Valentines Day Projects

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the weekend warriors home improvement show, built by bar lumber. When it comes to big or small projects around the home, Tony and Cory have got the know how and the answers to make your life just a bit easier. Here they are, your weekend warriors, Tony and Cory. You know, Tony, Valentine's Day is not very far away. What do you have planned for your wife? [00:00:33] Speaker B: Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. [00:00:35] Speaker A: I know it's your wedding anniversary. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Well, it's because of the chocolate. The chocolate. I feel like it doesn't matter where you go, there is chocolate available around Valentine's Day. I love that. [00:00:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I also love chocolate, but I think my wife wants a little bit more than chocolate this year. So I'm going to do something nice for. I've got some projects listed out. Maybe you can help me figure out which one I'm going to do. [00:01:06] Speaker B: You're going to build a box that holds chocolate? A wooden box? You're going to build a wooden box and fill it with chocolate? [00:01:18] Speaker A: Build a wooden box? Chocolate box. Maybe build a box out of chocolate. Oh, that'd be pretty. [00:01:24] Speaker B: That is interesting. [00:01:26] Speaker A: Anyway, so, yeah, today on the show, I think that's what we should do. I've got a list of projects that you can do for your significant other, for your wife or your husband that I think they would find nice. [00:01:38] Speaker B: That's a really good idea. I haven't looked through this list, but I would say that before we get started on the list, I have one really good one, and it is a frame for a picture. [00:01:56] Speaker A: You mean like a custom picture frame? [00:01:58] Speaker B: A custom picture frame. Here's what's cool. My wife likes to go to a studio and paint something, right? She goes with friends or family, and they have this easel and some paints in front of them, and they have a canvas, and then they paint this picture, whatever it is. Maybe it's a vase full of flowers or maybe it's a landscape or whatever. They paint it. They all paint the same thing. And then she brings that painting home. She's very proud of it. And then I take it into the shop, measure it, fit it for a wooden frame, and then build a wooden frame around this framed canvas. [00:02:42] Speaker A: I see what you're saying. [00:02:43] Speaker B: And then hang it up on the wall. [00:02:45] Speaker A: Well, funny thing is, that's the very first thing on my list. It is, is a custom photo album or frame or something that you can make. Just like what you said you could take some pictures. Have you ever done picture framing? Like actual picture frame where you miter the corners and you put the pieces together. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah, this is what I'm talking about. I'll tell you, I have a new tool that makes it much easier for me. It used to be very difficult. I felt like when it came to gluing and clamping. Because clamping a 45 degree together is challenging. It can be challenging. But I bought some 90 degree clamps that they clamp right into the corner. [00:03:27] Speaker A: Very cool. [00:03:28] Speaker B: Four of them. [00:03:29] Speaker A: So if I'm building the corners nice and tight. [00:03:31] Speaker B: Yes. If I'm building a frame and I'm putting it together on a 45, then I can clamp it at a 45, which makes it much easier. [00:03:37] Speaker A: Well, I've done a little bit of picture framing in my life. I don't have those clamps. [00:03:44] Speaker B: Right. [00:03:44] Speaker A: I actually have something that I made myself out of a piece of plywood. You take a small, like, say, six inch by six inch square piece of plywood, drill a hole in it, dead center. [00:03:54] Speaker B: Okay. [00:03:55] Speaker A: And then you cut 45s into the hole. [00:03:59] Speaker B: The hole, right. [00:04:00] Speaker A: Going out. And then you take those two pieces, you put that together, and then you put the clamp on it there. It actually works really well. [00:04:08] Speaker B: That is smart. Absolutely. [00:04:09] Speaker A: But I will say one thing that I've noticed when building. Trying to build precision picture frames in the corners, you shouldn't use a chop saw. Do you know that? [00:04:23] Speaker B: No. Why would you not use a chop. [00:04:24] Speaker A: Saw when you have, like, I've watched a lot of videos and stuff on building picture frames, and all of the people that do it professionally, they use their table saw. [00:04:35] Speaker B: Okay. [00:04:36] Speaker A: Or a miter saw. Not a