Man Made DIY

This week, Chris and I will be hosting True Value's "Ask the Blog Squad" sessions on Facebook. We'll be taking questions from readers about anything you can think of (well, anything DIY-related you can think of; don't start getting too personal on me, buddy). 

You can find the page on Facebook (make sure to click on the 'Ask the Blog Squad' tab). Head over there now and get your question in before it's too late!

For our latest True Value blog squad project, we decided to tackle our fireplace. In our 1960s-ish family room addition, the fireplace takes up a lot of visual attention, and its size and placement make it clear the previous owners built it as a focal point. Here's what we were dealing with:

(Note: this picture is about four years old)

Last year we decided to paint the fireplace white, but it still lacked some appeal.So, it's not surprising we often chose to 'hide' the fireplace by stacking our daughters various toys in front of it:

The list of things we didn't like about this thing would go on and on. Here are a few photos that are wo… read more

A part of me retches at the very word 'landscaping', as if the 1/4-acre parcel I inhabit on the vast surface of our billions-of-years-old planet somehow requires a few hours per weekend of my inexpert, indifferent care. Come on; any scaping we do to the land will be obliterated by the pitiless passing of time. We might as well lie under our beds 'scaping' dust into piles.

Still, that's a tough argument to make to your neighbors when they walk past your overgrown garden, over the shin-high weeds in the sidewalk cracks, and through the 'native habitat restoration' area you call your front lawn. They don't have to say much, but even at a distance you can see the raising of eyebrows.

Not that I care that much what they think; horticultural conformism be damned. But seriously, this summer the front of our house was getting to a point that would make even the most hardened iconoclast a little embarassed. 

So, with a shrug of my shoulders and a roll of the eyes, we decided to finally do a little landscaping. It's been at least five years since we've done so much as weeding in the front, so things were a little, um, hairy. Read on to see how we improved it, and watch a video of the whole process...

In the late 60s and 70s, string art became a popular paint-by-numbers-y way for the masses to get crafty. Head to your local thrift store, and you'll likely find a few, in all their harvest gold glory. Usually sold in kits, these guys involved strategically placed nails or pins that were connected by string or yarn to create geometrical shapes or mathematical patterns. 

But, I'm not really into geometrical shapes or mathematical patterns. I'm into letters, so I decided to create some original string art with a typographic twist. It's super fun, easy-to-make, and infinitely customizable. Plus, it's my favorite kind of project, where the supplies come from both the craft shop and my local True Value hardware store (we're a part of the 2011 True Value Blog Squad!).

Here's how: … read more

I know it's not cool to say so, but I hate recyling. Or maybe it's more accurate to say I'm incompetent at it. I forget to take it out on time, I get plastics and papers mixed up, and trash things when I should recycle them and vice versa. So it's no surprise that our kitchen recycling area has long been an embarrassment:

That's how our 'recycling center' used to look. Note the problems: 

1. General disaster
2. Sorting?
3. Shallow pantry means the doors won't close when it's in this state
4. How many brown paper bags does a guy need?

Well, after an inspiring trip to my local True Value store, I decided this was a solvable situation. I searched the internet far and wide for some recyling bins I could just buy, but our 10-inch-deep pantry made that very difficult.

When I spotted some sheets of white corrugated plastic at True Value (we're in their 2011 Blog Squad), a lightbulb went off: I could make my own recycling bin… read more