Caulking is something just about every homeowner finds themselves doing at some point. Usually it entails lots of paper towels and results in caulk all over your fingers. Thankfully the team at Dap (makers of many caulking formulations) has devised a tool to make a smooth professional bead. All without coating your fingers with caulk. The foam tip smooths and finishes caulk beads and works with silicone or latex caulking. It is reusable or disposable depending on how messy and environmentally conscious you are feeling. Available from home improvement stores, or online from Builders Depot for about $2 for a pack of three.

So, you have purchased your dream 2 million dollar ultra modern one bedroom bachelor pad in California. Now it is time to accessorize and spice up that patio. Leave it to Germans to build an ultra modern, oh-so sexy firepit. I am afraid it will not fit in with our Spanish style casa, but I know one of you could use it. Made in Germany and available from Hart’s Hearth. At just about $600, it is way less expensive than a new BMW.

My wife loves candles. Anytime we have guests over and it is even close to dusk, she will run around the house lighting candles everywhere. I agree they look great, but I do not really like the threat of fire, or the carcinogenic byproducts many candles give off. I know, I am a party pooper. Thankfully, Philips, sees things my way and has a lineup of nifty LED “candles.” The Aurelle LED Candles consist of a frosted glass cover, light base, recharger and adaptor. The cover is available in four decorative shapes; round, triangle, square and tulip. I think the tulip one is pretty cool myself. The light even flickers for a true candle look. Each candle is reported to run for about 10 hours on a full charge. I found a set of four online for about $70 at Skymall of all places.
Update: My wife thinks the color of these is not convincing. I still think they are cool, but their glow is a little too yellow-ish to be fully convincing when they are in a clear or frosted votive. I am going to play around with putting them behind colored candle holders and I think that will do the trick.

As much as it pains me to say it, winter is coming. This means overnight temperatures here in San Diego might dip below 68. Worse yet, it gets dark right after work which severely restricts outdoor home improvement. Where am I going with this winter theme? Under the couch of course. If your dream interior furniture layout results in your couch residing on top of your heat vent, take heart. A company called Dundas Jafine makes a handy “Extend-A-Vent” to route your hot air from the register, under the couch and into the room. As much as the bottom of your couch appreciates being warmed, I am sure you will appreciate the heat even more. Available for about $10 from EFI.

If I had a dollar for every time I have accidentally hammered my own fingers, I would have at least four dollars. Chances are you would too! If you really value your digits, consider the Nail Gripper. This nifty tool made of soft PVC lets you grip nails from a (theoretically) safe distance. Despite the buffer I might still hammer my thumb on one of my wilder hammer swings. Once the nail is started you can slide the tool off and hammer away. Highly recommended for pianists and surgeons, and others whose hands are insured by Lloyds of London. Available for about $4 from McFeely’s.

I love a good entrepreneurial story. Take this coffee can as an example. In 2001, an enterprising fellow named Mark Bergman devised this can to help him with his painting chores. Not long after, the can underwent some cosmetic and utilitarian refinement and evolved into the hugely successful Handy Paint Pail. A clever magnetic holder keeps your brush wet and in place right in the pail. That means no more tell-tale trails of paint showing where you walked while painting. An adjustable strap cuts down on hand fatigue. The rim makes for a handy paint scraper, resulting in a mess-free, or at least mess-less project! They even make liners for the pail that are 100 percent recycled. Available at Home Depot and a load of other home improvement retailers. Ace Hardware carries them online for about $12.

I love it when my wife strips! I am referring of course to paint stripping. Not only paint stripping, but eco-friendly paint stripping at that. I refinished a door a while back and used some of the typical home improvement store “melt the flesh off your bones, carcinogenic, environmentally evil” paint stripper. After hours in a respirator and some googling of the main ingredients I vowed to find a safer alternative. Enter Removall products from Napier Environmental Technologies. My wife gave the stuff its first field test to remove a layer of paint from some vintage wood we have in our house. Application one was promising, but we did not put it on thick enough. We left a second very thick application on over night, and the stripper did a remarkable job. Oh, and the Removall did a good job removing the paint too! It is not as fast or as effective as the carcinogenic variety, but it is effective enough for me given the benefits it has: water-based clean-up, fully biodegradable, non-flammable, contains no TAPs or HAPs (Toxic / Hazardous Air Pollutants), low odor, will not burn skin, and my favorites, non-carcinogenic and non-toxic. The products are not cheap either, but when you factor in your health and that of the environment, I think it is well worth it. I just wished some of the major stores would carry it. I tracked mine down from a site call ProPaintStrip.com for about $50 for a one gallon size. I ordered the “220″ formula which is brush-able (some formulas are for spray application only).

Cutting circles in drywall can be a dusty, inexact process. Trying to stick to the pencil line you drew around your coffee can, especially with your 14,000 rpm rotary tool, sometimes results in ovals rather than circles. If you’d like beautiful circles cut into your drywall, try a tool like this Stanley circle cutter. It is adjustable in 1/8″ increments up to 8-1/4″. You can even look like a pro with its one-handed operation. Available for about $10 from All-Wall.com, the drywall superstore.

Michael Singer over at cnet News posted an article about a company called GNR8. The company, which specializes in swanky modern lighting, has basins and yes, bathtubs that are illuminated. This gives mood lighting a whole new twist. Probably not ideal for your vintage home. However, if your home is cutting edge modern, this might be just the thing. These tubs are great for putting your unsuspecting date in the mood when they need to use the bathroom. Just turn the tub on with a nice velvety blue glow and have a Barry White cd playing in the background. This line of thinking may partly explain how GNR8’s products wound up on MTV’s “Real World” too. Visit GNR8, where you can order their products online. Prices for the tub range from $1400-$2500 depending on lighting system. Sinks are available too for $250 to $500.