DIY Life

My husband has a freakishly organized tool box. I tease him that it's because he spends all his time in front of the computer instead of working around the house, but the truth is, he just likes to keep things tidy so that he can easily find the tool he's looking for. Part of me admires him -- you know, the part that's not too busy teasing him!

Whether you're cleaning out an old overstuffed tool bag, setting up house for the first time, or putting together some dorm room necessities, you'll want to include these 11 must-have tools. Including the essentials, like a hammer, level, pliers, and screwdrivers, Dustin claims that these tools will get you through basic household repairs and simple projects.

People must feel passionately about their tools, because the comments bring out some heated discussions about the validity of these recommendations, and argue for tools that didn't make the cut. I wouldn't add any tools to the list, but I think every family toolbox needs the the ever-important duct tape, crazy glue, and some other useful odds and ends like zap-straps and string.

What are your household handyman must haves?

I have a very busy house. Two teens in full-time residence, three teens in part-time residence, five toddlers here during working hours. And one very patient husband. (There are still more offspring, as it happens. They're just old enough to live elsewhere.)

It's also a very small house, particularly for the number of people. Oh, and an old house, so that not every bedroom has a closet, and there is really no front hall to speak of, and certainly no front hall closet. I think I have now established my clutter and cleaning challenges, no?

Why on Earth would you want to build an owl house? Having owls take up residence on your property will cause the mouse population to dwindle: never a bad thing if the furry invaders like to live in your basement, attic, or -- yikes! -- your kitchen.

To build a screech owl house, you'll need ten feet of one-foot board, some hinges, nails, and screws, wood glue, and a little time. Research shows that owls like big houses with small entrance holes, which is what inspired this owl house plan from Audubon. They suggest hanging your owl house ten feet off the ground or higher.

You are now on your way to a mouse-free house! Similarly, if you'd like to see a few less mosquitoes, try building a bat house. Apparently, those buzzing buggers are quite delicious....

I love wandering through the brand new show-homes in our area. I do it under the cover of looking for new decorating inspiration, but I think I might just like to tease myself with all the swanky stainless steel appliances.

Thanks to Life Hacker, who pointed us to this great tutorial on how to make old appliances look new again, I can have show-home style appliances in my eleven year old kitchen without investing in new ones.

Make sure you follow the cleaning instructions first. This is critical to getting the stainless steel look just right, but it will also improve the efficiency of of your appliances. After all your prep work is complete, you just need to apply stainless steel contact paper, accommodate for any dials, smooth out the bubbles, and enjoy your brand new appliances.

The tutorial details how to refresh your dishwasher and fridge, but I think it would be hard to stop there once you got started, so bring on the stove, range, and microwave... even the coffee pot -- this is going to be fun!

At my house, we really try our best to live in an environmentally friendly way, for our health and the Earth's. We eat local, fresh food as much as we can, we never use chemicals on our lawn or plants, we don't clean the house with chemicals, and we have quite the raging compost pile.

It seems that we got a bit overzealous with the composting, in fact. Last fall, after carving a stunning Jack-o-lantern, we responsibly dumped the innards of the pumpkin into our composter.

Throughout the autumn, we had several pumpkins displayed on our walkway and stoop. When it was time to put up the Christmas decorations, we plopped the pumpkins in the composter. Follow me after the break; I'm going somewhere with this...

Aaahh. The cool breeze of the ceiling fan is absolute heaven here in Tallahassee, Florida, where the summers are swelteringly hot and humid. In fact, this fair town -- Florida's capital -- was just voted 3rd sweatiest city in the country. A dubious distinction if ever there was one....

Anyway, when it's this hot, ceiling fans really help cool you down. Plus they help save you money: the more you rely on your fans, the less electrical juice you'll need running the a/c. Anyway, to get the best from your fans, make sure they are set to rotate counter-clockwise in summer.

Most ceiling fan-light fixture combos can be easily adjusted by flicking a small switch on the electrical housing somewhere on the unit. For example, the switch on one of my ceiling fans is clearly visible in the above photo.

