ToolGirl

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Mag's DVDs and Free Plans

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Contact Mag: mag@toolgirl.com

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What to Look for in a Plumber

We produced a movie about plumbers for HomeStars, the online site where people review their contractors.  Okay, it's not a whole movie, it's more of a short.  And it's full of passion.   Oh, and I composed the musical score (in GarageBand) as a tribute to the company's owner, who's Scottish by birth.  See what you think, and I dare you not to tap your foot in time with the Scottish/Cuban/Celtic musical stylings.

Credit to:

Sue Mitchell - editing

Daniel Hunter - camera

Tables and Counters Made from Books

Got books?  Then this project has to appeal to your sensibilities.  Choose the tomes you're not going to want to read again and have at it.  See more cool book tables from the lovely Laura Fenton over at AOL Home.

 

Brilliant Way to Display Old Photos without Creating Clutter

I spend a little time every week enjoying human ingenuity on the web. 

This is a cool project if you have vertical blinds and a burgeoning photo collection. 

So Many Questions

I've been answering lots of questions over the years but only one person benefits at a time. 

So I'm trying out this new service that lets me answer any question so everyone can see it.  Whether you're asking about Avonlea, woodworking, tools or my biography of Red Green, let 'er rip.  You have to type your question into the box below to enable me to answer it at FormSpring.  Thanks.

You can see all of the questions and answers at this location: http://www.formspring.me/magruffman

Very Groovy Site for Us Toolish Types - Curbly DIY Design Community

via www.curbly.com

Many tantalizing projects at this well-executed site. Quirky and delicious. OH, you'll have fun.

Swine of the Times - Why a healthy immune system starts at the hardware store

Here's a new article I wrote about reducing your chances of getting Swine Flu or any other winter malady.  It's a little more serious than usual, but I still got a couple of jokes in.

ToolGirl in the News Thanks to Journalist Alex Newman

Such a nice article in The Star today.  Thanks to Alex Newman for pulling so many crazy details together and making me sound like I have a coherent plan in life!

Gifts for Handy AND Unhandy People

If you're looking for those wacky yet awesome gifts I brought in to Breakfast Television this morning you'll find 'em online at HomeStars.

See Mag's list at HomeStars

Sugru: Cool New Polymer Fixes and Sticks to Pretty Much Everything

via www.boingboing.net

Okay, this is the mind-blowing plasticoid compound I've been waiting for ever since I busted my first pair of sunglasses in '86.

I'm ordering some Sugru to try.  It looks like it has a pretty short working time, but I'm guessing it could replace duct tape as the adhesive device of choice for the modern handyperson.

Holiday Cheer for Toronto Area Contractors

Join the HomeStars.com team for some holiday cheer!  I'm hosting this shindig and it's going to be a fabulous party.  Plus we have some fantastic giveaways from your favourite tool manufacturers including Stanley, Irwin, DeWALT and Ryobi - and great music, bar food and drinks...

via www.pingg.com

DIY Network chooses winner of "Stud Finder 2009" Contest

via www.metro.us

Kayleen McCabe, America's next home improvement star, will get her own show on the DIY Network as a result of winning the "Stud Finder" contest (first female to win in the history of the contest!).

Go, baby!

Pretty Darn Handy Online Calculators (free) for Home Improvement

via www.diy.com

It never hurts to calculate.

Intuitive guesses are way more fun.

But it never hurts to do the actual math, just in case your intuition is offish that day.

By the way, paint is the only calculation that is usually bogus, even with a calculator, because everyone spreads paint differently. Some of us are generous, others parsimonious.

Paint is the wild child of impulse and intellect. So don't say I didn't warn you.

Don't Forget to Add Gas Stabilizer to Your Lawnmower

Like all bras, which go grey with neglect and lose their elasticity, lawnmowers languish in the absence of regular maintenance.  So if you’re thinking of putting your lawnmower away for winter without giving that baby some love, think again.

For one thing, gasoline isn’t stable and should be used within 30 days of purchase.  Otherwise it gets gummy and won't burn. 

