What you need to Dominate the DIY Project? A Woman’s Guide

What does it take to be considered “handy”?  To be a useful source for the skills and cleverness it takes to be a fixer of things; Crafter of Function, Rigger Upper or Maker of anything?

The truth is, most of us aren’t “handy” anymore. We’ve become heavily reliant upon “professionals” to take care of what used to be simple life skills that were passed down through generations. With the increased urbanization and affluence of the younger generations, society has become more accustomed to outsourcing handy work rather then picking up a tool or two.  Truth be told, ladies, chances are greater now than ever that you can’t even rely on your husbands, boyfriends or brothers for simple handyman tasks (ahem… handy person). Where upon, many of these tasks can be solved with a Basic Toolbox and some can-do attitude.

Just Picture This Scenario…

What would you do if you dropped a favorite diamond earring down the drain in your bathroom sink?

Cry a little?
Call a plumber?
Resign and buy a new pair?

While those may seem the obvious go to responses, there is an EASY way to solve this problem, and you might not even need tools to do it!  Just your bare hands and place a bucket under the sink, (to keep it tidy).  All you need to do is take off the P-trap which you can twist off with channel locking pliers (the U-shaped part of the plumbing which is meant to hold water to prevent sewer gases from backing into the home).  Dump it out to find your precious jewellery and Ta Da!  Handy Woman (Person) saves the day. Glamorous? No. Handy? Heck yeah!

The point is, most of us don’t even REALIZE that we are so darn capable of doing these things ourselves. With the advent of the internet (ahem, woodshopgirl.com), we have a bounty of resources at our fingertips.  Combine that with a few basic tools and the know-how to actually USE them once in awhile, and you too will be looking for things to Macgyver.

(For those of you who don’t know or are under the age of 25, Macgyver, was an 80’s TV action hero and spoofed on SNL’s MaGruber.  Essentially it means to implement a clever solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem through the inventive use of tools and/or common items…  )

All this takes is a shift in thinking, from “I need to get someone to do that for me” to “I’m going to do that myself because I am awesome, resourceful, clever and HANDY AS HECK!”

Being handy is really that simple and literally ANYONE can do it.  Sure, there’s a big difference between the average handy person and a skillful tradesman (person…), but there is  a small difference between being pretty handy and being utterly useless and reliant upon others. We may not be Michelin star chefs but that doesn’t stop us from putting supper on the table each night.

This is great advice Amy, but where should I start?

My advice for any woman wanting to become more independent by being able to rely on her handy self is to get yourself a basic toolbox and fill it with the essential Tools.  That in itself can be overwhelming if you have never touched a tool before.

I have created an easy to read 34 page Tool Reference Guide to help you get started.  I have outlined not only the Must Haves but the Nice to Own as well. With each tool, I make sure you get:

The Lowdown: What makes this tool so essential to your kit
Uses: A  quick when & where this tool may come in handy
How to Use: Explaining best I can without video (will come one day!)
Tips + Tricks:  The tiny things that can lift you from handy to ninja

All of this fantastic information is available to you for …… FREE!!!!

While everywhere else the guide is available to you upon signing up for our newsletter (which we would love you to do & can after this post), it is available to you here:

Basic Toolbox for Dominating the DIY Project: A Woman’s Guide

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So get the toolbox and whenever you acquire a new tool, GET COMFORTABLE with it!  Make friends with your tools, play with them, learn how you hold them, inspect all the parts and how they work together so that when a problem arises you KNOW what tool might just do the trick. I promise, it is incredibly empowering.

So go get dirty.  Acquire a few tools, and learn a few tricks. There is a place called  INTERNET (ahem, Woodshopgirl.com).  Or go old school style: BOOK (even more old school: the library).   A contractor once said to me “Nobody knows how to do it all… Part of being a good Contractor is just being able to figure things out”.

Pick up a tool, figure out how to use it and be more handy today! The more you practice, the more useful you will find yourself.

Tool abilities are important life skills. Hone them, because you never know where you’ll be when they will come in handy

Til Next Time….

Woodshop Girl

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Are you looking to give a little facelift to your home? Need to paint a wall or fix up some furniture you found on craigslist?  Here are my top 10 recommendations to give your piece a lift.

