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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

I'm going to need to learn to be comfortable with super-minor DIY projects. Like, the thermostat in my new place is old and not programmable. It really shouldn't be too complicated to just install a programmable one, but I feel like I'll somehow burn the house down just by undoing a wire. Guess my first task will need to be checking the few labeled fuses and labeling all the rest of the fuse box.

Thermostats typically have low voltage (24 Volts) rather than the 120 volts found in normal outlets. They are pretty simple. Just make sure the proper color wire goes to the terminal marked for that color. Usually there are five wires in a thermostat, but some only have four. The power comes from a small transformer inside the Air Conditioner or heater unit, so you need to turn off the breaker to the A/C. It is one of the big 240 volt breakers in the box.
 
not really a home improvement, but still a DIY decorating thing:

i've never been happy with the desk that i've got in my study. it fits the space well, which is why i bought it, but it's glass and just kind of looks cheap. i don't think this is the exact one i bought, but it's similar:

s0240543_sc7


so i've been reading over the younghouselove blog, and came across their desk. their space is longer than mine is, so i'd have to make some small changes (instead of 3 sets of cabinets and two seats at the desk, mine would just have 1 cabinet on each end, and one seat in between). but this is the idea i'm going for:

Counter-Styled.jpg


for the cabinets, i'm thinking the existing file cabinet that i have from ikea would work on one side, and either shelves on the other side, or just getting another one of the same filing cabinets for the other side. thankfully we have friends who have all of the tools that we'd need (and dhtoy has been helping them for the last couple of weekends to build a railing around their front porch, so they are willing to return the favor). can't wait to finally get rid of the glass desk. anybody in charlotte in need of a free desk?
 
I had a similar do-it-yourself desk in my apartment in law school that was two metal file cabinets with a doubled cut sheet of smoothed plywood across the top, which made it super easy to drill holes for wires. Obviously that looked like shit, but I always thought it would look cool if you used some nice cabinets and a slab of granite or corian countertop as the desk space.
 
I'm kind of moving to outdoor projects now since I'm almost finished painting. Just a bit of decorating next. Is it too late to spread some grass seeds or to fertilize.? My front yard needs a little work.
The best time to lay grass seed is the late summer/early Fall. That gives the grass two seasons (fall and spring) before dealing with the summer heat. If your front yard gets a lot of sun, the new grass will likely fry come July. That said, I just planted a new lawn. But it gets a good amount of shade, so I'm hopeful it'll work out.

Regarding fertilizer, go with low nitrogen in the early Spring. Nitrogen encourages top growth, while you want root growth to prepare for the heat. A great place to learn about lawn care is http://aroundtheyard.com/forum.html
 
I had a similar do-it-yourself desk in my apartment in law school that was two metal file cabinets with a doubled cut sheet of smoothed plywood across the top, which made it super easy to drill holes for wires. Obviously that looked like shit, but I always thought it would look cool if you used some nice cabinets and a slab of granite or corian countertop as the desk space.

yeah, the young house love couple thought about doing kitchen countertops as a top for their desk. they're pretty frugal, so cost was the reason behind not doing it. for me, i think we'd also stay away from a costly top, since we're not planning on being in the current house forever, and there's no guarantee that the desk would still fit in our next house. but a really solid wooden top would be less costly, and if stained well, would look quite nice.
 
a friend of mine made a desk sort of like that using a hollow-core door and two filing cabinets. not as sharp looking as the YHL desk but it suits her needs and is quite spacious. we laugh though, because she is a furniture designer but has this desk made of scraps.
 
a cool planked top or door could be neat if you have a flat writing surface somewhere (i envision one of those desktop mat calendars, or a piece of leather).
 
The desk in our office is a smallish picnic table my wife's great grandfather built in the early 1900's. It's a beautiful piece of furniture, though it's not really all that practical for a desk. Good conversation piece, though.
 
I'm going to need to learn to be comfortable with super-minor DIY projects. Like, the thermostat in my new place is old and not programmable. It really shouldn't be too complicated to just install a programmable one, but I feel like I'll somehow burn the house down just by undoing a wire. Guess my first task will need to be checking the few labeled fuses and labeling all the rest of the fuse box.

My old house was over 70 years old & we (well, really my dad) put in a programmable thermostat very easily.
 
has anybody ever used a (free) online tool that lets you put in the dimensions of your room and then try various combinations of furniture, etc? i kind of want to rearrange my living room and switch out some furniture, and i'd like to play around with different combinations without actually having to buy furniture first. anybody know of a site i could use?
 
has anybody ever used a (free) online tool that lets you put in the dimensions of your room and then try various combinations of furniture, etc? i kind of want to rearrange my living room and switch out some furniture, and i'd like to play around with different combinations without actually having to buy furniture first. anybody know of a site i could use?

Learn Google Sketchup! Seriously, it is an awesome tool and has really helped me during the whole kitchen remodel process. You can basically model your entire house if you have the dimensions.
 
is the regular (not pro) version good? i'm not exactly wanting to pay $500 for the pro version.
 
I use the free version. It does have an initial learning curve, though.
 
has anybody ever used a (free) online tool that lets you put in the dimensions of your room and then try various combinations of furniture, etc? i kind of want to rearrange my living room and switch out some furniture, and i'd like to play around with different combinations without actually having to buy furniture first. anybody know of a site i could use?

http://www.floorplanner.com/
 
Most women just use their spouse as furniture moving slaves.

this would work if i planned to just use everything that i currently have. but i'm thinking of making some changes, and don't want to spend a fortune just to realize that it really doesn't work in my space.
 
I was super dork and cut out scale pieces of graph paper representing the furniture options we were thinking of getting and moved them around the graph paper shape representing the room. #oldschool


Honestly, it worked brilliantly.
 
I was super dork and cut out scale pieces of graph paper representing the furniture options we were thinking of getting and moved them around the graph paper shape representing the room. #oldschool


Honestly, it worked brilliantly.

Nothing wrong with that, I still do this regularly as well.
 
Nothing wrong with that, I still do this regularly as well.

yeah, it was awesome because then we knew exactly what to get and where to put it (i even went so far as to mark the floor of the exact spot that would give the most clearance of walkways, etc, without closing in the seating area too much).
 
has anyone used a paint sprayer before? I'm getting super intimidated by the thought of priming and painting wood paneling and wood trim, and wonder if getting a sprayer might make the process easier. Of course the sprayer itself would be like $120 so I don't know if that is worth it. I'm just concerned it is going to take like 5-6 coats of primer/paint and doing that much by hand sounds terrible.
 
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