Budget website design – how to find it

Budget website design - The DIY Girl

My day job is designing websites for small business owners who don’t have bottomless pockets to have an internet presence. I believe every brick and mortar business needs a website these days. It’s become a requirement for a credible appearance to customers and if it does nothing else, it gives prospective customers your location and contact information. If you don’t have a store, it’s even more important. The site doesn’t have to be huge, but it needs to be current and well done. It will often be the first impression a prospective new customer has of you, so it needs to be a … Read more…

New media cabinet and TV wall mount

Having moved into a house with next to no storage I needed a big piece of furniture for the living room to store media, electronics, and other things. I lucked out and stumbled across this cabinet which is the base for a huge china hutch. It was very dark pine, 72″ across, weighed a ton, and cost $50. It may look great in this picture but it was badly beaten up with scrapes and gouges in the top and front that weren’t repairable in its current finish. This was okay since I wanted it to be white anyway. I filled the … Read more…

DIY Miter Saw Cart using Ana White plans

I’m not going to do a tutorial on how to build a DIY miter saw cart since Ana White provides some of the best plans and instructions on the internet. I ran across the miter saw cart evidently done by Lady Goats on her site and loved the idea. The one by Lady Goats is pictured below. Materials to make it Since the cart is constructed from one sheet of plywood I thought this was going to be a totally cheap way to have a cart. Then I was told rubber won’t last long in the Florida heat and I should get polyurethane wheels so … Read more…

Cleaning paint brushes and rejuvenating them with Murphy Oil Soap

Cleaning paint brushes and rejuvenating them - The DIY Girl

Just a quick post with a tip on cleaning paint brushes. Not quite sure why I tried it or if I read it somewhere, but after painting with a brush for 10 hours and finding a mess of dried latex paint on it I decided to let it soak overnight in Murphy oil soap. I didn’t even submerge it — I had a small rectangular plastic dish, coated up both sides of the brush with straight Murphy Oil Soap, and let it sit. When I walked by I squish the bristles to make sure the soap was thoroughly coating them. … Read more…

DIY Ottoman Tray for $27

After moving I decided to use my large ottoman as a coffee table so I needed a good size ottoman tray to put on it. I about went into cardiac arrest when I started finding large ones on-line for $80+. No way that was happening so I decided to make my own. This is a great beginner project due to its simplicity. A friend had loaned me a Kreg jig to try so I thought a DIY ottoman tray project might be the perfect test. The gray stain was also a test since I would like to use that on a few … Read more…

Water based poly over oil based stain — can you?

Water based poly over oil based stain - The DIY Girl

While finishing my new pine ottoman tray I was faced with a predicament: The only stain I liked was Minwax Wood Finish Classic Gray 271 and the only polyurethane I had was Minwax Water Based Wipe-On Poly. I really like the poly and wanted to use the stain/poly combination on several pieces so I had to find out if it would work. Research I found a post on DoItYourself.com that supposedly came from Minwax. It was about floors, but I figured if it worked on floors that take so much abuse, it would work on my tray. I received this response … Read more…

Cabinet hardware – great stuff at great price

Gliderite Cabinet Hardware - The DIY Girl

Being the frugal person that I am, I have been doing a lot of searching both online and in stores for a good deal on nice cabinet hardware for my bathrooms. Both bathrooms have builder’s grade cabinets and no hardware. I’m currently painting the cabinets so I’ll need the hardware when I’m finished. I’m also going to be building some shelves for the master bathroom that will have hooks, so I need a bunch of those too and store prices are ridiculous. I would like these projects to come in on budget. For the record I am NOT sponsored by … Read more…

Wall Anchors – my new favorites

wall-anchor-feature-The DIY Girl

I have recently had appallingly bad luck with wall anchors. I was hanging shelves in my sewing room and most of the wall anchors I tried were a complete disaster. I tried toggle bolts, molly bolts and some new contraption and they were all awful. My wall ended up looking like Swiss cheese from my failed attempts and left me with a lot of drywall to repair. All I want is an easy to use anchor that it strong enough to hold things and I can install with pinpoint accuracy so things end up level. I like level. Crooked makes me crazy. … Read more…

PVC dog cots – measurements for small dog cot

small pvc dog cot

I was approached by a reader to assist in coming up with measurements for a smaller dog cot for her dogs. Donna was kind enough to send pics of her puppies and the cots so I could post them. Aren’t they cute? [Show picture list] Donna built the PVC frame using 1″ pipe: the long sides of the PVC were cut 24″, the short side of the PVC were cut 18″. Donna told me that when assembled there was 22″ and 16″ of the PVC exposed between the corners so that had to be the width of the finished slings Donna told me the circumference of … Read more…

PVC Dog Cot Slings for sale – both sold

I have 2 dog cot slings for the large dog cots with PVC pipe sides that measure 32″ and 26″. One sling is khaki and the other in nutmeg. Both are made of 100% duck cloth and washable. I had someone contact me asking me to sew the slings for her – even nagged me over Memorial Day weekend about getting them done – and then refused to ever send payment. Sigh. Does this fall under “no good deed goes unpunished”? Due to this I am rescinding my offer to sew slings for people in the future. Each sling is … Read more…