I was reading a story in New York Magazine, “The Urban Woodsman,” and found myself drawn to this gorgeous tool from the Tribeca, NYC-based Best Made Company. I immediately wanted one because of its sleek curves, bright color, and elegant “courage” stamp, but the price ($250) set me back. I’d love to hang it above our fireplace, but that seems silly — especially when there’s a tree in our backyard that my wife is convinced I cannot cut down by myself.

The Best Made Co. shapes and masks off the handle, “then we prime it and spray on multiple layers of high-quality graffiti paint.” High-quality graffiti paint?! Sorry, Best Made Co., you had me at “courage” but lost me at “graffiti paint.” (I do give them credit for out-sourcing the important part — the ax head — to a 100-year-old company in Maine, where they make the fine-grained steel heads by hand.)

I now find myself Googling “wood axe,” which strikes me as one of the most un-manly things I could be doing. I could pick up a simple, cheap axe from Lowe’s (Kobalt 3-1/2 Lb. Michigan Axe with Hickory Handle, $30). But I think the best compromise would be the Gransfors Bruks Scandinavian Forest Axe, $120.

It’s made by a small, Swedish family-operated company formed in 1902, and is as beautiful as the trendy one from Tribeca. And besides, I could always paint my own orange handle. Timber! — Chad H.

My goal was to spend less than $100 redoing our daughter’s room for her birthday. Since we weren’t replacing the bedding (Grandma made her a beautiful quilt with scraps from her mother-in-law’s quilt bag), the bed, or my college dresser, it seemed more than doable. In the end, I spent closer to $150:

- $80 for three gallons of Tinker Bell and Cabbage Green paint
- $45 for two Daisy drapery panels
- $2.39 for lime green grosgrain ribbon to make new ties for the panel
- $15.72 to redo a rescued chair

My daughter’s favorite part? It’s a tie between the quilt rack from her baby room that I repurposed as a curtain rod/shelf to hold my old Breyer horses, and the “Cinderella” storybook art by Fern Bisel Peat. Although the illustrations deserve to be in better frames, right now I’m sticking to my (revised) budget and using what I have. — Sarah L.

See more photos on Shelterrific’s Facebook page!

Related:
Easy DIY canopy bed
Memory pillow from your child’s sleeper
Big-girl bedroom, tiny budget
Cheap house makeover: the dining room

We came home from Christmas travels to find our water heater leaking from two places. That was not much of a Christmas present. The $20 water heater pan that caught all the water and emptied it into the floor drain and away from the carpet and storage closet? The best. We installed it after the hot water heater failed three months after we moved into this house. I’m not sure how practical it is to install one under an existing water heater, but if you are buying/building/replacing anyway/live with a plumber, it’s worth looking into. (In 14 years and two houses, we replaced a whopping four water heaters — make that five now — and only had the pan this last time.) Now that Sears has replaced our just barely-under-warranty heater, a hot bath is in order. If the soaps at Highland Soap are half as lovely as their site, it will have been worth the two-day wait. Almost. — Sarah L.

You loved Erica’s pot rack DIY and kept sending emails asking us to post the how-to already! We are happy to oblige, and we went straight to the source: Erica’s live-in handyman. Enjoy!

So far I’ve been asked to hang eight shelves, three storage cubes and one counter, so when Erica asked me to build her a pot rack, I can’t say I was surprised. I acted indifferently cool when the final product turned out so well, but on the inside I was beaming with pride over my creative prowess (which is the exception, not the rule). The kicker is that this pot rack is reproducible in almost any space using a number of variations on the basic components. Just follow these simple steps to create a quick and easy pot rack that will hang your cookware and support your ego. — Erica’s Handyman

What You’ll Need:
*Drill with 1/4″ bit
*2 Lag Eye Bolts 3/8″ X 4″
*2 Spring Snap Links 5/8″ (carabiner style)
*Broomstick
*Saw
*Sandpaper
*Shower Curtain Hooks

1. Drill 1/4″ pilot holes at the same vertical height into each side of your window frame.
2. Screw a lag eye bolt into each hole and hang the spring snap links from the lag eye bolts.
3. Measure and mark your broomstick at a point slightly smaller than the width of your window frame and saw it at the mark.
4. Sand the cut end until smooth, then hang the broomstick from the spring snap links.
5. Use shower curtain hooks to hang your pots and pans from the broomstick.

I’ve been on the search for the perfect coat rack for almost an entire year — something modern, sturdy, high capacity, and most importantly, affordable. Well, I finally found one that fits the bill at IKEA, but not where you’d expect. I spotted the Rationell Variera pot lid rack (designed for countertop use) for the bargain price of $4.99, and knew it would be my ideal solution.

