on them and had no concern for them whatsoever. So follow this with the decision to keep the countertops and paint them. Need I say I thoroughly regret my earlier lack of care that resulted in swipes and sprinkles of primer and cabinet paint? Note to self: Don’t ever assume you’re going to discard something until it’s discarded. Take great care while you’re working on things. Better to be careful now than sorry later. The curse of poor workmanship – again Don’t you … Read more…
This is purely an opinion and maybe a discussion point, but I’m pretty much opposed to the extended use of paper towels. I have been at the homes of friends and watched in amazement as they roll off yards of paper towels to wipe up things and then throw the whole mess in the trash. The whole time I’m puzzled why they didn’t just wipe it up with rags. When I use paper towels I try to use rags as much as possible and try to limit my use of paper towels to things that are too gross to put … Read more…
I recently read a post by another blogger who stated she only uses disposable rollers and foam brushes. She admitted it wasn’t “green”, but it was easy. While I agree (and love) the ease, there are overriding issues with these two brush types. Why I hate bristle brushes When I was a little girl my skills were not deemed good enough to paint, but they were deemed good enough for clean up. So while the big people painted, the pans, rollers, and brushes were handed to me to clean. And the big people were picky. Needless to say I got … Read more…
