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Building a Home Office, Part 1

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Until recently I used our daughter’s old bedroom suite as my, pretty much everything room. Our Ladies’ Parlor was rarely used, so I decided to turn it into my own home office. I left all but my desk, computers, TV and photo storage boxes upstairs.

Choosing the Right Bookshelves

The three styles pictured represent the basics found in most online or brick and mortar stores.

  1. The budget friendly flat packed particle board units found in department stores. Take note that these do not hold much weight. Watch for an upcoming article on how to dress them up.
  2. Real wood bookcases. Most are constructed of a combination of solid and real wood veneer over plywood. The quarter inch thick plywood can hold the most weight per shelf. You can also find this style unfinished.
  3. Modern Industrial. These have a combination of metal and wood or wood products. Most shelves are real wood veneer over MDF, so they will not hold as much per shelf as the plywood, but more than particle board units.

Bookshelf possibilities

The Making of a Curvy Sidewalk

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Our home is both linear and angular with the only curves being the half moon arches over five of the windows on the front of the house. Because of the angles on the footprint of our home, I felt it needed a curved sidewalk, or “curvy” as I like to call it, to soften the many sharp corners.  Much of our home has been DIY’d, as was our sidewalk, so I thought I’d share how we accomplished the task of making the curves inexpensively.

Tools of the Trade

  1. Concrete Float with Long Handle (This smoothes the concrete after it’s poured.)
  2. Concrete Edger (It’s just what it sounds like, it gives the smooth edges.)
  3. Concrete Joiner (This makes the seams in concrete to help keep it from cracking.)
  4. Concrete Finishing Broom or push broom (This adds texture for skid resistance.)
  5. Shovels for guiding the concrete out of the cement truck.
  6. Large spray water bottle
  7. 2 x 4 Lumber (Make sure they are straight.)
  8. 3.5″ strips of Masonite for the curves. (Have these cut at the big box stores.)
  9. Plenty of wooden stakes for shaping and setting the framing in place.
  10. Sledgehammer for pounding in stakes.
  11. Nails for the few places you’ll need to secure the Masonite framework to the stakes or 2 x4s.

Once you’ve gathered all your tools, lumber and have your plan mapped out, it’s time to lay the framework for your sidewalk. We started at the point that would soon be our driveway. Pound the stakes in place and lay out the lumber and Masonite strips accordingly.

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How To Tile Your Base Cabinet Floors

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A while back in my article Making the Best of Under the Sink Space, I mentioned the idea of using press on floor tile on the floor of the sink cabinet. At the time I didn’t have any so I used what I had on hand, which was vinyl wallpaper. Recently I purchased a box of sticky tiles so today I’m sharing my tips on how to do this project with very little measuring involved.

First, gather your supplies:

Being a Seamstress, I often cross use my tools. For instance, when marking where the holes needed to be cut in the tile to go around the flexible conduit I used my sliding ruler, which is normally used to measure hems when sewing. I also used my quilters cutting mat to protect our dining table from being damaged while cutting the tiles.

Before you gather your supplies clean the floor of the base cabinet with warm soapy water. Rinse thoroughly and dry with a clean absorbent cloth. After gathering your supplies, check to make sure it’s completely dry. The tiles will not adhere properly to a damp surface.

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  1.  Enough press-on tiles for your cabinet base.
  2. Sewing slide ruler gauge or other small ruler.
  3. Ink pen.
  4. Inexpensive scissors.
  5. Utility knife.
  6. T-Square or straight edge guide for cutting.
  7. Cutting mat or something to protect the surface you’re cutting on.

 

Five 5-Minute Home Improvements

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Not every homeowner has time to commit to big projects, but there are plenty of home improvement projects that cheap, easy, and take five minutes or less.

Electrical Faceplate

It is common for homeowners to take a lot of time picking out paint colors, selecting curtains, and matching up patterns, but forget electrical faceplates. There are many options out there that are big upgrade from the typical plastic cover, including: oil-rubbed bronze, stainless steel, white porcelain, and wood that can be painted to match the rest of your room.

electrical faceplate | Quick Home Improvements

Porch Railing Replacement

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As with many other projects around our home, this one changed from its original plan. Usually changes are made by us for various reasons.  This was forced upon us in the dead of a bitter cold winter by our new insurance company just days before a planned trip to California. We had no choice but to work in temperatures well below freezing. 

Original Plan in Progress

I fell in love with Victorian homes as a child. I especially liked the gable fretwork and sawn balustrades on the many porches they had. Since my hubby and I both prefer new homes, when we bought land in the country to build a home on we decided we’d build in the Victorian Style with all the modern amenities we were used to.

Below you’ll see where we started on the porch off the master suite. The drawings show a rough idea of what sawn balustrades could have looked like. A sawn baluster is a design cut from a flat piece of wood. It is not turned on a lathe.  Porch with original railing in progress P.