Sometimes it is a matter of adding new hardware but not everything needs a handle. Here are my top 10 favorite materials I’ve either seen or used myself:

Note: you can find all of these photos on Woodshop Girl’s Pinterest Board : Creative Materials to Upcycle Furniture

Peel & Stick Tiles

Wallpaper

Screws

Interesting Hardware

Trim moulding

Fabric

Tree Branches

Cast Iron Plumbing

Hardware

Door mats

There are many, MANY ways to breathe new life into an old piece of furniture. I’m talking real wood pieces here; not that cheap, single-lifespan particleboard crap. Older pieces have staying power and are repairable…Woodworkers used to build their furniture with better quality materials and meticulous joinery, which meant they lasted much longer. These methods also lend themselves well to re-finishing and re-creating pieces, or as the hipsters have now dubbed it, Upcycling.

I am really stoked that Upcycling has become such a massive trend which continues to juggernaut its way through social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. Also known as “creative reuse”, upcycling is “the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless and/or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value” (wickipedia).

Here are my 3 favorite Go-To methods for upcycling old furniture:

1: PAINT IT!

When you consider something like a piece of furniture to be more like a blank canvas, you really open up to the limitless possibilities of what it might be. For this piece, I found an old mid-century-modern style night stand on craigslist. For FREE. My favorite!! You can always spot a well made piece worth re-finishing by the way it was put together. Observe Exhibit #1 (dovetail joints). This one was a product of the paint I had available coupled with inspiration from the beautiful west coast forestry where I live. The result is a completely new (looking), one-of-a-kind furniture piece that is ready to be loved for another 50 years. Now that’s a trend I can get on board with.

There are many techniques to paint furniture. Solid colors, distressing, stencilling, special types of paint like crackle, just to name a few. Painting furniture is also a pretty easy way to DIY.  Read here for a pretty good article on the whole process.

2-ALTER IT TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS!

It takes a keen eye to be able to look at a piece of furniture and see it for it’s potential rather than just at face value. The beauty of re-creating pieces of old furniture is that if you can envision the possibilities, there truly are no limitations of what you can make with a clever design and the right tools, and you can create the ultimate piece to function in your space.

This was once an old, beat up pine dresser with sticky drawers and a tired facade. Expecting my first little guy at the time, I was putting together a nursery in our very small (Vancouver condo sized small) “den”. This meant multi-purpose pieces of furniture if there was a hope in hell of squeezing in all the necessities, like a change table and a dresser along with the crib. I found the dresser on Craigslist for $25 bucks and started with the design. I took some measurements of the space it would be living in to determine the size of what I was building, and a list of functions it would need to perform: dresser, change table, cloth diaper storage and shelving.

I basically just built a shelving unit the same height as the dresser and then used some leftover flooring from our condo (the builders had left a huge pile of it in the bike storage locker) to make a new top. You could also have a piece of butcher block cut to the right size to make an awesome new top which would last forever, or you could get a piece of plywood cut to the proper size and apply some trim moulding.

3: RE-FINISH IT!

When you hear the term “finish” (or re-finish, which basically means to re-do the finish) in regards to a piece of furniture, what is being referred to is the protective coating on the wood. There are a wide variety of different finishes available, with varying levels of sheen and protection, some with built in stain, some designed to go over top of a stain. The “stain” is basically a dye for wood, and as with finishes, there are a wide variety of them available. See this article describing the different types of finishes available.

Re-finishing is best suited for furniture that is in reasonable condition and you would either like to make it look new or change the color. This dresser was an awful shade of pastel pink, straight from the 80’s. The drawer fronts were made of solid oak, the rest of the dresser was a wood veneer. As I mention in my blog post “How to Repair Particlebaord”, veneer is a thin layer of wood pressed onto another, less expensive material such as plywood or MDF. It can be tricky to re-finish, because if you sand through the veneer in your prep work, you’re basically left with something that can’t be re-finished. (Ok, you could re-veneer the surface, but for the price and effort involved, not to mention level of expertise required, I wouldn’t recommend it).

I chose to re-finish the pieces which were made from solid wood, paint the parts that were veneer and add a clever design detail on the fronts to give it an industrial-chic sort of feel. The detail serves double duty and also acts to cover the existing hardware holes so I could replace the original drawer pulls with anything I wanted to.