chop saw. A miter box, where they put it in there with a hand saw. [00:04:44] Speaker B: Oh, sure. Because an effort to get a more accurate cut. Is that what you're telling us? [00:04:49] Speaker A: Exactly. So if you take a standard dewalt or Makita chop saw, you put it at 45 degrees and you come down on it, say a ten inch or a twelve inch blade. There's actually a lot of flex and wobble in those for very fine finished carpentry. That's all I'm saying. So if you do it and you go to put it together, you might not see that exact line online. [00:05:15] Speaker B: Real tight fit. Yeah. No, I know this to be true only because I have used my twelve inch Makita chop saw, my twelve inch cordless makita chop saw, to cut many frames for pictures created by my wife. And I have noticed that you don't get a super fine, tight fit. Yeah. [00:05:37] Speaker A: I mean, for construction, it's perfect. You can do or even things that you put up, like crown molding. Well, you're going to caulk everything and paint it, and it's going to look fine. But if you've got a really nice piece of fine wood that you want to cut at an exact 45 and an exact 45 glue and put that together and you don't want to see any gap in there, then you'll want to use a miter box with a handsaw or your table saw. [00:06:08] Speaker B: And if you're using a jig. Okay, so if you're using your table saw, then you're building a jig that holds your trim at a 45, correct? [00:06:16] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:16] Speaker B: Interesting. Very interesting. [00:06:18] Speaker A: If you want to take your picture framing to the next level. [00:06:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, that's a really good tip. Remember always to glue and nail whenever you're putting your picture frame together in the corners and give the glue plenty of time to do its thing before you start fastening onto the back. The mechanism that you're going to use to hang it from the wall. [00:06:44] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:06:45] Speaker B: Because if you're going to bang that in with a hammer or whatever, you want to make sure you've given it a proper chance to set up. [00:06:51] Speaker A: Yep. The next one on my list, Tony, is DIY wall art. I've been actually seeing a ton of these reels on my instagram feed that are really cool, contemporary looking wall art. Like, it's architectural wall art. You know what I mean? Where they take two by two lumber or one by two lumber, and they put it in vertical strips on a wall. They'll paint the wall black and then stain these pieces of wood and then nail them to the wall, like, separated. You know what I'm saying? [00:07:26] Speaker B: No, not yet, but I'm listening. [00:07:28] Speaker A: So you paint your wall black. So you just have a black. [00:07:30] Speaker B: Got that. And then you take, like, one by two? [00:07:33] Speaker A: Yeah, one by two. Oak or pine or something. [00:07:37] Speaker B: CVG fur, fur stained stain. [00:07:39] Speaker A: It looked really nice. [00:07:40] Speaker B: Okay. [00:07:41] Speaker A: You put one up, you fasten it to the wall. [00:07:43] Speaker B: One piece of one by two. [00:07:44] Speaker A: One by two? [00:07:45] Speaker B: Yes. [00:07:45] Speaker A: Vertical, from ceiling to floor. [00:07:47] Speaker B: Okay. [00:07:48] Speaker A: And then you gap it. Say three quarters of an inch. And you put another one. [00:07:52] Speaker B: Okay. [00:07:52] Speaker A: And you gap it. Put another one. So then what you're left with is like a very contemporary looking architectural wall. [00:08:00] Speaker B: Okay. [00:08:01] Speaker A: It's almost like the olden days of. What's the word? The statement wall or the. You know what I'm talking about? [00:08:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Where the inspirational words like live, laugh, love. [00:08:14] Speaker A: No, where you'd paint one wall a different color, an accent wall. [00:08:18] Speaker B: There you go. [00:08:19] Speaker A: Man. My brain's not working today. An accent wall. It's kind of like an accent wall, but it's more architectural. [00:08:25] Speaker B: Interesting. I see that you have notes here that look like this. Create a personalized piece of wall art with your favorite quote, song, lyric, or meaningful words. [00:08:39] Speaker A: Sure. [00:08:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And I was wondering if now we were back to putting meaningful words on the wall. I know that you feel strongly about word art on the wall. Eat, pray, love. [00:08:52] Speaker A: I delete that. Yeah, I'm deleting that. Gather more like more specific. I mean, I've seen some really cool things where people, family people have taken. For instance, I