Labels: home improvement, shellac restoration
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Colleen Coble writes romantic suspense with a strong atmospheric element. A lovable animal of some kind--usually a dog--always populates her novels. She can be bribed with DeBrand mocha truffles.
Denise Hunter writes women's fiction and love stories with a strong emotional element. Her husband says he provides her with all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too.
Diann Hunt writes romantic comedy and humorous women's fiction. She has been happily married forever, loves her family, chocolate, her friends, chocolate, her dog, and well, chocolate.
Cheryl Hodde writes romantic medical suspense under the pen name of Hannah Alexander, using all the input she can get from her husband, Mel, for the medical expertise. For fun she hikes and reads. Out of guilt, she rescues discarded cats. She and Mel are presently taking orders from four pampered strays.
39 Comments:
I have a tip.....Never let your husband renovate your kitchen...my renovation took 4 years, 2 years with no kitchen sink....Just a thought lol :)
I love that, Cindy!
Toothpaste to fill nail holes and baking potatoes under the burning leaves ~*~ yummy.
You can tell I really, really, would like to have a copy of your book, since I am a reader not a fixer! Kathleen
lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net
Ok...I have to say too that I have done my share of fixing up things around the house, but the one that has been my favorite was the Paper Illusion...which is a wall paper theme. You rip it, dip it and stick it. Meaning you rip the wall paper (no cutting) dip it in water and stick it anywhere on the wall...and make your own illusion. I love the stone effect it leaves and have hidden many of wall that are not true do to the old buildings what were not square. After it dries you use a clear satin (water based) polyurethane to seal it...if not the edges turn yellow. I have used it in the kitchen, behind the sink, because its easy to wash and does not stain. If you get tired of it...you just paint over it...but I have never got tired of it.
That is way cool, Dorene!
Baking potatoes under burning leaves? Now that sounds fun--and will have a nice aroma. :)
Never listen to Tim Allen ;)
Buy an expensive soft bristled, angled paint brush to edge with. Spares you LOTS of taping time and you can paint a fantastic straight edge. (don't enter me to win - I already have the book) :)
My home improvement tip is to marry a handy man like I did. :)
I haven't done much renovation work but I love to figure out how to fix things when they break. I don't have a specific renovation tip but I do have a great tip for cleaning glass shower doors that I ran across on the internet. Warm white vinegar in the microwave and then mix equal parts Dawn dishwashing liquid with the vinegar. Put this mixture in a spray bottle. Then spray this on the glass door and let it stand for several minutes. Then scrub and rinsse. This works better than anything else I have found.
Thanks for the chance at the giveaway! I would love to win a copy of Tidewater Inn... it is definitely at the top of my "to-read" list!!
Sheri hspruitt (AT} frontiernet DoT NeT
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A tip to revive & clean old wooden furniture instead of refinishing is to try this first... mix 3 parts vegetable oil to 1 part vinegar.(example: 3/4 cup oil & 1/4 cup vinegar) Mix together in a jar and dip a clean cloth in the mixture and wipe the furniture. This works best on old wood that is dried out, dirty, and minimal water damage. Try it ...you may not have to refinish or paint your furniture :)
My tip is to have a set of tools and know how to use them. It comes in handy if you're married to an engineer. LOL
I recently saw a use for an old dresser and I would love to do it - you cut off the legs, paint or stain it the color you want, put a cushion on the top, place it by a window, and VOILA! you have an awesome window seat - with storage!!
When you are removing wall paper spray it with a mixture of fabric softener and warm/hot water to help loosen it up. It will make the job go a lot faster and a good paint scraper is also a gem when removing wall paper or border!
Years ago, I needed to remove old paint over top of two layers of wallpaper, dating to the early 1900's. I found that by soaking it first with water to let it absorb the water and then spraying with hot water and scraping, the old paper came off...it was cowboys on the bottom layer. My daughter wanted light blue paint with glow in the dark moon and stars. I painted those with yellow paint first then topped with glow in the dark paint. I did around all inside and outside corners as well as top and bottom of walls and ceiling. She loved it.
My husband, who is quite handy in the home renovation department, but like Cindy's hubby, sometimes those projects go on and on and on... I asked him for his best tip and he says, to keep home improvement projects interesting, always start a new project before the old one is finished. Aaaaaahhhhh! I learned a tip on my own---ya know, because I needed something done NOW!---for those hard to unscrew flood lights that need changing, take a piece of duct tape (it's great for everything, right?) and fold it like a paper fan in fourths so that the outside edges have the sticky exposed. The insides will be stuck together. Unfold the sticky edges so they are in a straight line and place on the bulb, rub them down. The remaining inside pieces stick up and you can grasp it and turn it like a handle!