There really aren’t any rules when it comes to designing your upcycled furniture projects, and anything you find that you think would look neat as part of your project certainly can become an element of design

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I’ve come a long way since being a starving student in art school, but I still like to save a few bucks (or even better, save ALL my bucks) when I make my unique furniture pieces. I feel the same way about using salvaged material as I do towards adopting pets. Just as an animal who doesn’t get adopted will wind up in a shelter, building materials that don’t find a use will often wind up in the landfill, so by being thrifty when it comes to your projects you are also being environmentally friendly. Here are my top 5 tips for getting material for next to nothing. Or, for nothing at all.

1. Construction and Renovation Sites

I’ve read statistics that as much as 40% of the waste in our landfills is generated by the construction industry, so you can feel good about scoring some free wood here. Just make sure you find out who’s in charge (the general contractor, site supervisor, foreman, manager, etc…) and get the OK before you take anything. You can often find 2x4s and planks of various widths, among all kinds of other pieces of wood and material. Again, find someone important and ASK! (This is also where bribery in the form of coffee and muffins may go a long way) They’ll probably be happy to save $ on disposal fees by filling the back of your vehicle with some scrap wood. And if you offer a bribe, they may even load it into your vehicle for you. TIP: go either at a typical break time or at the end of the day. You don’t want to be a nuisance by interrupting productivity.

2. Woodworking Shops

Here’s another place where a little charm and sometimes bribery can go a long way. These include but are not limited to Furniture Makers, Cabinet Makers, Millwork Shops, and Wood Flooring Companies (this is where most of my material comes from, because I conveniently work for one), just to name a few. Most of these companies will have piles of off-cuts and shorter pieces that they can’t use, and a busy shop will likely value the space they take up more than the worth of the wood itself.

3. The “As Is” or discount section

Building supply stores, lumber yards, and even Ikea sell materials and products that have been used for display, slightly damaged, returned, discontinued, leftover from off-cuts… The list goes on. You can find a variety of materials that can inspire your next project for up to 90% off. I’ve actually started checking the “as is” section (ask for “off-cuts” if you’re looking for pieces of wood at a lumber yard or building supplier) before I buy what I went shopping for, just for the off chance I can find what I needed there. These areas are usually a little hidden, so just ask the friendly staff where the discount section is and bring a little creativity to what you find for a fraction of the price you would normally pay.

4. Craigslist “FREE” Section.

You can find all kinds of stuff here, but you need a little luck because if it’s worth your while there are always others who are interested as well. I’ve found some really well made old pieces of furniture here which I’ve re-finished or painted. I’ve had the best luck scoring pieces later in the evenings or by refreshing the page every few minutes. When something you could use comes up, send a response immediately and offer to pick the item (s) up either at their convenience or ASAP.

5. Wood Pallets.

This one is no secret, but there is a good reason why Pinterest is inundated with pallet wood projects. It’s simply solid wood, and there are enough pallets being tossed away on the daily that you should be able to find them for free pretty easily. You can usually find pallets in droves around industrial areas. If they’re near a disposal bin, I’d say help yourself. If you can see a stack of them but aren’t sure if you should take them, put on a smile and ask someone. You will probably NEVER be turned down. I would recommend pallets for projects that incorporate the whole pallet or portions thereof, because I personally think they require too much effort to break down into usable lumber form. Be prepared to put in a little (or a lot) of labour to de-construct them if that’s what you’re intentions are. My advice: Wear gloves, and don’t cry if you break a nail.

So there you have it. My 5 favourite ways to save a buck while saving the environment in your DIY adventures. If you have any other tips on the subject, please feel free to share!

Signing out,
WoodshopGirl

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As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my design process usually begins with the material and evolves from there. Sometimes I make detailed drawings with dimensions and plan accordingly with a cutting list, and other times I just sort of “wing it”. Although the first method is much more efficient, I find the latter to lend itself more to serendipity and the evolution of a unique piece.

For this coffee table, I placed the emphasis on efficiency. In woodworking, an efficient way to do things is in a production run. When you set the tools for your specific cutting dimensions, you can run all of the pieces at once saving a ton of time. The trick to this is to have a cutting list of all the pieces you will need, and a plan of attack or list of steps to create the piece.