saw this one where a guy did a heartbeat. Fun, live, laugh. Shut up. No, this guy did. He took his heartbeat of their first child and he cut it out on a scroll saw and he framed it. That is very cool. I thought that was pretty cool. [00:09:22] Speaker B: I like the description that you gave of one by two, stained one by black wall. That was cool. [00:09:28] Speaker A: More of my idea really, was to do an architectural wall art. [00:09:35] Speaker B: Well, that's a good idea. What's the next one on the list? [00:09:39] Speaker A: Yeah, go ahead. [00:09:40] Speaker B: Homemade candle holders. [00:09:41] Speaker A: That is a really good know we made. Do you remember those candle holders that we made? Actually, they weren't candle holders. They were plant holders. We've got a video on our YouTube channel where we hung out with the. From the plant. [00:09:58] Speaker B: Aaron Harding. [00:09:59] Speaker A: Harding. [00:10:00] Speaker B: Clever. Blue. [00:10:01] Speaker A: Clever. There you go. And we made some plant holders, but you could do the same thing. You could use that same mold and make candle holders is what I was thinking. [00:10:11] Speaker B: That's a good idea. Something that hangs or something that sits on the countertop or whatever. Right. Something decorative, something that you turned on. A lathe. No, I don't have a lathe. I do. You do? Yeah. Absolutely. I'm always looking for a reason to turn on the lathe. [00:10:30] Speaker A: Yeah, man. And what's not more romantic than candles? [00:10:34] Speaker B: You're absolutely right. Of course. My advice to you would be get the candle first. Trying to find a candle that fits perfectly in your candle holder could be challenging. Buy the candles first and then build your holder to match and somehow make it unique. [00:10:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:10:53] Speaker B: That's a great idea. I like it. [00:10:55] Speaker A: Here's one for the readers. If you've got a significant other that's a reader, create them a reading nook, maybe with some little custom homemade bookshelves or even the next one on the list. Floating shelves. Floating shelves are super easy. They seem rather difficult, but we actually did a video on floating shelves, too, if you're interested. You want to go to our YouTube channel, it's weekend warriors. It's www. Homeshow. YouTube.com www. Homeshow. [00:11:26] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good one. My daughter came to me recently, she's a book reader, a bookworm, if you will. And she came to me recently and said, I'd like to make a book holder that is in the shape of a triangle. It sits right on the tabletop and comes up at a steep angle, like a triangle, kind of like a right triangle, even. And when you are reading your book and then you are putting your book down, you just put it right on top of that triangle and it holds the book open at the page that you're at. And you're not putting a bookmark in there or earmarking a page or something like that. [00:12:05] Speaker A: You're just setting it down. [00:12:06] Speaker B: Just set it down right on that little book holder. And then when you're ready, you pick it right back up and it's ready to go. [00:12:11] Speaker A: That's an interesting. Yeah, you can make that, too. [00:12:13] Speaker B: We did. We made several of them, and she absolutely loves them. [00:12:17] Speaker A: I actually saw somebody make these things that fit over your thumb. It was basically that exact same thing, but it was a triangle shape with a hole cut in it. [00:12:30] Speaker B: Okay. [00:12:30] Speaker A: And you put it on your thumb, and then when you held your book, it was held. It opened the book open, of course. [00:12:36] Speaker B: Yes. That's a very good idea. [00:12:38] Speaker A: There's a lot of newer books. They're hard to hold open. [00:12:41] Speaker B: Indeed. [00:12:42] Speaker A: Hard to hold with one hand. [00:12:43] Speaker B: That's a really good idea. I like that. [00:12:46] Speaker A: Next one on the list is a jewelry box or a jewelry box organizer. [00:12:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:51] Speaker A: If your wife has a ton of jewelry. I know mine does. I actually made her several years ago an area for her to hang all of her little jewelry and earrings and necklaces. There's a million different ideas out there for these, but I think it's a great idea. [00:13:10] Speaker B: It's so funny because same daughter. Right. Came to me a couple of years ago. Not a couple, five, let's say, probably, and asked me to make a triangle shaped jewelry, kind of like a jewelry rack. [00:13:27] Speaker A: Right. [00:13:27] Speaker B: It's triangle shaped. And we put dowel rods horizontally. Yes. And