DIY Woodworking, Home Improvement, and Art Projects

I was at my brother’s house over the weekend and we had one task – install 4 new recessed lights in the upper floor of his home that was built in the ’30s (I think.) This upper floor had some windows on either side of a long, narrowish central room. We needed to add some serious light in there to make it a more usable space. Basically when we asked ourselves how to install recessed lighting, we just turned to our dad, who has years and years of electrical experience, for both guidance and help on the actual install. So here’s the situation – our dad is the man, and that’s a thing that gets tossed around a lot – “oh, he’s the man”, etc., well, he really is, and he helped out in a huge way on this project.

Before I got there my brother, Dan, had done all the shopping, so we were ready to roll right away. I had a double-espresso in my belly and had also just scarfed down some breakfast burritos to fuel the long day of home improvement mania ahead. My eyes were wide, my camera was ready, and my laptop was open to start taking notes, and to get covered with ceiling-drywall dust!

My dad has been fiddling with electrons for a long time and he has this ‘magic bucket’ full of cool tools for electrical projects that pretty much goes wherever he goes. There are going to be pictures of the magic bucket later, so keep your peepers peeled. For this project you won’t need every single thing that he’s got in his kit, but here are the essentials that we used on this one. These links will go to Amazon and ToolBarn eventually because I love shopping at both of these places, I have ordered satisfactorily many times before, and you can pretty much find anything you’ll need.

Wire strippers
Wire cutters
Small and large phillips screwdriver
Small and large flat screwdriver
25′ tape measure
Wire nuts of various sizes
Hammer
1/2″ wood staples
Pen knife or small x-acto knife of some kind
Drywall saw
Pencil (not overly sharpened ideally)
Dust mask
2′ x 4′ 3/8″ board (dimensions aren’t important, but it needs to be big enough lay on, and light enough to maneuver in the space above the ceiling, whatever that looks like in your situation)

Other helpful items to consider:
Electrical tape
Compact LED flashlight(s)
Band-aids
Work towels (that won’t ever need to find their way in front of the important-type guests)

I am sorting/editing all the pictures this week and organizing/expanding on my notes, so there will be more posts in this series soon. Until then, cheers!

After speaking with some wise people on a DIY forum, I’ve decided to hold off on using the Bellagio Faux products. While I may still eventually use them, I’m now leaning more towards using a better quality paint and trying to create the multi-layered plaster look by myself. I am concerned about the final result, the durability, and the subtle differences. The Behr product seems to present a more convenient, quicker solution. The DIY solution, using a higher quality paint, and probably joint compound among other things, will be a longer process and not as simple.

Ultimately it comes down to what I think will look the best without obliterating the budget. The thing is, the Bellagio Faux products aren’t cheap, so getting an alternative brand of professional paint and doing the texturing myself might still work out to be the less expensive alternative. In my opinion though since we’re going to be doing this in the biggest room in the house — where we spend most of our time — it will be worth it to spend what is necessary to make it look great. After all the effort it will take to do a nice finish on the walls, I’d hate to have to redo it because it looks poor.

Anyway, that’s just the latest update. It’s also proof that one can never stop learning. Asking questions and interacting with other DIYers can teach you a lot and probably save you money, time, and headaches. Until next time…cheers!

I thought I’d write a quick intro to one of our next major projects.  We’re going to be putting a faux finish on the main living area walls.  It’s going to be the Bellagio Faux finish by Behr.  After seeing the product and some samples at our local Home Depot, we decided to grab the free DVD they have and the color sample booklet.

They offer quite a nice range of color combinations that they show you in the booklet.  There are final finishes that range from authentic antiqued plaster to combinations of blues, greens, and other hues.  You can use multiple layers in different pre-mixed shades, or just one coat on top of a flat base coat of regular interior paint.  I’ll post a little sample of our choice a little later.  I’m going to make a full tutorial out of this project so you can see just what is involved in the process and give you a chance to see what the finish looks like when an amateur applies it to his own walls.

I’ll post more about this product and particular finish as we gear up for this project.  I’m guessing that we’ll get to it around the end of summer or somewhere around there.  We have a big list and not everything is scheduled yet as we are still undecided on which room to tackle after the kitchen renovation.  Have a great weekend everyone!