Your Home Maintenance Partner
Now that warmer days have arrived, don’t you just want to be outdoors as much as possible? Here are three inexpensive and easy do-it-yourself projects to make your outdoor living space sweeter. Each of them can be built in a single afternoon without breaking a sweat and all you need to build them is a circular saw, a drill, hammer and nails and some wood.
Curb appeal doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Making your home look inviting makes people want to see the inside of your home. It’s a great way to help sell your home if that’s your goal, but it’s not the only reason to spruce up the front facade. It gives your home a polished look that you can take pride in. Check out these simple, inexpensive ways to freshen up the look of your home.
Painting your front door is an easy way to perk up your home. Choose a bold color that pops or a muted color for a classic look. Be sure whichever color you choose works with the siding and roof color. Take a photo of your siding and your home to a paint store and get the staff to help you select the right shade. If you have a storm door, paint it the same color to add cohesiveness to the design.
I have an old door that I repurposed as a garden gate that swings into my yard. I love the look of the old door but I wasn’t crazy about the latch hardware I had installed. I couldn’t open the gate from the outside of the yard. I decided to get a thumb gate latch instead and it was really easy to install. Here’s how to install thumb latch gate hardware!
Is your deck flooring looking worn out? Instead of replacing it, check out how I made my deck look brand new without spending a dime!
If deck boards are nailed:
If deck boards are screwed:
Listed here are the tools that I have found the most useful in my home renovation/reparation projects. You will want to research the different brands before you buy. Some tool companies make wonderful tools that are designed to last and some use plastic parts inside the tools which tend to break easily. Good quality tools that are well made are a joy to work with. The cheaper tools are decidedly NOT fun to work with. Check out as many reviews from “real people” as you can. Get the lowdown from friends and family first.
1. Set Of Cordless Drills With Drill Bit/Socket KitProbably the most handy tools ever! I use my drills all the time. The cordless feature means you don’t have to worry about dragging extension cords behind you. You just pick up the drill and off you go. The set I bought came with two batteries – I highly recommend you have at least 2 batteries if you buy cordless. Those batteries always tend to run down right when you need them fully charged the most!!
I used to use a screwdriver for everything but once you get hooked on using a drill instead of a screwdriver, you will never go back to hand tools…
I also bought a complete set of drill and screwdriver bits and sockets for $30. If you can only pick one of these 6 tool recommendations, pick this one. The drills and bit set will be used again and again and again and again. You won’t regret it.
A random orbital sander combines two motions (orbital and rotary) which reduces the possibility of swirl marks on the wood. It has a round pad rather than a square pad – that’s how you can tell the orbital sander from the random orbital sander. The orbital sander has a square pad. This is the most versatile portable sander you can own. You can hook it up to a shop vac and greatly reduce the amount of dust produced as well.
3. Circular SawI never realized how handy this tool is until I bought one. I started off with a 5 1/2″ cordless version but once I got confident using it, I bought a 7 1/4″ corded one with several blades. A cordless circular saw is fabulous if you are only going to need to use one occasionally. Once I was bit by the building bug, I used mine all.the.time. Problem is that once the batteries age a bit, they don’t hold as much of a charge as they did when new and then you don’t have as much power going to the saw blade as you need. A corded saw is a much better choice overall, in my opinion.
I confess, I bought a jigsaw on sale without researching much and I regret that so much. I threw money away. That jigsaw was poor quality, didn’t hold the blade in place properly and I couldn’t get the precise cuts I wanted. I wound up buying another jigsaw this past year and it has been a joy to work with. Lesson learned…
Tools, love em or hate em you do need em! Once you learn how to use tools, you get hooked pretty fast. It feels so great to be able to build a piece of furniture or fix something yourself – especially when you’d rather save the money for a repairman or carpenter to spend on something else.
Here are my top 5 tips to easily afford a nice set of tools: .
Big Box stores generally offer no interest payment plans when you spend a certain amount using their credit card. Some even offer a discount on your first purchase with their credit card. Use this to your advantage! Watch for sales around Father’s Day and Christmas where bigger discounts are available. Some websites offer the option of setting up sales alerts so that you get an email when the product you want is coming up. Canadian Tire is one store that does this. Don’t buy full price if you don’t have to! If you can combine 12-18 months to pay with no interest on sale priced tools, you’ll be able to buy more tools! The thing to remember with these no interest plans is that if you don’t pay off the full balance by the end of the term, you have to pay a horrific interest rate on the entire period of the payment plan. Be sure to divide the total price you paid for the tools by the number of months you have to pay so that you pay the balance off fully before the end of the no-interest period!!