DIY and Home Repair

[lizng]

The wallpaper has been destroyed and the kitchen is now sporting some fresh spackle and a few coats of pretty green paint. Tomorrow I will be ripping out some dead shrubs that the landscapers murdered and will be replacing them with fast growing annuals so my tiny "yard" is no longer a pile of dirt.

[Davids81]

Installing crown moulding in my living/tv room now. It's a pain in the ass, but it's about 25% done, and it looks cool as shit so far. Can't wait to have it finished and under my belt.

A fine sense of accomplishment that comes after doing a DIY project at home is fuel for starting a new project. Shutters, then perhaps a kitchen re-haul.

[bleep]

hot water started to gush out of the shower knob instead of the shower head tonight when taking a shower. will have to shutoff the water to the whole building (8 units total) tomorrow morning so that i can remove the shower knob and replace what will probably just be an old rubber washer. i'm getting a headache just thinking 'bout it.

edit: heh, i ended up having to replace the entire shower valve. well, at least it's fixed!

[Hannahrain]

Bump. I just painted my dresser and I am extremely fucking pleased with myself.



What are you doing.

[buddy]

impressive hannah, and beautiful as well.

[Still-ill]

Bump. I just painted my dresser and I am extremely fucking pleased with myself.



What are you doing.

You should utilize your abilities and receive monetary compensation.

[seandlr]

Bump. I just painted my dresser and I am extremely fucking pleased with myself.



What are you doing.

That looks amazing. Did you just use regular interior paint or something more artist specific?

[Hannahrain]

It was actually a spontaneous effort to make the dresser look less like it was falling apart, so I just used some acrylics I had on hand. They won't last forever, but I don't really expect the dresser to make it beyond my current apartment.

Thinking about sewing some curtains and throw pillows today.

Are any of you doing anything?

[amyzzz]

That looks really pretty, Hannah.

[miscorrections]

If I got summer vacation I would probably do something. I don't, so I won't.

[TomAz]

Are any of you doing anything?

I'm refinancing my mortgage.

If anyone has any brilliant secrets on how to get a sliding glass door to keep from sticking, I'd love to hear it. I cleaned out the track real well, used real grease cutting stuff, and then used a dry film lubricant, but it's really not working very well. I am tempted to go back to 3 in 1 oil even though everything I read tells me not to because it attracts and traps dirt which causes the sticking to begin with.

[Hannahrain]

Bar soap would probably work wonders in the short-term, though I'd imagine it'd eventually trap the dirt as well. Might be worth a try, though.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Human blood.

[I.F.A.]

I'm in the middle of getting new laminate flooring installed in my place (strictly, I'm not diying, because I'm having it installed by a friend of a friend, but after it's done I'll be doing a bunch of painting and other repairs myself), after having lived with exposed concrete floors for 8 months. Also just got a new stove. And there was much rejoicing.

My place was built in '63, and it needs a lot of attention. Since my ex-husband moved out, I've been doing everything I can to make it "mine" again (I owned it before we met). It's finally starting to feel like home again.

I'd love to see pictures of everyone's finished diy projects.

[I.F.A.]

Bump. I just painted my dresser and I am extremely fucking pleased with myself.



What are you doing.

That is awesome! I have an old dresser that I've been thinking of painting as well, but it has this weird crackle finish that I really don't want to take the time to strip off, so I can't figure out what to do with it. Plus it's in my (way too) dark teal bedroom, and I need to do something that will lighten up the room. I'm leaning towards painting it yellow, with some kind of faux antiquing.

[jackstraw94086]

I will laugh my ass off if Hanna's dresser ever gets lost somewhere in a taiga wilderness.

[Hannahrain]

Wait, someone else posted a dresser here, too?

[SoulDischarge]

So. This seems to be more about home repair. And I'm looking for more of a interior design thread. But I'll shoehorn it in here anyway, mostly because I'm an avid fan of shoehorning in general. Anyone have any recommendations for cheap and impermanent DIY projects to decorate an apartment that is largely empty? I really like my apartment, it's spacious and comfortable, but it's not quite "home" yet. We're renting, so obviously I can't do anything that's going to leave any marks. Basically, I'm looking for things that'll fill up some space, bring in some color, and add some atmosphere to the place. Personal suggestions and ideas are good, as are websites, books, magazines/articles, etc. that are full of good ideas.

[Courtney]

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ and Readymade Magazine are my favorite resources.

[miscorrections]

You should get some construction paper and make a Pac-Man maze complete with ghosts and cherries alongside one of your walls.

[kreutz2112]

And instead of Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man, you could have Mr. and Mr. Pac-Man. Pac-Men.

[Hannahrain]

So. This seems to be more about home repair. And I'm looking for more of a interior design thread. But I'll shoehorn it in here anyway, mostly because I'm an avid fan of shoehorning in general. Anyone have any recommendations for cheap and impermanent DIY projects to decorate an apartment that is largely empty? I really like my apartment, it's spacious and comfortable, but it's not quite "home" yet. We're renting, so obviously I can't do anything that's going to leave any marks. Basically, I'm looking for things that'll fill up some space, bring in some color, and add some atmosphere to the place. Personal suggestions and ideas are good, as are websites, books, magazines/articles, etc. that are full of good ideas.

This request fully fits into the category of DIY. No shoehorning necessary.

I have an old copy of Gray's Anatomy that is too decrepit to use as a legitimate book anymore, so I'm going to cut all my favorite images out, mount them on black paper, and then arrange them interestingly on my wall.

I also used black paper and an x-acto to make some neat little silhouettes to tuck into corners - little plants growing up from the baseboard, some little birds sitting on top of one of the doorframes, and some bats flying up in the corner of a window overhang.

[miscorrections]

You can also get records super cheap at thrift stores and paint on them. Loteria cards are cheap and look nice around doorways. If you've got cardboard boxes you can paint and stack them in interesting ways, or use them as free bookshelves or crap-holders or even dressers.

[Gribbz]

You should get some construction paper and make a Pac-Man maze complete with ghosts and cherries alongside one of your walls.

YES.

[SoulDischarge]

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ and Readymade Magazine are my favorite resources.

I used to have a subscription to Readymade years ago before I had my own place and always loved looking through it. I just found out we have it at work so I might pick up an issue after my next paycheck. I'll check out site. Thanks for the recommendation.

You should get some construction paper and make a Pac-Man maze complete with ghosts and cherries alongside one of your walls.

That's actually kind of awesome. Galaga on the ceiling would be fun too.

[miscorrections]

I wanted to do that at my place in SD because we had a set of jelly coasters in the ghost colors but it never came to fruition.

[Hannahrain]

I used to have a subscription to Readymade years ago before I had my own place and always loved looking through it. I just found out we have it at work so I might pick up an issue after my next paycheck. I'll check out site. Thanks for the recommendation.

Readymade occasionally runs $5 subscription specials as a promotion. If I hear of any, I'll let you know.

It is a great resource. It's the only magazine I read consistently.

[Courtney]

This $2.99 Readymade subscription special still works, I checked. Love the Readymade.

[crazzz2007]

I just changed all the screens on our sliding screen doors and windows.

It's very simple, and saves you a LOT of money.

All you need is...

[guedita]

Hannah: what kind of paint did you use? I just bought an antique dresser and I'd like to paint it and an IKEA bookshelf I have to match the rest of my furniture (dark mahogany).