ToolGirl

Interior painting tips - choosing colours, cutting in, prepping

 

Watch this video for lots of tips on painting a room with Devine Color!

Taking the Pain Out of Painting - Roll your own giant chips

Paint is a powerful force in the universe. Its influence is often disguised behind designer names like Contiguous Pout or First Pimple.

Choosing paint colours can pit relatives against each other in a teeth-baring battle over the interpretation of light wavelengths.

 

Thinking outside the closet

Rubbermaid has come up with "Configurations" - the best closet-organizing technology I've seen ever.  Click here for the link.

The entire system hangs off one horizontal rail so screwing is minimal, and for once that's a good thing.

Oh, and there's no hack-sawing the pieces to length because they telescope elegantly into each other to create a custom fit.   Configurations systems are completely customizable and offer additional tart-ups like sliding trouser racks, belt/tie racks, shoe racks, drawers etc.  Systems start at about $150.  Available in white or in a satin-nickel finish, which they've dubbed 'titanium'.   Very easy to install.

End Mold and Mildew Forever

Hi Mag , i have a question for you - i have two washrooms and both of them are full of mold.  every month i clean the walls and ceiling with bleach.   mold comes back again.  what should i do to get rid of it.  my house is about 18 years old. please advise.  thanks.

-b.a.

Hi there,

The product you need is available at the Home Depot in Canada. It’s called Concrobium. It stops mold and mildew and it doesn’t come back.  Ever.  Concrobium is formulated from food-grade chemicals so it’s non-toxic. It’s a brand new product and I've used it to kill both the smell and reappearance of mildew in our basement. It rocks.  www.concrobium.com

Here are the instructions for use:

1. Remove heavy soil from the surface to be treated.

2. Thoroughly spray the entire area with Concrobium (or apply with a Concrobium-soaked cloth or roller). . If surface has visible fungal growth or staining, additional scrubbing may be required. Note: Concrobium is safe for us on almost all surfaces, including wallboard, plaster, ceiling tiles, wood, metal, plastic, stone, concrete, tile, fabrics, upholstery. If in doubt, perform a test on a small, inconspicuous section.

3. Wipe off excess wetness.

4. Allow to dry overnight (16-18 hours). Do not rinse. Note: in the event of accidental over-application, a harmless white residue may form on the surface. This can be easily wiped away with a Concrobium-dampened cloth.

Concrobium is available in most hardware stores in the US and Canada.

How to get the look of a stone fireplace in one weekend!

BRAND NEW VIDEO - Mag ambushes a friend and does a complete makeover on her fireplace!  (This video features a sweeping cinematic score that Mag created with her GarageBand software!)

Green, Sustainable and Eco Friendly Flooring

 

Guilt-free flooring

Modern flooring is veering away from synthetic carpets and vinyl.  This is largely because people keep hearing about all of the potentially harmful compounds resulting from the manufacturing process.  Who wants floors that will be off-gassing dioxins, lead, cadmium and phthalate plasticizers for the foreseeable future? 

And while most of us aren’t rabid about using exclusively green products, few people enjoy hearing that 5 billion pounds of worn-out carpet are discarded in North American landfills every year.  And that stuff doesn’t break down, ever. So ten thousand years from now, future humans will be able to mine ancient landfills for synthetic carpet fibers to use as home-heating fuel in their ultra-low-emission furnaces.  Oh wait, according to global warming experts, no one will need a furnace by then.

ReStore Salvage Building Materials

Salvage-Ho!

A heap o’ cheapo building supplies
Canadians are starting to feel the pinch of winter.  I know, because I’m getting letters from every province, from every age group.  People are starting to plan their spring renovations now. 

And just like old-timers can predict weather patterns by the foraging habits of rodents, I can predict that 2008 is going to be a big year for being handy. 

My correspondents seek sisterly advice about cottage renovations, basement remodels, kitchen upgrades and exterior touch-ups.  The home improvement bug is clearly out of the larvae stage and starting to think about reproducing.

For example: 

Dear Mag, 

I own an old park model trailer that I will be painting this year.  I want to replace the existing decorative shutters with wooden ones. Something very simple structurally but with a cut-out design (ie: trillium, bird etc.) in the centre of the shutter. Do you have any suggestions?       

Request for Suggestions

Hi Everyone,

Our clever panel of experts at ToolGirl.com is looking for suggestions for new tools and products to review for this blog and for an upcoming site.  If you have a tool, product, project or technique that you think we should look at, please post a comment here, or send a quick note to mag@toolgirl.com. 

If you make a suggestion that we use, we'll throw your name 10 extra times into the random winner generator for the Daily Tool Draw! 

Thanks a million.

How to fix a tail light

There are days when your repairs go so well you barely need the beer.

Here’s how to replace a burnt out bulb in the tail light of your car  with zero heartbreak. 

And here's the  Monty Python style video that proves just how easy it is!

First, make a trip to an automotive supply store like Canadian Tire.  Go directly to the hallowed Parts Department (or the Service Department if there’s a line-up at Parts – they both have the same computer database).

Give the attendant the year and model of your vehicle and watch with wonder as he or she rockets through successive screens to come up with the EXACT bulb that your ride requires. Smile in wonder as the nice person offers to write down the number for you. Does it get better than this? Hardly ever.

If, by some freak circumstance, there is no attendant present at either the Parts or Service counters, do not be discouraged. This is just getting GOOD.

Installing exterior doors in winter - Arghh.

Our beautiful new doors are finally in but it's too cold outside to seal them properly.   We barely got them in before we had a foot of snow, and all of the stucco repair and caulking has to wait until spring. 

We expected to be able to finish the inside and replace the floor over the winter, but no go.  Why?

Because we've got leaks.  Wind-driven snow and rain is wicking under the sill of the door, so any flooring we might put in now would end up soggy, much the way it was before we replaced the doors.

Here's the leak. It sucks to be a basement.  Actually, nearly all basements are born to suck  just the way ours is doing.

I can explain in juicy detail why some people are choosing not to even put basements in new homes these days.

Tips for caulking or recaulking a bathtub

 

It’s well known in my social set that you haven’t really tested your destiny until you’ve hacked the mildewed caulk out of a soggy bathtub joint. At that nadir, that desperate plunge to the bottom of the job jar, you discover your true mettle. If you have a mettle already. And if you don’t, this job will supply you with one. 

Normally the bathtub is a place of reflection and self-pampering. And leg shaving. But now you’re here for a different reason.   You've noticed your caulk peeling for weeks, maybe months, staring eye-level at it every time you recline in the tub.  Now that once-white caulk is spawning black feathers of mildew growth.  It's time to act, but you want the job to last a long, long time.  I can help.