Last night I finished and installed a new web server laptop, replacing the little one that had been running this site for the past two years.
Published 2021-10-07
Category: Reconstruction and Repair
Projects that involve reusing materials to repair or repurpose something.
Published 2021-06-02
Bathroom vanity from dresser
Last year we had our bathroom professionally remodeled. One part of the bathroom that I wanted to do myself was to build the new vanity from a cute dresser. We had seen DIY sites with how-to tutorials for converting a wood dresser into a water-resistant vanity, so we went to…
Published 2021-04-16
Kitchen cabinet remodel
Last summer we started a long process to resurface our kitchen cabinets and counters to make them both more functional and more modern-looking. We started with a plan that we wanted to do something about our ugly cabinets. My best guess is that the previous owner had tried to stain…
Published 2021-02-24
Fiat 500e cell phone dash cradle
This is a hack for the old model Fiat 500e GPS stand to convert it to a powered phone holder and charger.
Published 2020-08-28
Tuning a 1926 Corona portable typewriter
This is one of Smith’s “Corona” portable typewriters, manufactured in 1926. At some point, it entered my grandparents’ typewriter store in San Francisco and, after they retired, it entered my grandfather’s basement collection of over 150 typewriters. After he passed away, my dad dug it out of the basement and…
Published 2020-04-09
Coffee table from recycled table
Last year I helped some friends move out of their apartment. They were going to throw out this dining table because it was badly damaged, with some burn marks and a broken leg. It’s a typical Ikea-or-something dining table. I needed a coffee table for our game room, and I…
Published 2020-03-29
Reusing cabinet shelves
A while ago, I helped some friends move to their new house. They had one of those Target-brand shelves that every college student is familiar with. They cost about $20, and you can find lots of them for free near dorm dumpsters after the school year ends. The shelf was…
Published 2020-02-11
Cabinet door repair
I wish I had taken some more pictures of this process, since it turned out pretty well in the end. Someone who lived in our house before us had an anger-management problem. Doors all over the house have signs of being slammed open or closed, like the dents from knobs…
Published 2019-06-29
Broken USB drive plug – Simple fix
We have been working on big projects recently, like landscaping our yards, but in the meantime I did a little bit of repair work for a friend. I am trying to post more frequently, so here is a little article about repairing a broken USB drive. A friend of mine…
Published 2019-01-17
Piano hammer repair
I played a lot of piano over the holidays, and by January I noticed that a couple of keys were beginning to make a fairly annoying clicking sound when the hammer struck. Opening the piano up, I found that the heads of the offending hammers were loose. Hiring someone to…