I did a series of 3 of these, because there was a small mountain of off-cuts of this beautiful Hakwood flooring (which is a European white oak engineered hardwood), in a pre-finished color that is spot-on-trend in the design world right now. Conveniently, the colors of wood I have available are usually a by-product of high-end designers working in high end homes, therefore almost always in line with what’s trending

In the end, I was able to list them with a very reasonable price tag (only $160 per custom made, high end piece of furniture :0) because I kept my labour time down with good planning and efficient practices. I generally don’t mark up my materials (since I don’t really pay for them), and because I like to promote the use of salvaged material I pass that value on to my clients.

If anybody wants some advice on designing a piece or would like a piece custom built from their own construction waste, please feel free to drop me a line!

Signing out,
WoodshopGirl

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Amy is always designing & building new furniture pieces. If you are interested in seeing more of her work, you can check out the gallery of her pieces. If you are wanting something custom built, get in touch with Amy today and see if you can work together.

I just recently ordered this bed frame/headboard online, and what I got when it arrived was a VERY cheaply made product. (I know, I should have just made one myself…) It didn’t take long before my two young and rambunctious boys did a number on one of the corners. This cheap material it’s made of is called “Certified Environmentally Preferred Laminated Particle Panels”, (whatever the heck “certified” environmentally preferred means… Sounds like a thin veil of greenwashing to me) Nonetheless it is still particleboard, which is what a LOT of furniture is made from nowadays. (Ikea anyone?) Although it’s definitely not built to last, it can be repaired fairly easily with just a little effort and some glue.

Some Facts About Particleboard:

• It is manufactured by mixing wood particles together with a resin and forming the mix into a sheet. Although the “particles” used in the process are largely composed of recycled material, the resin contains formaldehyde and other nasty stuff. *WEAR A PROPER DUST MASK IF YOU ARE BUILDING WITH IT!!*
• There are different variations, ranging from chipboard or particleboard to medium density fibreboard (MDF or medite) and hardboard
• It is a cheap alternative to plywood, and it is not made to last; if it is exposed to moisture it can swell and deform beyond repair
•  Luckily, if the veneer (The thin layer of wood) is chipped or broken off and you save the piece, it can be made to look as good as *almost* new!

So Here is the Quick and Easy Repair Method:

STEP 1:

Gather the tools you will need. If you want to keep the job quick and easy you should avoid having to run around for what you need mid-repair!

I have here the piece to be glued back on, some wood glue, 2 clamps and a block with painter’s tape on one side. I use this for clamping the piece and keeping it flat and flush with the rest of the face; the tape prevents it from becoming a new addition when the glue dries.

Also, not shown in the photo, I always keep a damp rag handy when doing glue-ups.

NINJA TIP: You can get away without using clamps to secure the pieces if they fit together nicely…  

Simple tape is often used by carpenters to hold things together until the glue sets. I like to use painter’s tape because it has a little stretch to it and is designed not to damage different surfaces when removed.

STEP 2

Put the piece in place to ensure it fits. Loose fibers or other debris can prevent things from fitting back together properly, and a good fit is key to a good glue-up.

Remove anything in the way of a tight fit, and make sure the pieces to be glued together are nice and clean.

STEP 3

Apply glue to the part of both the pieces you want to glue together. The particleboard is quite absorbent, so don’t be shy here! Make sure the entire surface has glue on it, fit the pieces together and clamp them in place.

I used a block and 2 clamps here to ensure the surfaces would be flush, but as I mentioned in step 1 you can also tape the piece in place.

While the glue is still wet, check the position and make any adjustments to get the best fit possible, because once the glue dries that baby isn’t going anywhere!

Clean up any excess glue with a damp rag and leave it alone. The glue bottle should have a recommended dry time, and add a little time to that if it is cold or humid where you are.

STEP 4

Remove your clamps (or tape) and check it out! 2 pieces became one again You may have some visible “evidence” of the repair, depending on the color of the veneer and how it was broken off in the first place. Don’t be alarmed! This, like most things, can also be easily repaired

STEP 5

Touch it up.

This is not photoshop my friends!! I simply colored the line with a matching felt pen, and wiped anything “outside the lines” off the surface with my handy damp rag. (I’m sure a little spit on your finger would also work wonders).