then she was able to hang earrings and necklaces and rings down at the bottom, kind of acted as a shelf, and be able to put rings for her fingers on there. And she absolutely hangs that on the wall, and she loves it. [00:13:46] Speaker A: That's very similar to what I did. Mine wasn't triangular, but it was the same sort of idea. And it had little areas to put rings, little areas to put just hoops, all kinds of stuff. [00:13:55] Speaker B: It's a great idea, apparently. I'm realizing just now as we were talking that my oldest daughter has an affinity for triangles. I didn't tell now. I didn't even know it. [00:14:06] Speaker A: She's not a square. [00:14:07] Speaker B: No, she's definitely not. Customized plant stand or indoor garden. It's a great idea. My wife and children both are absolutely head over heels for plants. Indoor plants, succulents, monstera, snake plant, you name it. If it's growing green and adding oxygen to the air, they want it in a pot in the house. [00:14:38] Speaker A: Yeah, my wife does, too. And the funny thing about living here in the Pacific Northwest is we don't get a ton of sun, so you have to make areas inside your home that facilitate putting your plants where they can actually grow. [00:14:56] Speaker B: Right. Where they can get the most sunlight. Yeah. [00:14:59] Speaker A: So we know, funny thing, Tony and I, we did a video building a plant holder. [00:15:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:05] Speaker A: It's like this square, rectangular, made out of cedar. We made it out of just a few fence boards and with some hooks and some chains. And it hangs from the ceiling, and you put your plants in it, and it's for, like, those dangling plants. Like, not monstera, but the climbing ones are not the climb that dangle over the side. [00:15:25] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. [00:15:26] Speaker A: The technical term for those, there's lots. [00:15:29] Speaker B: Of climatis is a dangly thing, unless it's climbing up a trellis. [00:15:34] Speaker A: Can you grow that inside? [00:15:36] Speaker B: Absolutely. You can grow anything inside, right? As long as it's got water and sunlight. [00:15:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess not. You know who we need to ask is Erin. [00:15:43] Speaker B: Erin. She knows all that stuff. Or we can just grab her book. [00:15:46] Speaker A: I know she gave us a book. [00:15:47] Speaker B: How to raise a plant and make it. Love you back. Yeah. [00:15:50] Speaker A: She wrote that book. [00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah, she did. [00:15:52] Speaker A: We should have her back on the show because she's got a lot of good tips on how to raise your indoor plants. [00:16:00] Speaker B: Yes. Her thumbs are very green. [00:16:03] Speaker A: Green. [00:16:03] Speaker B: She's very green thumbs. [00:16:05] Speaker A: All right, the next one on the list is to build a DIY headboard. I've done this, actually, we've both done this recently. We built a headboard for a friend of ours. [00:16:17] Speaker B: Yeah, we did. [00:16:18] Speaker A: That video will be coming out soon, but we built it with a french cleat system to where we hung an angled piece of wood on the wall and we ripped it at a 45 degree angle. So we put one piece on the wall, and we put the other piece on our headboard that we built. And you were able to hang it as a french cleat on the wall. And it's awesome. [00:16:43] Speaker B: Yeah. In that instance, of course, you have to add another piece of that same material down at the bottom or maybe one in each corner so that it sits flush up against the wall right when it's hanging on the cleat. But it absolutely worked out great. It's a beautiful little artistic headboard. Yeah. [00:17:04] Speaker A: I mean, I built my very first headboard after I was married, and I just took a piece of plywood, CDX, three quarter inch CDX plywood, did the french cleat on the back, and I got foam, put foam on it, and then wrapped fabric. I went and got some nice fabric that my wife liked. We wrapped it around it and then stapled it to the back. And you hung it on the wall, and it looked great. [00:17:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:27] Speaker A: I mean, you would never know that I built that thing in the garage. [00:17:32] Speaker B: I love that handcrafted wall art. We talked a little bit about wall art earlier. It's kind of a subjective thing, right? [00:17:41] Speaker A: Totally. [00:17:42] Speaker B: Whether you're. I'll tell you. Here's a funny story. My father in law. My father in law used to make these little Christmas presents for his grandchildren, and what he would do is he would make a stool, or he would make a puzzle