Water Damage Debacle

Before

We had a little paint bubbling as a result of the water leak.  We finally scraped the paint, added some Spackle and texture and repainted.  Almost looks like nothing ever happened.

After

Cable Cleanup Follow-Up

As you may recall, I removed a great deal of cabling from the exterior of our house some time ago.

I finally followed up and patched the holes that were left.

Before

After

Strikingly Stupid

Before

I recently discovered the door to the garage did not have a proper strike plate on it.  The latch was just ruining the casing.  Apparently someone thought that was OK.
For less than $3 I had not one, but two proper plates (not sure why they are sold in pairs) and was able to install one of them in a matter of minutes.  Doing things right really isn't that hard.

After

Miracle Product: Outlet Timers

Outlet timers are a very underrated product.  They have tons of uses, including turning on a lamp to deter burglars, turning off a bedroom fan in the middle of the night, and my favorite, automatically turning on and off Christmas lights.

Securing the Sofa

Our beautiful couch is a two-piece sectional, and it is always trying to separate itself.  I have been thinking of fastening the two pieces together for a long time, so I finally flipped the pieces on their sides to figure out how I wanted to accomplish this.
To my surprise, there was already a device installed for this very purpose, called a Sofa Snap.  Unfortunately, only one half of the unit was there.

That meant I would have to fabricate the other, simpler half.  I started by going through my garbage can to retrieve an L-bracket I knew I had recently thrown away.  It had been on some lumber we had burned, and I threw it out with the ashes.

I then started grinding and filing.

I eventually got the shape I needed and hit it with a coat of paint.

I screwed it into position. I put some paper behind it because I was too impatient to let the paint fully dry.

And locked the couch together.  It seems to work perfectly.  Hopefully it continues to hold. 

Rug Rubbing Door

The door to our master bath rubbed on the area rug we have in there, making it annoying to open or close the door.  I finally got tired of it and broke out Chrissy's belt sander.

A couple minutes of work and the door elegantly grazes the top of the rug.

Handle Hardware

 

After only three months of ownership, the hardware securing the shed's handles were already showing significant corrosion.  This was also a problem on the floor model we saw, but I figured I could cross that bridge when I came to it, and I came to it a lot faster than expected.  It was a very simple swap for stainless hardware, which I am now considering painting.
This is why I appreciate it when things come with stainless steel hardware to begin with, like our cheap arbor.