Ta-da! Good as *almost* new!

You can actually fix a LOT of things with the right glue and the same steps.

Simplified, it would look like this:

1.  Clean surfaces to be glued and make sure they fit back together well

2. Glue both surfaces together with the appropriate glue (there are a TON of innovative adhesive products readily available; check out your local hardware store. They are often in the paint department… Just read the labels, and if you still aren’t sure which to use for your specific repair, just ask… and if you STILL aren’t sure, see the ninja tip)

3. Join surfaces together and clamp (or wedge, or tape, or weigh down with something heavy… Just make sure to only glue together the area you want repaired, because gluing something you meant to use as a clamp to your piece is counter-productive

4. Wipe off excess glue before it is dry

5. Let the glue cure according to the label directions, unclamp and voila! Fixed!

NINJA TIP: There are almost always phone numbers for a help-line from the manufacturers on the products; they will answer any question you may have and you can GUARANTEE they are experts on the use of that product (as opposed to some random advice from the paint department employee who may have never even used it before…)

So there you have it, one easy way to repair particleboard furniture.

Stay tuned for the coming post which will show you how to repair ugly dents in all kids of wood and wood-like (ie: particleboard!!) surfaces.

Your truly,

Woodshopgirl

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My process usually starts with the material. In this case there were a number of off-cuts of this high-end European white oak, left over from a set of treads I built at work. There were also some pieces of solid Wenge kicking around (a very expensive African hardwood) which were too short to build any more treads with. I wanted a new coffee table for my own home so this provided the parameters of what I would build with it, and the design took off from there.

I sometimes make the plans and figure out the dimensions of a piece as I go, but I’ve learned through experience that there is a much more efficient way to work… My design process has since evolved to look like this:

Material-Rough design-problem solve-make plans-create

Once I had the rough design, I had to figure out how to make the wood I had work for what I wanted to create. The pieces of wenge were too short for my design, so I had to exercise a little woodworking magic in the form of a carefully crafted scarf joint* with a veneer* layer to make it appear to be the length I so desired. Once I had this part figured out, I went to town building with my rough design and voila! A coffee table was born.

*A scarf joint – (also known as a scarph joint) is a method of joining two members end to end in woodworking or metalworking.

I want to share the journey from design and DIY to finished product, to teach you some of the basic skills needed to take any room from the dull and dismal “Before” to the shiny and magnificent “After”. There is a very important step you should always consider before you tackle any project involving an entire room or a major renovation, and that is PLANNING! I know we all just want to dive in and get our hands dirty, but before you start swinging a sledgehammer at your home, stop for a sec!! Taking the time for this integral part of your project will save you much more time in the end than it takes you in the beginning, so I would highly recommend you take me up on this nugget of advice.

Here is the glorious ‘Before’

TRUST ME! I’ve made it so quick and easy for you.

I have a very simple 4 step planning process; the scale of the project will determine exactly how much detail goes into each of these steps.

1. NEEDS

Why you’re renovating, which will lead you to what you need in your renovation and help you focus on the things that are important in the end and not just pretty. It helps to think of any problems you are trying to solve with the current space.

2.  WANTS

Consider the things that will make the space amazing to you; home magazines and pinterest can be great tools for this, and I also like to just wander through home depot.. This can also help when it comes to figuring out your budget

3. BUDGET

Figure out what you are willing to (or can afford) to spend, then work backwards from there. Figure out the price tag on each element, including anything you will have to hire out to professionals. (My rule of thumb is this: if something you are considering doing yourself could potentially kill you or majorly F* up your home, call a pro… Major plumbing or electrical fall into this category…) Start with the things that are most important, because there are always ways to save money on the other things with a little creative ingenuity, bargain hunting and DIY magic.

4.    BLUEPRINT

This is basically just the logistics; figure out what you need to do to complete the project and the order you need to do things in to do it efficiently, then set a rough timeline

So that’s the basic idea of the planning process; read on if you want to see how it applies to my laundry room re-vamp.

