Helping you build projects without a big shop using Japanese hand tools and power tools
Like you, I’m always having to fix something or try and upgrade something really outdated around the house. If you’re interested in changing that old valve under your sink or scraping that popcorn ceiling you’re in the right place.
Last year I put a couple of large 4 gallon planter pots in the ground for container gardening. The plants in these fairly inexpensive, around $5, nursery pots grew really well. They allowed me to use my normal plant soil mix to more easily control the soil. The results were great! We were eating heirloom Read More …
I live in an older home in Las Vegas did some planting this last Friday. After last year’s crop I have more of a feel for the amount of sun the raised beds and in-ground planters have. This year I’ve: Put in more in-ground planters along the back wall. This area gets a lot of Read More …
I spent about 6 hours today painting doors and drawer fronts and starting a new section of kitchen cabinets. I know it seems like it’s taking forever for me to do this project, but I am experimenting as I go along to see what works and doesn’t. Additional Primed Cabinets Something that works for me Read More …
Well, I managed to work about 2 1/2 hours yesterday on painting the kitchen. It was raining yesterday morning, In Vegas we’ll take rain any day and love it, so I started to work in the late afternoon. Just in case it started to rain while I was working, I slapped together a work table Read More …
I’m going to try something different with this project posting. I’m going to do a day by day recap instead of compiling everything at the end and doing a recap. I’ll try to get it posted by the next day at the latest. Our kitchen cabinets are really old, 30 years, have some kind of Read More …
This all began when we noticed that one of our valves under the bathroom sink was leaking. Leaking Bathroom Valve In addition to the leaking bathroom valve, the ones in the laundry room were really old and one had a handle. Broken Laundry Valve Note: Our house has copper for plumbing so I was able Read More …
This year we’ve been lucky with not getting a freeze until the week of Thanksgiving. The only plants alive from this years planting are the herbs. I did manage to take some pictures before the freeze. The plants that paid off the most this year were the herbs. Garlic Chives Rosemary Note: The sage is Read More …
The temperature in Las Vegas and other parts of the South West have easily been 105 – 115 F these last couple of weeks. Here are some of the things I’ve observed. The leaves on the tomatoes I have in planters that get full sun have been folding inward. These tomatoes are an heirloom variety Read More …
When I feel the need for some inspiration I always head over to Ted and watch one of the presentations. I came across the one below where Bill Gross talks about using inexpensive materials and a Sterling engine to generate energy instead of costly solar cells.
I read that instead of using traditional soil or topsoil for the raised beds it is possible to use something similar to what I believe a green house or nursery would use. The soil is comprised of equal parts of Something to aerate the soil Compost to feed the plants Material to keep the soil Read More …