or whatever it was, but inevitably, it had their name, and he would scroll, saw the letters of their name out. And then when he was done with that, he would have this piece of wood that he had just cut a bunch of letters out of. He would cut that piece of wood up into a bunch of little tiny pieces and then place them randomly on, like, an eight by ten piece of plywood and paint them all different colors and then frame it. [00:18:31] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:18:31] Speaker B: And hand it out as abstract art. Yeah. [00:18:35] Speaker A: Sounds kind of cool. [00:18:36] Speaker B: I still have one of those hanging on my wall still today, which is very funny. [00:18:41] Speaker A: I actually have a piece that your grandfather in law built. It was a whale puzzle. [00:18:48] Speaker B: That's right. [00:18:49] Speaker A: Like a whale puzzle. That's right. That was cut out of whatever piece of cedar in the shape of a whale. And then he cut it in with probably a scroll saw, I imagine, into like. So it's all a bunch of puzzle pieces that they fit together, but as whole. It looks like a classic Moby Dick whale. [00:19:07] Speaker B: Yeah. Big old, big bodied little tail. [00:19:10] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:19:11] Speaker B: Yeah, he did a lot of that. A lot of craftsman, fun type craftsman project. Yeah. [00:19:17] Speaker A: It's very cool. Another one to do is string art. You've seen this? [00:19:22] Speaker B: No. [00:19:23] Speaker A: String art. [00:19:24] Speaker B: Oh, actually, I have. Yeah. So you take nails, put them in a. Yep. [00:19:28] Speaker A: And then run thread, probably thread, not string, but like a nice thread. And wrap it around. Wrap it around. Wrap it around till you get an image. [00:19:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel like the ones that I've seen most commonly have been an outline of the state of Oregon. Of course, because we're in Oregon, so that seems to be very popular. That's a very cool thing to make. Not difficult. I think getting the finished nails in at the same height all the way around probably would be the hardest thing to do. [00:19:58] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:19:58] Speaker B: Draw it out and then just put nails an 8th of an inch apart. And then weave over that with some thread or string. That would be a cool project. [00:20:07] Speaker A: Totally. I think those look really good. Next one on the list is to make a personalized photo wall. If you've got an area in your home that's bare, like in our house, we have our hallway that goes down the side of our house. And then the bedrooms are at the end of that. A lot of people have that layout. We went out and got just a bunch of frames with random. [00:20:32] Speaker B: Three random sizes. [00:20:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, random sizes. [00:20:34] Speaker B: Multiple pictures. Yeah. [00:20:35] Speaker A: With single picture, five x sevens, four x threes, whatever. You got eight by tens. [00:20:40] Speaker B: All the same color. Probably. [00:20:42] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And we just got all of our favorite pictures printed. We stuck them in there and hung it on the wall in kind of like a random pattern. It looks cool. And every time you walk by it, you can kind of look and see your history. [00:20:58] Speaker B: I was actually having this idea just recently, specifically about photos that we have taken. You know how you go on a vacation? Of course you guys go to Disneyland a lot. Go to Disneyland. And then you come back and you've taken a hundred thousand pictures, but one is your favorite. I can remember right now. Bobby and I went to Disneyland with you and your family. And on this one hot, random Tuesday, we were in California adventure. And I was standing next to you. You had Isaac on your shoulders, and you were both kind of staring off into space. I think he might have been eating an ice cream cone. And I took this sort of candid picture of the two of you guys. It's been my favorite picture ever since. I have it on my phone still today. Absolutely love that picture. I think that I have some iconic pictures, things that remind me of a specific vacation or a specific trip that we took. And not more than one picture from the same trip, different ones. Like a picture of me standing in front of the world's largest ball of yarn or whatever it is. And then you accomplish two things. You put your favorite picture up on the wall that you and your sweetie love, but you're also posting individual memories of individual vacations or trips or iconic moments in your past. I think that's a really good idea. [00:22:29] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, you