 

If you’ve got leftover gasoline in your portable fuel container, either add it to your car's gas tank or mix some gasoline stabilizer into it; the stabilizer prevents gas from breaking down and losing volatility over the winter, at which point that lame old fuel won’t spark any engine known to man. 

If you can't drain or burn off the rest of the fuel in your lawnmower tank before you store it, you can also add gas stabilizer to any fuel remaining in the tank. 

End of lecture.  Now go and enjoy winter without a single day of lawn mowing in it.

 

Wall Desk

via www.skiltools.com

I subscribe to the Skil newsletter. Sometimes it has killer-cool projects. This wall desk is one of 'em.

The idea is great and the design (downloadable as a free PDF) looks pretty easy. I haven't tried it myself but I may modify it to use as a countertop computer cabinet in the kitchen. I gotta do something. There are cords everywhere and it looks kinda ooogly.

50% of Homeowners with Garages Can't Even Park in There; Here's Why

This is a 4-minute story that took two days to shoot, but you'll quickly see how a few simple tools and some chick-energy can transform a grotty looking garage into a freakishly tidy, efficient work space. 

I want to use this stuff in my sewing room, my office and inside some of my closet doors.  Because vertical storage rocks.

Saying Goodbye to Norm Abram and his New Yankee Workshop - Fine Homebuilding

via www.finehomebuilding.com

BREAKING NEWS: It's the end of an era. Norm is leaving the airwaves. I wonder what's behind the decision - network market share, or did Norm want to retire?  We'll miss him dearly. 

Natural Root Stand for iPod

via www.etsy.com

This is just the kind of weird-ass gorgeousness I love to see in woodworking. Substrata also does beautiful wooden iPhone cases (without the psycho root action).

Design*Sponge » henrique oliveira

via www.designspongeonline.com

This guy is an insanely inspiring artist. What a cool thing to do with busted, peely, scrappy wood. My fave is the curly worm-hole fort. And the giant reconstituted tree trunk.

Vote for Design Egregiousness in Home Depot's Fall Makeover Contest

 

Thanks to ToolGirl Maureen Rice who sent me word of this ongoing Home Depot event,  to which she submitted her garish-beyond-belief bathroom as a late entry. 

Home Depot is giving away thousands of dollars in gift cards to the Canadian homeowner with the most sympathy-inducing photo of their home renovation needs.  You can vote online here.  Have fun.  Some of these scenarios are epic.  And Maureen's bathroom is right up there with stick-on linoleum tiles festooning the walls.  Hope she gets a ton of votes.

Wisteria and a Boring Fence

In a far corner of our property stood the biggest, chunkiest, blankest piece of 10-foot fence you ever did see.  At the west end of it grows a wisteria, stymied by a lack of handholds for its curly, ambitious tendrils.

So this weekend I took a heap of deadfall and recently-trimmed limbs and applied it to the bland pressure-treated fence using 3-1/2 inch screws.  Then I wove fresh, still-leafy branches horizontally through the vertical limbs to create the un-boring texture of wattle-and-daub without the daub.

Some would say I made the fence uglier, but they will need to rethink their opinions in May when the wisteria has something to clamber over in the riotous spirit of Spring.

Got a SIGG Bottle? Trade It In Before October 31st!

(Photo) On the left, my new OtterBottle.  On the right, my disgraced SIGG.

If you've got a SIGG water bottle you may have noticed the recent fracas about BPA leaching from the bottle's liner.  BPA stands for Bisphenol A.  In some U.S. studies it's been linked with early-onset puberty, prostate and breast cancers, as well as infertility in animals.  Ick.

I have a SIGG bottle with the old liner, so I'm taking advantage of their mostly free (you pay to ship your existing bottle back to SIGG) exchange program.  SIGG's new bottles have polyester liners.  Nothing wrong with polyester.  So far anyway.

