Wow, it's been a little while since I did any home improvement -- Shannon and I have been out of town for two straight weekends, and we have long-anticipated visitors this weekend, so our plates have been a little full! But that also means that I've got a bunch of projects on-deck, including something a little ambitious for me: building a new wraparound desk into our wee little study. I've been playing around with designs in Illustrator for the past few days, and I figure I'll have my materials list ready in a few more and then get down to brass tacks (or wood ledger boards!).
In the mean time, I feel like Kevin Kelly has been rocking it with simplicity over at Cool Tools, with the speed square on Wednesday and the magnetic drive guide on Monday. (My confession: after his post on Monday, I bought that magnetic drive guide, had it shipped via Amazon Prime, and have used it a half-dozen times already. I honestly have no idea how I've lived without it for this past ten to twenty years of using a power drill.)
Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools site has another awesome equipment tip today that I feel the need to pass on: DemoBags. Made of tightly-woven plastic fiber, the bags are supposed to hold anything you throw at 'em, and withstand the abuse that's typical of demolition and renovation waste disposal -- which makes them perfect for the 400 to 500 pounds of broken-up concrete that I need to clear out from beneath our backyard deck. I ordered a batch of them from Absolute Home, and I'll let y'all know how they work out!
Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools highlights a tool, a non-contact voltage sensor, that I've found to be invaluable each time I try to figure out the maze of wiring that's tacked up to our basement joists. The one that the site features is the Fluke VoltAlert; when I was stocking up on new-homeowner tools, I went with the GB GVD-504A Circuit Alert, at less than half the price (and eligible for Amazon Prime or super-saver shipping). If you find yourself needing to work with electricity, it's a no-brainer that you need one of these in your toolbox.
