My Beautiful New Closet Door

Aug 5, 2012 by Ben

I’ve been wanting to show this one off for a while, but my hard drive crashed and took all of my files with it so its taken me a couple weeks to get a new hard drive installed and all my files backed up.  But with that all behind me I can finally show off my latest project that I completed.

This is our hall closet and it used to have a terribly ugly closet door.  I had always wanted to put something else in there, but never knew what.  Then I got an idea to do a hanging style barn door and thus this project came to be.

I wanted to use reclaimed wood as I wanted an older look to it.  All of the wood was from old fences and I got it for free from a fencing company that was just throwing it way.

My dad was down for a visit so he helped me build the door.  I am also very lucky and have a neighbor that has all the woodworking tools that I don’t have.  Here I am planing the boards.

Here are all the pieces of the frame, railing and hangers being painted.  I was going to buy the hardware to hang the door, but then I looked at the prices.

The prices for a door like this run around $1000 and up.  The price just for the hangers start at $300 and up.  So I built my own.

So all in total the door cost be about $50 but a lot of time cleaning up the old wood boards.  But it came out beyond awesome and I love looking at it every time I walk down the hallway.

So there is my new door.  I’m very proud to show it off and very happy with how it came out.

Ben…

 

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13 DIY projects to re-use shipping pallets

Mar 31, 2011 by Ben

I love re-using things to build other things, so this is right up my alley.  Webecoist has a post showing 13 DIY projects from used pallets.

My favorite are these rolling crates, but the accent wall is also very cool.

Check out all 13 at  WebEcoist

Ben…

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Fix it…

Mar 28, 2011 by Ben

I’m a big fixer.   I fix things.  All sorts of things.   Cars, computers, camping gear, I always try to fix something before getting rid of it.  I recently found the Fixers Collective and I’m in love with the idea and wish it was in my area.

From their site:

Fixers’ Collective is a social experiment in improvisational fixing and mending

They get together each week and teach/help others fix their items.  How great is that?  I love the idea of teaching others the lost art of fixing.  Today everyone throws away their stuff just to replace it when they could be saving a lot of $$$ to simply fix the item.   This keeps these items out of the landfills and money in your pocket.  Brilliant.  If you are in the NY area, do check them out.

Ben…

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Self-Repair Manifesto

Nov 11, 2010 by Ben

I’m a consummate DIY kind of person.  If I had cable, I’d watch HGTV 24/7 (part of the reason why I don’t have cable).

I love to fix things.  I love to take them apart, see how they work and put them back together working as they did or better.

Its why I drive an old truck with over a half a million miles on it.  Its why I’ve remodeled every room of my house.  Its what I do.

That is why I loved when I saw the Repair Manifesto.

Here are the basic tenets of the Repair Manifesto:

• Repair is better than recycling.

Seriously, why not fix the one thing instead of recycling it and having to get a new one, thus creating two things?

• Repair saves the planet.

See above

• Repair saves you money.

This one might be my favorite.  Why buy a new lawn mower when I can fix the one I have for a few bucks on a new part?

• Repair teaches engineering.

No, this one is my favorite.  I love just trying to figure it out.  And if I can’t, the item is still broken and I’m no worse off.

• If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it.

This one is a big one with today’s new electronics and such.  I bought it, I took it home, I should be able to open it up and fix it without voiding any fancy sticker warranties.

Take a look at the manifesto and next time something breaks, check the warranty first, but then if you can, dig it and see if you can fix it.  You just may learn a thing or two and save yourself some cash in the process.

Ben…

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