Until I can taste-drive my new SIGG bottle, I've switched to a different product that I LOVE.  I'm using a liner-free stainless steel bottle. The water tastes sweet and delicious, even after a day or two in the stainless steel chamber.  Disclosure: A few months ago (before the SIGG crisis) OtterBottle's publicist sent me a complimentary sample of the .75-litre OtterBottle. That's how I found out about them.

My OtterBottle was invented and manufactured by a Canadian woman, Shannon Andrukow, an activist and environmentalist who couldn't find a decent BPA-free bottle a few years ago. 

So she created her own company OtterBottle Inc. to introduce a portable water container that was pure, healthy and cool.  (The name was inspired by the otter, a bright, elegant little water animal.) 

I now carry my Otterbottle on all of my car trips, plane trips, trips to the barn and any time I'm building stuff in my workshop.  Because the water tastes so sweet and not plastic-y, it encourages me to drink more water.  (Normally I avoid water.)

Also, the OtterBottle's compact size and shape is a great fit for me.  The SIGG bottle is a bit big for my purse and the circumference is slightly larger than comfortable for smaller hands.

Just saying; If you want to carry fresh water with you, why not do it safely, stylishly and Canadian-ly? 

A Canadian ToolGirl is Going to Mexico on CityTV, Baby

Okay.  A ToolGirl definitely has to win this.

What exactly are ToolGirls good at it?  Well, everything.  But especially dreaming.

So the spoils of this CityTV contest --- which will send you and 3 of your favourite people (2 rooms, baby) to hang out for a week at Mexico's drop-dead gorgeous Azul Beach Hotel and eat gourmet foods, drink cocktails and bask in “Canopy Beach Beds” admiring the surf --- is surely worth entering. And it’s even courtesy of (sing it with me) iTravel2000.com.

What do you have to do to qualify? Oh, taste the deliciousness. 

Simply build a model of your ‘dream home’ with popsicle sticks, particle board, foam-core, plywood, sugar cubes or whatever you have in your drawers.  Then snap a photo of your model and send it to CityTV (easy form and rules). 

There’s only a week left.  Citytv launched this online contest on October 2nd to encourage Canadian families (or 'GROUP of FRIENDS' if you haven’t procreated yet) to spend time together by building a small-scale version of their "Extreme Dream Home."

The contest was created because, in case you hadn’t noticed, CityTV is now running Extreme Home Makeover, so they’re letting you in on the camaraderie, speed, fun and crying of that very show. 

High-profile Canadian designers Ramsin Khachi, Janette Ewen and Samantha Sannella, who are participating as judges, unveiled their own designs. 

Here's an example: Janette Ewen's modular aquarium house

Can you one-up a designer?  (To be fair, the designers didn’t get a trip to Mexico for their trouble.  But you will.)

The winning entry will be announced on www.Citytv.com on November 12, 2009.  I’m pulling for you.

BeJane.com - Web Portal for Women's DIY

BeJane.com has been around for a number of years and it's been going through some deep foundational changes lately.  I don't know what they've got up their sleeves, but it looks thoughtful and creative. 

If you're into shouldering your own home improvements, it might be a good time to sign up for their newsletter and let the projects roll.

By the way, here are some encouraging factoids from their most recent newsletter (today):

Singe female homeowners are estimated to nearly double from 17 million in 2005 to 32 million in 2010
Single women own nearly 1 in 4 homes in the US while single men own 1 in 8
Women drive 80% of purchases in the home
Women make 61%+ of all Home Improvement purchases in the US
Nearly 10.4 million firms are owned by women (50% or more), employing more than 12.8 million people, and generating $1.9 trillion in sales.

So hey, if you've been wanting to whoop it up and yell, "Chicks rule!", today would be a good day.

Breakfast Television with the Darling Dina

Every so often I get to do a morning with the high-spirited crew of Breakfast Television and I always have a blast with Dina.  She's quirky, fearless and in-the-moment.  Hence the turkey gobbling thing.  She got me to do it twice.  I can't believe I didn't make her do it too.  Dang.

(If you click on the photo it'll take you to the video)

Nice Article About the Emotions of Home Ownership