think about pictures in general. It seems like a lot of people have gone away from that with the digital age, the digital cameras, the camera that you carry in your pocket every day on your phone. [00:22:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:45] Speaker A: You have all of these pictures at your fingertips. And the idea of printing pictures now and putting them in frames kind of seems like an old timey thing. Old fashioned. I feel like a lot of people have gotten away from that. [00:23:00] Speaker B: I assure you it is not old fashioned. It is great to come around the corner in the house and see those memories. [00:23:05] Speaker A: I agree. That's what I'm saying. [00:23:06] Speaker B: And I think it's physically printed. I really like the idea of having multiple sizes. And don't be afraid to get your favorite. Favorite. Make it a big 111 x 17, or even bigger, 18 by 24. If it's your favorite picture, splurge a little bit. You can spend $10 or $15 to have a picture printed. If you love the picture. [00:23:30] Speaker A: There's so many services out there that you can get pictures printed. Costco. [00:23:35] Speaker B: It's a really good tip. [00:23:36] Speaker A: We used to go to Costco. [00:23:37] Speaker B: It is built in closet organizer. You know about this? [00:23:41] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. You just did it. [00:23:42] Speaker B: I actually did just do this. But I took some cues from your page because I was able to help you with your closet organizer some years ago. [00:23:51] Speaker A: What I did for my wife, and I'll throw out a couple tips here, is to do a closet organizer professionally. You can either pay to have somebody design it, and then they give you the custom pieces, and then you put it together, they either come out, do it like California closets, they'll come out and install it. It's super expensive. I'm just going to say that. [00:24:12] Speaker B: Yes, you're right. [00:24:13] Speaker A: I'm a diyer. And anything that costs more than twice of what the material would cost is too expensive for me. [00:24:19] Speaker B: Right? Especially if you're capable of doing it 100%. [00:24:23] Speaker A: Like, if I can go out and buy the materials for $500, I'm not going to pay someone $5,000 for that. [00:24:29] Speaker B: Right? [00:24:30] Speaker A: So what I did was I got all the material. We built this closet with shelving, with racks, double clothing racks, and the whole closet is hers. As a matter of fact, our master bedroom was so large, we could afford to take one entire wall that was 10ft wide, 10ft long and I took almost 3ft of space by ten foot, 30 sqft. Just took it away from the bedroom because it was just too much space. It was wasted space. [00:25:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:04] Speaker A: And the closet was so small. I built her her own. [00:25:08] Speaker B: You evened the odds a little bit. Yeah. [00:25:10] Speaker A: And built it right into the room. And then built that closet in there. Sliding doors. And the one thing that I did that she absolutely loves is I put a four foot long light on the inside of the closet. So when you open it up the closet, you flip that light on and it illuminates literally everything in the closet. [00:25:36] Speaker B: Love that. [00:25:39] Speaker A: If you don't have a light on the inside. Highly recommend doing that. [00:25:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Very good. Very good tip. We did just finish, obviously, framing out the entire interior of our closet. It took a long time to come up with the design that we wanted. We looked at Pinterest pages after page after post after pin after pin after pin. And we went to closet organizer places. Closets, closets, closets, closets, took screenshots off of their website or whatever in order to. And then we finally found. This is so weird. We found one inspirational photo that said, this is the closet that we want. Yeah. [00:26:24] Speaker A: Because you've made a huge closet. [00:26:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Really big. [00:26:29] Speaker A: That's the inspiration. Right. [00:26:30] Speaker B: That's the inspirational photo. And then from that photo, we were able to result in that closet. [00:26:39] Speaker A: Very nice. [00:26:40] Speaker B: Which turned out to be really good. So, I mean, it was everything that we wanted it to be. We used the least expensive material, which is MDF. It's something that needs to be painted. It can't be stained. You can't get that rich stained wood. Yeah. But we did buy enough in order to double up the shelves and double up the uprights, which made everything look like it was built out of two by instead of one buy. And then we caulked those gaps and paint that whole thing and it came out looking like absolute million bucks. [00:27:14] Speaker A: Yes, I agree. Just those pictures look great. [00:27:18] Speaker B: It turned out better than I thought I had in me, if I'm being honest with you. [00:27:23] Speaker A: What is the overall square footage of that closet? [00:27:26] Speaker B: It's six x twelve. So you do the math. 70 plus 1282. 