Want more ceiling fan advice? Check out Dan's post on how to silence a noisy fan. For tons of helpful info on choosing and installing ceiling fans, click over to Kelly's post, 'Install a ceiling fan now!' or this one from Bill: 'Ceiling fans: how cool are they?'

[via Lifehacker.]

Organic furniture is all the rage. Tree stump benches and natural outdoor spaces fill the pages of the most popular home decorating magazines.

How far would you take this? Consider building an outdoor seating area complete with a grass arm-chair and couch. Styleo points us to a tutorial in the print version of Ready Made magazine, which outlines the steps. Working together with nature to create these inspired pieces of organic furniture is the perfect way to reunite your green thumb with your inner diva.

Basically, you pot soil into a chair frame, then plant the grass seed. After about 10 days, the grass will start to grow. When it reaches about 10cm long, you're ready to cut it down and reveal the chair design. You'll have to maintain it regularly if you want to avoid sitting in an overgrown mess. Remember, with all the maintenance, consider using a non-pollutant mower, and minimize your water usage.

There has been a comment that the tutorial is not easy to follow. I think this basic concept would lend itself to any number of design modification, so use it as inspiration, and see where it takes you.

Sleek, stylish, and environmentally progressive, you will definitely be the talk of the town (either as "Check out their cool lawn couch!" or "Who is that nut down the road with a chair made out of grass?").

I don't know about you, but taking on the task of spring cleaning seems monumental. I mean really, in the long run, do I care if my ceiling is dusted or if my draperies are laundered?

If I were to buckle down and actually clean out my kitchen cabinets or dust my vents, I'd use these checklists as a resource. Because they are broken down by room, they actually make spring cleaning seem do-able.

For instance, the bedroom checklist gives a step-by-step guide on what you should clean in your bedroom. Starting with a basic cleaning, you then move on to dusting the ceiling, cleaning the ceiling fans, washing draperies and bedding, dusting and cleaning out the closets.

There are handy tips at every step, like to make sure to clean under the bed, and how to pass the time joyfully.

Will I spring clean? I'm not sure I will do a full-blown cleaning, but I may use some of the tips and ideas from this checklist and do a task or two when I have the inclination.

Somehow, having a checklist and being able to cross off what you have finished always seems to make a task less daunting.

On our list for this spring is the deck. As you can see from the before picture, the railings are not up to code (and look a lot like a ladder to our three-year-old) and the wood floor is splintering. We figure that the frame is still pretty solid, so we will just replace the floor and the railings ourselves.

This is a pretty easy job, and maybe fodder for a future post, but our real goal is to make our outdoor living space attractive and inviting. Once the floor and railings are in, the fun begins.

I envision a new dining set with a colorful umbrella over the table, some comfy chairs and benches, and even an outdoor rug. Add some lighting over the grill, lots of flowering plants and my dream deck is complete. In my mind.

Arrange-a-Deck is a tool offered by Better Homes and Gardens that you can use to envision your dream deck on paper (a free membership to the site is required). It offers choices for flooring color, shape of deck and all the fun extras like seating and plants.

If you are having trouble deciding how to arrange your deck or what extras might enhance the look and functionality of your deck, this tool works great.

While re-screening your window screens isn't brain surgery or rocket science, it does call for a keen eye for detail and a somewhat steady hand. Spring is here or getting here, depending on where you call home. One of the upsides of that are those glory days where we don't have to run the air conditioner or the heater. Money in the bank!

So, good window screens are called for to keep the pesky insects at bay. A trip to a repair shop will convince you to tackle re-screening yourself. Older screening material was metal, and frankly, a royal pain in the butt to work with. Today's is more along the lines of a nylon, fiberglass, or other composite. Quite user friendly.

The process is straightforward; remove all the old screen and splines and replace. The only real trick is getting the proper stretch. I've found it best to use a north-south, then east-west approach. A bit of practice and you'll be the envy of your neighbors in no time flat.

Before you go to the store for tools and supplies, take a sample of the existing spline (a round rubber strip that retains the screen material in the slot). Several sizes are available; you'll need the same size spline and spline tool.

If "get organized" topped your list of New Year's resolutions, you're not alone; if you still haven't crossed it off, you're also not alone. Spring is the time for new beginnings, and with some helpful advice, you'll be able to take that tired resolution off your list and get organized once and for all.

