Tag: handy

  • Easy Fixes Around the House

    Easy Fixes Around the House

    I hadn’t heard of Sugru until recently, but as I looked into it a bit, it seemed like pretty useful stuff to have around the house. It’s a moldable glue that you work with kind of like play dough. It sticks to just about everything and cures overnight, turning into flexible rubber with a strong hold.

    I realized after looking at some of its uses that it would be perfect for fixing the toothbrush holder on our sink’s backsplash. We aren’t using the holders for our toothbrushes (I put a couple of glass tumblers in them because they seemed odd when empty), but the right one was loose when we moved in and time has only made it worse. One screw won’t fully tighten because it’s stripped, and the other doesn’t even catch the threads! I’d thought about fixing it with superglue but I didn’t want to do anything that couldn’t be reversed since the sink is an antique. Sugru is removable from nonporous surfaces, so even though I don’t plan on taking it apart, it’s nice to know that I could if I wanted to. I used about half a packet to make a little ball, putting it behind the backplate of the toothbrush holder before reattaching it. Done! It’s even waterproof.

    Fixing with Sugru
    Bathroom with Antique Marble Sink

    Of course, once I already had that packet open, I started thinking about where else I could put it to use in the house. There was a loose sconce in the other bathroom, where the plaster could no longer grip the screw. A little Sugru on the backplate, the same way I used it for the sink’s holder, fixed it right up.

    Fixing a Sconce with Sugru
    Guillermo del Toro Sconce

    (Brandon calls these our Guillermo del Toro sconces. Can’t unsee.)

    Guillermo del Toro Sconce

    After that, I figured I’d go fix a wobbly lampshade that had been driving me nuts. I’d tried before to fix it with tape, then wire when that didn’t work, and eventually I just resigned myself to straightening it whenever I noticed it had gotten out of whack again (which was often). I mixed up some gray Sugru to match the silver on my lamp’s harp, leveled the shade, and fixed it in place. No more wobble!

    Sugru
    Sugru for Fixing a Crooked Lampshade
    Pink Lamp with Silk Lampshade

    If you aren’t familiar with Sugru (I wasn’t before), they have a ton of different ways to use it on their homepage and a bunch of creative uses, too. I know I focused a lot on how you can use it to fix things, but I also put together a collection of my favorite tutorials and project ideas. (Aren’t those magnetic copper vases clever?)

    Sugru is being sold nationwide at Target now, so it’s easy to get your hands on some. It’s good stuff to keep on hand for getting handy and for when you’re feeling crafty!

  • Going into Details

    Going into Details

    It is so nice to sleep in an actual bedroom as opposed to the hallway! Yes, the bed is back in its rightful place… and no, we’re not actually finished.

    Here’s a little before & after of the empty room:

    Bedroom - before & after

    Brandon and I started our project last Wednesday by emptying the room, ripping up the carpet, and painting the walls and the ceiling yellow. It reminded me of my grandma’s old kitchen, and I promptly repainted the walls and the ceiling taupe (“Chocolate Froth” by Behr) the next day. Two coats. Then we took up the tack strips and old baseboards, and we began laying the bamboo floor. We finished laying the floor on Friday, and we installed the new baseboards. I also painted the window and door trim white (primer + two coats of paint). On Saturday we installed the baseshoe (the finishing touch to the baseboards that hides the gap for floor expansion), and the painting was finished on Sunday.

    We learned that we are not expert woodworkers. It all looked much better after we caulked the gaps and painted though!

    Hmmm...

    I hung Roman shades for privacy (they’re from Target, but I actually don’t like them very much). Curtains went up next. I chose brown, but that was before we had decided to put the bed under the windows. Now I wish I had picked a different color. On Monday, I brought up an 8×10 rug to go under the bed. I wasn’t sure about it, since the whole project was centered on changing the floor (which I think turned out beautifully). We had the rug already though, and I do like the way it looks now that the room is finished. I lugged the nightstands upstairs while Brandon was at work, and that was not fun, but I was really eager to get a lot done. They were heavier than they looked.

    I did wait for Brandon to return before attempting to get the bed in. We were so worried we’d scratch our lovely new floors, but we managed to get the bed in place safely. Next it was time to hang our reading lamps, which you may remember from a previous post (The Perils of Coupons).

    bedroom

    And voila! A bedroom!

    bedroom

  • The Chicken or the Egg

    The Chicken or the Egg

    living room

    So many projects are hinging on other projects around here. The living room hasn’t been painted because I want it to complement the wallpaper for the dining room (which hasn’t been chosen yet). The dining room is in shambles because the kitchen cabinets (not yet assembled) are in there. The kitchen has stalled because I want to paint the ceiling to start, but I haven’t picked a light fixture (I may be changing the placement).

    Things are not much better upstairs. None of my clothes are put away because we haven’t built the new closet/wardrobe yet. That hasn’t been done because we want to paint the bedroom first, but of course we’re waiting to do that because we might take up the carpet (and therefore the baseboards too). And the painting of the library/hall hasn’t continued for two reasons: there are clothes strewn about, and I haven’t decided what to do for the ceiling color.

    *sigh* …so I guess I need to pick a light(s) for the kitchen, and decide what to do about the bedroom floor.