82 sqft. [00:27:37] Speaker A: That's nice. That's really 72. [00:27:40] Speaker B: 72 by twelve. Oh, we knew that. 72. Six by twelve. Of course, 72. [00:27:47] Speaker A: That's a really good size closet. [00:27:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it turned out really good. Very happy with it. Here's a little tip. We used powder coated steel closet rods and the hangers, plastic hangers and metal hangers glide slide right across that and in addition to that, they don't have to be supported every 24 inches, every 48 inches, they have to be supported. [00:28:11] Speaker A: Nice. [00:28:11] Speaker B: Where did you get that? We got it at Ace hardware. Oh, nice. Ace hardware had it. There's a manufacturer out there that makes that product, and we were really glad to have it. [00:28:22] Speaker A: Is it round or is it that oblong shape? [00:28:25] Speaker B: It's round. Nice. It's inch and a quarter instead of inch and 516, which is what we would be used to. But they sold the closet Rod holders. What do they call those cups? Yeah. Nice. It turned out really good. Absolutely love it. It's very strong and you can do it yourself. You just got to jump in there and get it done. And I'll tell you what, the devil's in the details. You can get it all framed out, but if you don't take the time to properly caulk and paint it, it's just not going to look finished. [00:28:59] Speaker A: Absolutely professional. Yeah, well, that's with any DIY project. Devil's in the details. [00:29:04] Speaker B: Absolutely. You got to make a commitment to finish it. [00:29:08] Speaker A: All right, here's one for all the guys out there. If you've got a wife that loves to do makeup, make her a DIY vanity. Put a bedroom in your bedroom or wherever you've got room with a little table or a desk, and build that vanity, the classic vanity mirror with the lights all the way around it. [00:29:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:29] Speaker A: I know some people that have done that, and their wives absolutely love it. [00:29:34] Speaker B: Interesting. Very interesting. Yeah. [00:29:36] Speaker A: And it's not terribly difficult. You go get yourself either a desk or you make a desk with lots of little storage for all of the things and potions and makeup and all the stuff. [00:29:47] Speaker B: Potions, yeah. [00:29:49] Speaker A: Elixirs. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Yeah. That sounds like a good project. Absolutely. That's a great project. [00:29:54] Speaker A: That's a great one to spring on her for Valentine's Day. [00:29:57] Speaker B: Customized coffee or tea station. Hey, I tackled this about. [00:30:00] Speaker A: I know I put that on there just for you. [00:30:01] Speaker B: I tackled this about 15 years ago, was one of my first delves into making a sort of piece of furniture. And I own that Corey still at my house. And I look at it now and I think, man, what was I doing? Was I blind in one eye and had one arm and a cast or what? Yeah. The quality of my workmanship 15 years ago is not what it is today, and that is a testament to doing the work. [00:30:34] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you learned if you're a. [00:30:36] Speaker B: Diyer, the more you do, the better you'll do. And you've got to just be willing to jump in there and get it done. [00:30:45] Speaker A: I agree. Next one on the list, Tony, is to make. And I don't know if you've ever heard of this, but a blanket ladder, have you ever seen one of those? [00:30:54] Speaker B: Is that a ladder out of blankets? No, that doesn't sound very strong to me. [00:30:59] Speaker A: Imagine taking a step ladder, like a wooden stepladder, and just leaning against the wall. [00:31:05] Speaker B: Okay. [00:31:06] Speaker A: And then just folding your blankets and then storing them, wrapping them over the rungs of the ladder. [00:31:14] Speaker B: Interesting. [00:31:16] Speaker A: I've seen it several times. I think it's the coolest thing, especially during the months of February. [00:31:22] Speaker B: And it looks good. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Always cold. And what do you want to do? Grab a blanket. [00:31:26] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:26] Speaker A: Snuggle on the couch with your wife. [00:31:28] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. We have ours in a little container next to the tv stand. Like a little basket. We have ours in a basket. [00:31:38] Speaker A: A basket. [00:31:39] Speaker B: But a blanket ladder sounds pretty cool. You've seen this in action? [00:31:44] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, 100%. You can buy, like, vintage old wooden ladders. Like, just vintage. [00:31:51] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. Not the kind that has two sides. [00:31:54] Speaker A: That you only need one. [00:31:56] Speaker B: You just lean up against. [00:31:57] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. But if you can't find one, sometimes those are hard to find because they're in high demand. Any of that vintage stuff. So you can make your own ladder. [00:32:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great idea. [00:32:06] Speaker A: Just some two by twos and full round, whatever. [00:32:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:09] Speaker A: And paint it up. [00:32:12] Speaker B: Great idea. [00:32:12] Speaker A: Lean against. [00:32:13] Speaker B: I like it. I think I might check that out. [00:32:15] Speaker A: All right. The last one I put on the list, Tony, and I don't know if you've got any others, but now might be the time. We just did a show about this smart home. Upgrade your house with some smart voice activated Siri, Alexa, whatever you want to use, and automate some romantic scenes. [00:32:36] Speaker B: It's a good idea. Start with dimmer switches. Yes. Because you can't do what you want to do unless you have dimmer switches. And this is also important. If you buy a dimmer switch, buy a bulb that works with a dimmer switch. [00:32:48] Speaker A: Yes. [00:32:49] Speaker B: There are led bulbs out there that will not dim, and you'll just find yourself not understanding why it's not working well. [00:32:55] Speaker A: And there are dimmer switches specifically designed for led bulbs, and there are dimmer switches specifically designed for incandescent bulbs. So if you have an incandescent dimmer and you automatically just say, well, I'm. [00:33:09] Speaker B: Going to go buy an led bulb. [00:33:10] Speaker A: LEd bulb. A dimmable led bulb. [00:33:12] Speaker B: It won't necessarily work. [00:33:14] Speaker A: Not necessarily. [00:33:15] Speaker B: Yeah. That's a good thing to keep note of. I know that we just added a couple of dimmers at my house and we did buy bulbs that worked with the switches. And it is amazing when it works the way it's supposed to. [00:33:28] Speaker A: I'll tell you one way to know is if, say, you dim it all the way down and the light flickers or makes a weird buzzing sound. Yeah. Have you ever experienced. [00:33:40] Speaker B: Absolutely, yeah. [00:33:41] Speaker A: That means that that particular dimmer switch might not be compatible with light bulb. With the light bulb. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Yeah. That was my first attempt at a dimmer and I found out that I did not have compatible parts. [00:33:58] Speaker A: Here's another one back to the drawing board. If you hook it all up, you get it all wired in and you turn the switch off, but yet the bulb stays on very dimly and just never turns off. That's another sign of an incompatible switch light combo. So talk to a professional, get the stuff that actually works with each other. And they're all very picky because those led bulbs and fixtures are digital. They use a lot of technology in there. And the same thing goes for the switch. So if you talk to the right person at the electrical store, they'll get you what you need. So anyway, there you go. There's a small list of items that you can do around your home or around your house, I should say your hoos. Your hoos. [00:34:52] Speaker B: That's a great list. I like that. There's some very good things in there to do for your honey or for your sweetie or for your vella. I guarantee that one of those items on that list is bound to make your most important person happier. Absolutely. [00:35:11] Speaker A: It's better than a card. [00:35:12] Speaker B: It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. [00:35:15] Speaker A: All right, well, that's all we got. [00:35:17] Speaker B: Awesome. Thanks so much for tuning in. We hope you got something that you can use today. If you want to catch another podcast of ours and you aren't sure where to get it, you can get that on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google podcast or Apple Podcast? Apple podcast. [00:35:33] Speaker A: All of them? [00:35:34] Speaker B: Yep. [00:35:35] Speaker A: All right. Well, thanks again. We'll see you next week.