Check out these 5 organizing tips from the pros. In each tip, they encourage us to get creative. Don't be bound by what you believe you can do with your space. Come to it with fresh eyes: see where you can make it more usable, and how you can fit in the things you need without being overrun by them.

One tip that I found particularly useful is to get rid of all those circular storage baskets kicking around the house. They might look great, but they are not designed for efficient storage. Replace them with square or rectangular baskets. These will hold more things, fit better into corners, and leave less unused space around them.

The end of the article leaves us with this important thought: "The less "stuff" you have out in your home, the bigger and calmer it will look." I'd add: the less stuff you have, and the bigger and calmer it looks, the more relaxed you will feel.

We're planning a move in the next couple of months. The Realtor came over to give us an appraisal and walk us through the sales process. As he walked through our little house he said, "I see why you're moving."

He let us know that the clutter would make prospective buyers feel like their family might also be too cramped in the house. He pointed out that much of the new flooring and freshly painted walls didn't show because they were lined with toy boxes, instruments, and book shelves.

A couple of days later, we rented storage and cleared out everything that wasn't essential to daily living. The difference was incredible!

Clearing out clutter is just one way to prepare your home for showings. Aside from taking care of minor repairs and finishing those lingering DIY projects, you might also want to stage your home. Learning how to prepare your home for the perfect showing can mean selling faster and for a higher price. Lori Matzke gives 15 tips to effective home staging.

Among her suggestions she talks about the impact of natural light. Open all your blinds and curtains and let your home show off its natural, cheerful side. Keep in mind, though, that natural light exposes dirty windows and finger prints. Open your curtains and do a thorough clean during the day so that you know exactly what buyers are seeing.

Another suggestion that we're using for all of our showings is number 7, using flora. Fresh flowers in the kitchen and newly planted colorful flowers in our outdoor pots look fabulous. I think my husband is afraid that I'm going to get used to the beautiful bouquets we have had in the kitchen over the past month!

Our home has yet to sell, so I'll keep you posted about how we modify these strategies over time, but they sound like a great place to start.

Threading a lost drawstring through your favorite pair of sweatpants can be a mite peevish, but Lisa made it easy by teaching us how to coax a wayward drawstring back into place. Lisa's tips are wonderful, but for me, they don't always work for a string that is too far gone.

Happy Zombie has a neat trick to thread a drawstring, using a cheap letter opener. The author purchased a letter opener at her local Safeway for 99 cents. She knotted a ribbon to one end of the letter opener, fastened a safety pin to the other end of the ribbon and the drawstring, and found herself with an excellent way to thread a drawstring bag.

As Lisa reminded us in her post; to prevent the loss of a drawstring when washing and drying the item, pin the strings to the fabric of the item with safety pins first, or tie knots big enough that the drawstring can't back up. You'll be happy you did. I am sure you already know it is a serious pain trying to get a drawstring out of its hiding place.

[via: Craft]

Recently, Unclutterer posted some useful information for those of us who drown in piles of pet hair. In response to a post about speedy house-cleaning, a reader asked what to do about piles of fur shed by their Chocolate Lab. The question came up because most "Clean your house really quickly!" plans don't take pet ownership into account.

Erin from Unclutterer responded with a number of tips for dog and cat owners. In summary, and with a few parenthetical comments from me, they are:

• Pick up pet-hair dust-bunnies with damp paper towels daily.
• Bathe pets as frequently as you can: a lot of excess fur will go down the drain with the water. (Bathing a dog more often than every few weeks can really dry out their skin, so be careful with this one. Also, it can clog your drains.)
• Brush pets regularly. (A shedding loop/blade may be more helpful for longer-haired or double-coated dogs.)

Find the rest of the tips, more ideas about how you can put them into action, and information about equipment that might help you, all after the break!

Of all the bird species native to North America, bluebirds are some of the most beautiful. During the decades of the 80's and 90's, bluebird populations were in serious decline which spawned nation wide efforts to assist them. One of the most dramatic developments to arise from the movement to assist the bluebirds may have been the inspired design of the Peterson bluebird house and the bluebird trails created with them.