Good Home Design

Posts Tagged ‘DIY’

You don’t need to be a master carpenter to build furniture and other wood projects, what you need are quality DIY woodworking plans. Seriously, with the right plans and maybe a little bit of video instruction, if you have basic woodworking skills you can build just about anything.

Have you been to the furniture store lately. Even the cheap stuff costs a lot of money.

Case in point; we needed a new bed and wanted a Captains Bed. You know the kind with the storage underneath. We shopped around one Saturday and went to 5 different stores. The least expensive Captains Bed we could find was seventeen hundred dollars! And it was not even very nice.

It was mostly particle board and the only hardwood was on the trim on the drawer fronts and some on the head board and foot board.

We did see one bed we really loved but it was four thousand dollars! Sure we could have bought it, on credit and paid for it for three years or whatever – but we did not want to do that.

Instead I took a picture with my phone and my thinking was that as long as I had a picture I could build it. Well that is not entirely accurate.

It did not take long for me to figure out that I was not going to figure this out with out help. I consulted one of my friends who is a professional carpenter and he was very quick to tell me that what I needed was a plan.

What I needed was some DIY woodworking plans, but where to get them? I went to the hardware store and there were some books but they were hard to understand.

I was ready to give up when some guy I did not even know started talking to me at the book store (where I was looking for woodworking plans), and told me to try searching online.

Sure enough I found a whole bunch of them. This brought up another problem, which ones were any good, which ones do I buy?

So what I did was my home work. I started reading all reviews and going to forums and checking each product for what I wanted. What I wanted was easy to use and read DIY woodworking plans. Plans that were down-loadable but from an actual company that I could call to get customer service if I needed it, oh and some video instruction of some sort would be nice to.

The good news is that they are out there. There is definitely a couple of very good companies offering these types of products.

Unfortunately we are not born with a tool belt on our waist. The fact we can see that most home improvement projects are out of our reach sometimes we will need home improvement company to help us. Like assembling and installing kitchen cabinets, I am sure this is a tough job, just like replacing kitchen countertops. But you need to know that there are a lot of tasks that around the house can be handled with a little patience and an eye for its detail. One task I can mention is by replacing the hardware on the cabinets themselves. One of you may have heard about this as part of a cabinet refacing job. You have many ways that are only simple touches like: the handles, knobs and pulls, will help you to complete the design of your kitchen overall. For most of us this is may sound tricky but it’s easier than most people think. You can use the five ideas below for using hardware to create a different and better look on your cabinets.

First, try over the regular flash. Sometimes, the drab look of a cabinet’s color scheme can drag down the entire feeling of the room. One way to combat this effect is to make a bold statement with the hardware. Try a silver and gold combination to wake up an ordinary cabinet. If you have stainless steel appliances, this move can make your cabinets seem like a necessary component of the room, rather than dead weight.

Second, for a toned-down design, keep the sparkle to a minimum. For a kitchen that relies on Grays stone and earth colors, you do not want to go too far with the hardware. In fact, if there is too much of a sparkle on the Knobs and pulls, they are primed for replacement parts. See what the effects of brushed nickel can have on this more neutral design.

Third, for the country kitchen, simplify. Rooms that say “country estate,” opt for the elegant simplicity of embossed tin pulls and Knobs. Rather than Compete with the large presence of such a room, use subtlety on the hardware. Small, round pulls will get the job done, in as quiet a color as you can find for your darker cabinets.

Four, bulk up for the ideal rustic look. Hand-hewn cabinets have the appearance of a rustic, firm presence in the room. It would be a mistake to try and tone down this look. Instead, try and meet the cabinets head-on – and even go one step further – by adding a bulky black cabinet and handle system. The rough black metal will not be overpowered by the strong appearance of the cabinets, and you will have a room that lives up to its promise.

Five, do not get burdened by a single approach. Most designers recommend thinking about the room in a variety of different ways. If focusing on the materials and colors does not work, try mixing in different sizes and shapes. For every room, there are going to be an ideal accents. Spending a little bit of time on different options will go a long way.