Give your fireplace a holiday facelift with a new mantel
For many of us, a sleek, plain fireplace gets a little old. After all, where will you hang the Christmas stockings?
The fact is, if you don't have a mantel, you can create one for a lot less effort and cost than you might think. Here are some ideas to get you moving in that direction.
Many antiques stores and even flea markets actually sell fireplace mantels that have been carefully removed from older homes. These can be stripped, repainted and installed fairly easily on a plain fireplace wall. They can be glued to the wall with construction adhesive and/or attached with concrete anchors.
If that doesn't work for you, take a look at the many prefab models. You can shop around and find mantels that are already put together and ready to install; many are very detailed. All are easy to install, and will give your fireplace a real facelift.
If you really want to do all the work, you can create your own. You can create a basic background design from plywood. You will need two side pieces and a top piece. You will need a sturdy mantel shelf as well as all the trim to make it look the way you want. You will want a good metal tape, a level, construction adhesive, finish nails, concrete anchors and a miter saw. The rest is up to your own personal taste.
Keep in mind that you should keep all combustible materials away from the firebox. Don't forget a nice fire screen and some new fireplace tools to really spruce up the room.
Simple wine storage
A wine cellar would be quite a luxury for most of us. But you can create a nice area to store your wine where it will be in better conditions than in a kitchen pantry. Create your wine storage from clay tile drain pipe sections used for plumbing, stacked into a pyramid and lying on their sides. You want to use ones that have an inside diameter a little larger than your wine bottle and, if they are too long, cut them down to size. You can use epoxy to glue these together to store several bottles in one small area. Place your wine storage unit in a cool room, away from heat and sun. Your investment will be protected, and your wine will be ready when you are.
Handy sump pump filter
If you use your sump pump to drain an area that has a lot of loose debris in it, you should be careful not to clog the built-in filter. One way to avoid this problem is to create your own filter from a plastic bucket. This also could make pump removal easier if you do have to service the pump. Use a plastic bucket that is larger than the pump, and punch or drill lots of small holes near the bottom of the bucket to allow water in but keep debris out. The pump will be placed inside the bucket, where it can do its thing without the inevitable clogging. When you need to pull the pump out, you can just shut it off and pull the whole bucket up by the handle.
Super hints
• Saw blades cost quite a bit, and the longer you keep them, the more you get for the money. The best and easiest way to clean a gummy saw blade is with oven cleaner. It works great, and fast! Use it according to the label directions.
• If you wax your own car, use those waxy rags to wipe your good metal tools down when you are finished using them. That little bit of wax will help protect them from rust and corrosion in storage.
• Birds are always invited into our yard. They keep pests to a minimum and are fun to watch. We create treats for them from dog bones "painted" with peanut butter and rolled in birdseed. We hang them from the trees or set them on the porch railing. The birds love them, and we love watching them enjoy the feast.
Q. Why do the tube lights in my garage give me so much trouble in the wintertime?
A. They are made to operate in warmer temperatures, so if the weather is cold and the garage isn't insulated enough, it could cause them to flutter or not function properly. It might be possible to shop for a newer bulb made to work in colder climates, or a new fixture might be in order.
Q. We are going to renovate our bathroom, and we have beige sinks and a beige bathtub. We are having trouble finding a matching beige toilet. What would you recommend, other than replacing everything?
A. If you can find the name of the original manufacturer (located on the sink or tub), see if you can contact them for a source of replacement. If they can't help you, maybe they can at least give you the paint code. If that doesn't work, contact a kitchen and bath supplier, and put them to work on it. You can even check with building surplus houses and see if they have one. Sometimes you can get lucky on eBay or craigslist.com.
Q. I really messed up and didn't get the caulking done, and now it seems too cold to do it. The caulk is thick and hard to move. Do they make a looser caulk?
A. Wait until a warmer day to do your caulking. If you wrap the tubes of caulk in a warm heating pad, they will be more pliable when you are ready to use them.
Q. I want to refinish my dining-room buffet table one of these days, but not today. I do, however, want to see if you have a solution to remove the white ring created by a serving dish placed on it during Thanksgiving. Can you help?
A. See if by smearing a blob of petroleum jelly over the white spot and giving it time to soak in, you can wipe it away. This will work only on some surfaces, so make sure to check the treatment in an out-of-the-way area, like a drawer, first.
Reader tips
• I'm a firm believer in taking good care of paintbrushes. After all, a good brush can cost quite a bit, and the cheap ones fall apart, usually in the middle of your project. One extra thing that I've always done is soak them in a little vinegar after the paint has been cleaned off the bristles. This last soaking cleans any residue off the bristles and leaves them open and ready for the next paint project. Rinse the vinegar off with warm water, and let the bristles dry before storing them away. You'll see that they will last a lot longer.
• We wanted to redo our kitchen but couldn't afford to spend a fortune doing it, so we scaled down the plans. Instead of replacing the cabinets, we covered them. We took the doors off and painted everything a neutral color. We cut aluminum sheets to fit the front of the cabinet doors and the drawer fronts. The metal gives the room a really neat look, and it was a fairly inexpensive material to use.
• Our patio was plain and boring until I accidentally spilled some iron fertilizer on it and saw the stains it created. I fell in love with it and poured two bags over the surface. I sprayed it down with the hose and created the neatest-looking stained surface I've ever seen. I'm considering sealing it to keep the rust in place better. It looks really unique and goes with my other shabby-chic decor.
• Our new game room is fantastic. We have spent a lot of time getting it ready for this football season, and my sons love to have their friends over, too. We painted it our team colors and picked out furniture that would match perfectly. I was really unsure about decorating since I'm not very good at it, but I even did some cool lampshades to match. I cut up some team T-shirts and glued them to the outside of plain lampshades. It was easy, and they look great!
• I like to keep my window screens clean, but trying to wash them while they are hanging up is hard to do without stretching them out. I take them down and lay them flat on the driveway, and then clean them off. They are easy to clean this way, and I never have to worry about them stretching out too much.
Shop talk
• If you have a lot of paint to strip, it would be worth your time to check out the new Speedheater. It's a small, hand-held infrared heating tool that works great at heating up paint to be scraped off. It heats quickly and needs only about 30 seconds to heat a painted surface enough to start removing the paint with a scraper. It requires no chemicals or sanding, so it's easy to manage, and it can remove several coats of paint at one time. To find out more about the Speedheater and where to buy it, visit eco-strip.com or call the company at (703) 476-6222.
• Lots of projects can be accomplished with the use of a Dremel Rotary Tool. Now you can actually see how to do a lot of those projects right on Dremel's Web site. The company has put together a long list of projects and made videos showing you just how to use the tools to get your projects done. You will love the videos and be inspired to get a little creative after watching them. Dremel has been around for a long time, and the tool and its many accessories are well-made and last a long time. The Web site is another great accessory it has created to help you with your repairs and other chores. Visit the company online and see for yourself. The Web site is at www.dremel.com, and you can click on "projects" to see all of the videos available to view.
• Write to Al and Kelly Carrell in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006, or visit the Carrell's Web site at thesuperhandyman.com.