Ooh, I love your tip about using denatured alcohol. I use brown paper bags to smooth between coats on paint or varnish projects- just wrap it around a sanding sponge or piece of wood and use like sandpaper- it will take the fuzzies off much like steel wool- I seem to always get steel splinters when using steel wool, so I like this much better.
Oh, another unrelated tip. When hanging a grouping of pictures, trace them on waxed paper and mark where the hangers are. Arrange and tape the paper squares on your wall, put the nails in the marked spots, pull away the paper, and hang your pics.
My favorite tip is to take a dent out of wood, place a wet paper towel over it and rub a hot soldering iron over were the dent is.
I had to chuckle at Cindy. My hubs renovated our kitchen and all but the baseboards were done in a couple of months. He knocked out the wall between the kitchen and great room. I love it!
And I gleaned a bunch of tips form your readers, Colleen! I don't have anything to add, particularly, except the way I mop floors.
I wet a large bath sheet (or two bath towels), spray cleaner (or not) on the floor, and then step on the wet towels and scoot my feet all over the floor going back and forth across the room.
Works my legs out, and legs are stronger than hands or arms. Once the floor is washed, I take a dry bath sheet and throw it down and shuffle again. Voila! Clean, dry floors in about 1/4 the time it takes to normally wash one. :)
You all are so good! I LOVE these tips! I'm writing them down!
My tip is if possible hire out for wall plastering and sanding. They are a million times faster than I could ever be and they have all the right equipment to get the wall looking oh so smooth. When my husband and I decided to tackle it on our own, it took FOREVER and was just more of a headache. Plus to be honest I much prefer the painting and decorating part to the fixing up part!
YOu can always re-use and re-purpose anything! Look for different uses in everything you have and you won't need to go buy new stuff all the time. We have redone rooms in our house just by re-using something from another room and painted it or changed it in some way. Be creative!
I am not a fan of painted wood, I love the natural look. I have a teething toddler so it's also not a good idea to use commercial furniture polish with chemicals. Make your own natural furniture polish: Mix equal parts white vinegar and olive or walnut oil (you can add a little lemon if you like the smell) and rub into the wood. Note: this stuff will not last long in a bottle so only make what you need.
We have ant problems every now and then, especially camping. Sprinkle Comet around the area you want to keep ants away from and they will not cross this line. We've used this many times and stock up on Comet when it's on sale.
We have the horrible "popcorn" ceilings in our home, which is an older home. Scraping seemed too messy, so in 2 of our rooms (so far!) we have covered the ceilings with beaded board. In one room we used the individual boards and one room we used the panels. We painted it white before installing. Then we put up crown molding to hide any gaps between the walls and ceiling. It looks spectacular! Thanks for the chance at winning your book ... you are one of my favorites!! Susan Parnell
Have any of you ever removed stickers and were left with a bunch of black goop you can't get rid of? Spray on hairspray and scrub a little with an old toothbrush. Hairspray is also good for removing some (not all) ball point pen marks off walls.
We lived in an old farmhouse a few years ago and the bathroom had this funky tile that we covered over with spackling compound and then painted. I then did the same thing at my folks' house over wallpaper that we didn't want to take the time to remove. The nice thing is that you don't have to be careful with it and can just slap it on. :)
My tip is to hire someone. :)
laurelprincess12 at gmail dot com
I am copying down all these ideas. Love them!
you can tie a plastic bag full of vinegar around your shower head for over night and it'll take off all the lime, calcuim, and clean your shower head.
We live in the home that my grandparents built in the 1920s, and "updating" is an ongoing process. We have maintained all of the oak floors which my grandfather laid himself, and all of the oak trim, French doors, banister, etc. This house has doors to every individual room which I love! Back to renovation... A couple of months ago we replaced old screens on the front porch with double hung windows, so now we are able to leave the French doors to the porch open for many more weeks of the year without compromising the integrity of our home. Cleaning tip to add to the discussion. I use only white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda for cleaning all surfaces. Disinfects without toxicity, and they work better than anything on the market!
Last year I tiled my bathroom after removing the old fiberglass shower. I put in white marble with white grout. After a few months I noticed the grout was turning yellow because of the mineral in the water. I tried several grout cleaners, but found toothpaste and an old toothbrush cleaned the grout best. It has stayed white for several months now. I love your writing Colleen!
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Uh, my best home improvement tip is when I'm in the middle of it and ready to fall over, THEN I think to call Colleen to find out the easier way to do it! lol
it took us one entire year (2005) to update our home...
thanks for the chance to read your latest novel, colleen
karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com
When you open a new can of paint, use a 6d or 8d nail and a hammer to poke holes in the rim of the can about 2" apart where the paint tends to accumulate, run over and make a mess. The paint will drip down into the bucket and not run down the side.
I have to hire someone who can do this one for my house...anyway thanks :)
Great list of home improvement tips! Another great resource I turn to is HouseLogic - they have tons of guides and how-to tutorials for home improvement. Cheers!
-Jon
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