Hanging Wallpaper Made Easy

Hanging wallpaper, or vinyl in some cases, is one of those DIY jobs that make some DIYers cringe with nausea. Why? Not because of the smell of the wallpaper paste. Usually, it's from a past frustrating experience.

Getting a grip on this job is like learning to tape and float drywall. What it really takes is patience. The main points, which are outlined in detail in this article on properly hanging wallpaper are straightforward.

The problems that most people have are really easy to solve. For example, I can't tell you the number of comments I've gotten asking why the job got botched.

The Importance of Using a Plumb Bob

Me: "And what tool or method did you use to plumb the first drop?"
DIYer: "Tool?"

See where I'm going with this? If the first drop is off, even by 1/8" from top to bottom, you'll never recover if the paper you're working with has a pattern. If anything, it'll get worse as you go along.

Task Lighting and Level Viewing

More experience paper hangers develop almost what seems a sixth sense for lining up the pattern. But matching the pattern can be a challenge for novices. On many patterns, the repetitions are not so obvious, and in fact what you thought was correct alignment at first glance turns out not to be so.

It's a visual thing. The first trick is to have proper work lighting. Natural sunlight seems to work best for me. That's not always practical. On my contract jobs, this twin work light has been the best I've found. In fact, I use it in my home wood shop.


Secondly, you need to looking at the seam horizontally. So much can change when you look at an angle. It's a real sinking feeling to get a whole wall done, step back to admire it, and realize, holy flying crap! It looked good up close! What happened??

The moral of the story is: have patience, go slow, and step back and check your work often.

Project Medicine Cabinet

That's right, a recessed medicine cabinet. I've been working on it a hour or so a day for a while and the end is near.

There is a reason why I always scratch my head when woodworking project plans say, "one weekend," or "one day". The fact of the issue is that the majority of time is not-work time. This is time waiting for glue or finish or homemade wood putty to dry.

Sanding always takes its temporal toll too.

Biscuit Joints Beat Dowels

Joinery is one of my favorite aspects of woodworking. About two years ago I made the leap from dowels to biscuits. Wow.

What a difference in accuracy. On the medicine cabinet I used Porter Cable biscuits on the trim face and the door. All I lack now is finishing and hanging the door and cutting and installing the shelves.

Plexiglas Shelving

I ended up opting for Plexiglas shelves (actually a non-brand name version). Why? For one thing, it looks sleek. For another thing, it's a good strength vs thickness compromise. Wood just uses too much valuable real estate.



Wood. Choose Wisely.

I went with poplar for the body but red oak for the face and door frame. For the door face and the back parts, I used luan (also called lauan) plywood. Hey, it's cheap and looks good too!

Is it just me or has the price of red oak gone down at Home Depot? Maybe there's a downtick in the home remodeling market and they're trying to boost sales?

Anyway, I'll post an article when I finish the cabinet. As for the plans, I'm toying with the idea of making the plans into an ebook and offering it as a sign-up gift for subscribing to my newsletter. Any takers?

How to Become a Millionaire Using the Internet

Work from home! Automatic cash machine! Be a millionaire Hawaii beach bum! Turnkey business! We've all heard it. Don't be a bumpkin, folks; the people making the big bucks passively are the ones you hear in the radio ads.

Not to say that you can't make money on the internet; you can. That's the good news. But here's the catch: like everything else, it's a lot of hard work. How do I know? Because I make a living this way and I work seven days a week.

Maybe in a few years I can slack off, but not yet. So how's it done? Well, since it's the internet (thanks for inventing it, Al Gore!), you need high-speed access. Then you need to build your own website with tools like DreamTemplate, use someone else's (like Ebay), or provide content for other people's sites.

You can make money on your site doing affiliate marketing for companies like shareasale.com.

So how does doing your own thing differ from buying a turnkey "business" from the scam artists? You have to stand out in the crowd by providing your own angle. The scam artists are selling the same internet store to as many suckers as they can. At a huge profit.

Want to see how I do it? Check out the content I provide for other sites at http://www.examiner.com/x-7913-Houston-Running-Fitness-Examiner where I write fitness articles and http://homerenorepair.suite101.com/ where I'm the feature writer for the home improvement topic.

And finally, to see the site I've built, just click on the banner below!

How to Touch Up Furniture

Do you have a piece of wood furniture or two that's got a few dings? Not quite enough to warrant the effort of stripping, puttying, sanding, and refinishing? Been there, done that. Well, there's an elegant solution that you can DIY in just a few moments (say, right before the company arrives)!

This little bit of touch-up magic comes in the form of a marker; it looks kind of like a magic marker and you can pick them up at most home improvement centers. It's nowhere as complicated as web design.


I know, it sounds lame, but it really does work. The brand I'm familiar with is Mohawk, which is a company under the same corporate umbrella where RustOleum resides. That says quality to me.

The real trick is in matching the shade. I learned how to do this when I was the Engineering supervisor at the Marriott in Houston's Medical Center where guests seem to get a sardonic pleasure in abusing furniture in ways they would never at home.

Don't even get me started about the damage done by the Hurricane Katrina refugees...



Anyhow, they only come in a certain number of shades. Here's the trick: swipe with a shade slightly darker than your finish and quickly wipe with a cloth. After wiping it'll be lighter than the marker says.Repeat with the swipe 'n wipe until you've got a match. Each swipe will get you closer. Using the chisel edge of the marker, you can even match grain patterns with practice.

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