ASSESSING THE NEEDS

The laundry room itself is a fairly small space, at only 5′ by 6′ (for those of you who don’t know, this little typographical symbol here ‘ means feet, which is equal to twelve inches in the imperial measurement system, and this little guy right here ” is the symbol for inches). I wanted to change it up because what was existing was just non-functional and inefficient… So step 1 for me is solving those problems to make it a functional space, and to do that here are my NEEDS:

• There is ZERO storage, and I want to hide my mess. Because honestly, who the heck doesn’t? And FYI, storage space is KEY to making things look tidy; it gives you a place to hide all your stuff that isn’t so nice to look at. When it comes to small spaces, coming up with clever storage is very important. I’m going to address this issue by adding some drawers underneath the machines, some upper cabinets above and some freestanding/floating shelves of some variety. I’m also going to create a built-in shelf above for folding (ok, maybe just sorting) laundry before it gets put away.
• The door doesn’t open all the way with this temporary counter in it’s current place. To solve this problem I’m going to move the washer and dryer to the wall on the right when you enter the room. I took a few measurements to make sure this is possible, and it can be done if I have the power source for the dryer moved because it won’t reach from where it is.
• The wallpaper is just flat out ugly and NEEDS to go.

FIGURING OUT THE WANTS

I’ve done a few renovations in my day, so I have a pretty good idea of my personal design aesthetic. This step for me is just visualizing what the space will look like (think colors and materials) and what will go into it to make my vision a reality. I want glass doors on the cabinets, but I’m not sure my budget will permit that so it may be something I sacrifice for a less expensive option; after all, it is only the laundry room, where I hope to spend the least amount of time I possibly can… Also, as far as return on investment goes, this is not a wise place to blow the budget for resale value. Otherwise, my “WANTS” include a few decorative elements to wake the space up which can be the last thing to consider when all the important things are done.

DETERMINING THE BUDGET

I had originally hoped to keep this whole project under $500, but moving the electrical ate up $200 right off the bat. I do believe that if you’re going to put in the effort and dollars to renovate something, going a little over budget to meet your NEEDS is alright, so for me layout and storage were acceptable expenses. Most of the material I’ll be using is stuff I already have; paint, salvaged wood and DIY skills will create the built-in drawers. I also have all the tools already, so my biggest expenses are cabinetry and electrical. I’m willing to go up to $650 on my budget to get it done right.

BLUEPRINT; FIGURING OUT HOW IT WILL ALL COME TOGETHER:

This is a relatively small project (in the grand scheme) so I just quickly put things in order of what to do. It looks like this:

• Get an electrician to move the outlet
• Patch and repair the drywall when he’s done, remove the wallpaper.
• Paint
• Hang cabinets
• Build the drawers/any built-ins

(These last two steps can be done in reverse order, but I need to consider the fact that we still need to use the space throughout the project, and this will be more accommodating… With 3 adults and two toddlers living here, there is a load of laundry needing to happen everyday. ESPECIALLY since this little guy is also potty training right now…)

So there you have it; the process and the plan for things to come with this project! Check back soon to see a tutorial on how to patch and repair drywall as I tackle the next step in the process. I will literally be doing the work one-handed as I let this little baby here heal… Yes, thanks to my broken pinky finger I am off work for awhile and actually have time to finish something (with help, of course… Just in case my boss is reading this)

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When you add to the allure the fact that positioning yourself and your family in such a manner would likely make you far more prepared for a natural disaster, manmade disaster or even zombie apocalypse, the reasons for pursuing the road less travelled just continue to grow. I, for one, have just spent my entire day fantasizing about the whole notion of it.

One of the most exciting aspects of living off the grid (or even just a little more remotely) is all of the building, fixing, rigging up and all-out, hardcore DIY. That, plus enjoying all extra the time one would have to indulge the inner pioneer, what with not having to work as much to pay the bills… I think that society has lost this mentality a little, and future generations will be even more helpless than ours today because none of these life skills are being passed on anymore (which is REALLY frightening!)

All fantasies aside, I do enjoy my modern amenities and wonder if I truly could survive as an “off-gridder”… But at the end of the day, I KNOW I could do it. Why? Because I have the ability to build things. Being able to figure out how to make something work using problem solving and technical abilities would play a huge role in the difference between surviving well or not at all. That, my friends, is an important life skill.

Check out what inspired this blog post.  I particularly loved the episode filmed in Tonga.

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