An island in the kitchen – very cool, a must, right? Maybe not. Think about it. Do you have enough room to have an island that is useful? And still have people move around without getting into traffic jams? Is your island a work surface or a place where you rest your elbows, have a cocktail, and shoot the breeze with the cook? [Read more...]
To Island or Not To Island??
The Top 4 Essential Ingredients to High Quality Cabinets
1. Materials and Machining
Use the highest quality materials available. Your high end cabinet maker knows what they are. Good substrates, high quality veneer for the euro style cabinets, and good kiln dried wood for the traditional style cabinetry. CNC machining assures that shelves line up, hinge holes are in the right place, and everything is square. Start out with a good foundation and grow from there. [Read more...]
Snow & Ice on the Roof: What NOT To Do After a Blizzard
It doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen America’s Funniest Home Videos or if you’re the only person on earth who has never wasted time on YouTube: You know something is going to happen anytime a video camera is pointed at a man removing snow and ice from his roof. [Read more...]
Win a Yard Castle from MyFixitUpLife
Let’s say you live a cursed blessed life thanks to one or more children in your household. You have several options for occupying their time. 1) Manual Labor – Forget child labor laws, I’m pretty sure they don’t apply for household tasks like gardening, refinishing hardwood floors and general carpentry. 2) Errand Running – My personal favorite is “Sweetie, can you fetch me a bottle of fermented water”? Please note that toddlers fetching beer is not a reportable offense to Child Protective Services. 3) Live Entertainment – It turns out that kids are highly entertaining when it comes to signing, dancing, and story-telling. This is the traditional way parents found entertainment before TV and the Internet came along.
After your children have spent 23.5 out of 24 hours tending to every need of their parents, isn’t it time we gave something back to the kids? That’s where a two story yard castle contest comes in. [Read more...]
Thrifty Routing – Craftsman 1.75 hp Plunge Base Router Review
Back in the day, Craftsman hand and power tools were considered to be among the elite in choices for machining and woodworking professionals. And today Craftsman hand tools still have an edge over many others, as any wrench that breaks is replaced no questions asked. Usually it’s, “So sir, this 1 ¼” open-end crescent wrench just broke?”
“Uh, yeah,” you reply, conveniently leaving out the part about the 4’ pipe you slipped over the wrench to get a hair more leverage while trying to loosen the frozen wheel nut on your old Volkswagen that you didn’t know was left hand thread. So sue me. [Read more...]
Dreamy Gardening with Blackbird Naturals Organic Seeds
As I type this, a massive snow storm is heading my way. So what have I been spending the last few hours doing? Checking out generators? Looking at the latest shovels and snow blowers? Praying to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to come save us?
Nope.
I’ve been stocking our liquor cabinet looking at seeds. I know – a totally escapist activity. Whatev. [Read more...]
What to Look For When Hiring a Cabinet Maker
My wife wanted me to make this picture my whole article. She says it’s what everyone should look for when hiring a cabinet maker. Very funny. Well, for people other than my wife, whether it’s a kitchen, bath, closet, or office, here are some guidelines to think about when you’re looking for a happy ending to your cabinet job. (Construction projects are very stressful.) [Read more...]
How to Make a Round Shower Curtain Rod and Get Voted onto ThereIFixedIt.com
Before I start, I need to preface this entire article with two key statements that wholly describe me. First, I am incredibly lazy. Second only to the first, I am incredibly cheap. With that said here is an inexpensive way to make you own round shower curtain for a claw foot tub or stand-alone tub. I know what you’re thinking “What kind of redneck job is this”, but it turned out ok, so relax. [Read more...]
Recent Home Improvement and Design Casting Calls
Even if you’re DIY-minded, you can’t always get what you want done. Time, money and abilities have a funny way of sidetracking our plans to redo that kitchen, update that bathroom or upgrade a living room. But fear not! For the low, low price of your dignity privacy, you could get some of those renos you need done for free. Here are two television casting calls we came across. Please note that we have NOTHING to do with these TV shows or casting decisions. We’re just the messengers, people. [Read more...]
Drill Bits That Devour Wood
I like to think of drill bit evolution in the same way I think about bicycle evolution. There was a period of several decades where bikes pretty much stayed the same. Two wheels, a frame, no suspension, a handlebar, rubber pad brakes, etc. Then, out of nowhere bikes started sprouting suspensions cushier than a Cadillac, disc brakes, precision gear shifting, carbon fiber, and now, quite a few are even being motorized. Hurray for the bicycle! But this isn’t “velo-fixated.com”, so what about drill bits? Yup, they went through a dark period too. For all too long, bits were little metal rods with a spiral cut into them. Some were black, some were silver, and that’s about it for innovation. Like the bike, drill bits have evolved in recent years. Now, if you want to bore through wood fast (and who doesn’t?), there are quite a few options available. We’ll highlight a few from Bosch, Irwin, Milwaukee, and a newer entrant in the market, Renegade Tools. [Read more...]