But getting my pot-turned-coat rack on the wall took more work. After seeking guidance at the local mom-and-pop hardware store, I came home with a bag full of various brackets, bolts, screws and clamps, still not sure how it would come together. And after putting six huge anchor holes in the wall, I wasn’t sure it would even work at all.

But it was at that moment of despair when I had my “a-ha moment” — I took the galvanized pipe hanger strap I had purchased, unscrewed the posts on the rack, threaded the tape, cut it to fit, and re-attached the posts. Then it was as simple as drilling a few screws into the wall in a few spots to make sure it was well anchored. I love the result, and it cost a mere $7! — Megan B.

I’d been scouring Craigslist for a small desk for my daughter’s bedroom re-do, but after three months of no-go and a birthday deadline fast approaching, I changed my plans last garbage day. With my neighbor’s blessing, I snagged her chair from the curb. It took about two hours to scrub and vacuum it clean. Then I repaired the loose wicker on the front legs, gave it a coat of white primer, and finished with two cans of Krylon Watermelon. (Still not sure about the monogram I taped off in the diamond pattern on the back of the chair — I was going for funky but think now it might be fussy. Thoughts?) Click to read the rest — and see the chair as it looked before Sarah’s magic! (more…)

With woodpeckers looking for a warm place to spend the winter, now is when they’re most likely to damage homes — the yearly cost is in the millions. Our neighborhood is heavily wooded, so most of the houses have had some damage. Luckily, our trim remains intact, despite the fact that we do hear the occasional tapping. Although there are plenty of suggestions to ward off woodpeckers, from hanging pie plates or windchimes to “Scare Eye” balloons, we’re either lucky or George, the red-headed woodpecker figurine we hung up years ago, is working. (George was a gift made by a local crafter. I haven’t been able to find another, but there are many deterrents available, including a fake “attack spider.”) I also always stock a wire-mesh feeder with C&S Peanut Flavored Nuggets. Since woodpeckers are territorial (one theory behind why placing fake woodpeckers around your house might work), you won’t attract additional birds to your yard. Hopefully, you’ll just attract them away from your house and enjoy watching them, too! — Sarah L.

As I wrote last year, we thought the Penofin Aquafin we used on our deck railings was great — easy to apply, easy to clean up, non-flammable, and much more environmentally friendly than regular stain. After a Seattle winter, however, parts of our project weren’t holding up like we’d hoped. The stain looked pretty good on anything that was vertical, but the horizonal portions of the railings did not fare well — there was some peeling and a lot of spots that weathered as if they hadn’t been stained at all. Two weeks ago, we went ahead and ordered several more gallons to reapply. We were staining newbies last year, so what do you think — was the weathering normal, is the stain not up to par, or did we do something wrong? My theories and more photos after the jump. –Mary T. (more…)

When we first moved to Seattle, we rented a 1947 house that had a laundry chute, and I cannot tell you how much I loved that thing. No hamper taking up space in the bathroom, no clothes overflowing onto the floor. Dirty linens just “disappeared” down a hatch built into our linens closet, and they were there waiting in the basement for us when it was time to do some laundry. It’s such an ingenious and simple device — just a trapdoor that opened into a small wooden chute in the basement — that I don’t get why I see them so infrequently in homes. Is it because people have laundry on the same floor as their living spaces? We plan to add a laundry chute when we upgrade our bathroom. Luckily, there are places online like This Old House, DIY Network, and eZine that will give us a step-by-step. –Mary T.

Photo via Pam at Retro Renovation, one of our favorite sites — the same vintage 1960s cubby that houses the laundry chute also has a built-in, fold-down bathroom scale!

I’m a huge fan of traditional webbed patio chairs, but they can be hard to find these days. The only stores I’ve seen them regularly in person are True Value Hardware stores, where I’ve also spotted re-webbing materials (Frost King seems to have the market cornered on those). I’ve also seen them at the DoItBest site. But here’s the rub: the new chairs are usually webbed in boring colors like brown or forest green. That’s why, for the past few years, I’ve found my own webbing online (searching for “chair webbing” or “re-web kit” on Google or eBay) and used it to re-web vintage or discarded webbed chairs I’ve found at yard sales or on the street. Re-webbing is easy — believe me, I wouldn’t bother if it wasn’t — though, like any DIY, it can be a little tedious. Click the link for the webbing how-to’s — I’ll keep things as simple as possible. –Mary T. (more…)