TVenanzio's Weblog

Floating Ikea shelves behind the couch

Tom Venanzio — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:08:34 +0000

Ikea gave me this idea. Ikea has a type of floating shelf which has no visible brackets to hold it up. The shelf is installed by attaching a hidden bracket onto the wall. The bracket has two poles that are about 5 inches long. The poles extend straight out from the wall. The shelf itself has 2 slots that the poles slide into and hold the shelf up. Two small screws hold the shelf onto the poles so it does not slide off.

One living roomthat Ikea had set up for display used two floating shelves behind a couch. What a great idea! I installed two white shelves directly behind my couch. It is great to have the extra room to place things on. I put two lamps there for extra light when reading or whenever needed.

Back in Blog Mode

Tom Venanzio — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:50:12 +0000

After a very long break, I am back. The Blog was on hold while my lovely wife Shannon and I were married. I have a bunch of new projects started and I cannot wait to put them on display here. We have a lot of big plans for the house so we are just getting everything going right now.

Here is what Shannon bought for me for my wedding gift. It is a Samsung 42″ Plama TV. I love it!!! We got a white TV stand at Ikea. It all looks great in the living room.

That is it for now. I will post more later. It is good to be back.

Finally…some good screwdrivers!!!

Tom Venanzio — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:08:15 +0000

My screwdriver collection was just a mix of various types. I dont even know where most of them came from. I think they were just borrowed from my Dad and never given back. Thanks to the awesome blog Toolmonger.com , I read that Sears was having a sale on screwdrivers. Toolmonger even had a link for a coupon for Sears which gives $5 off any tool purchase $5 or more. If you plan on buying any tools from Sears before January 22, you need this COUPON.

I picked up a set of 5 Craftman Slotted and a set of 5 Phillips screwdrivers.

The sets are on sale for $4.99 each. I used the $5.00 off coupon and purchased all 10 screwdrivers for less than $5. That deal is hard to beat

iPod – iLuv

Tom Venanzio — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:16:05 +0000

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, I sure did. I received a bunch of Best Buy gift cards this year, so I went out and purchased an Apple iPod. I did a ton of research on all players and decided the iPod would be the best option for me. The iPod does lack in some areas, but overall, I think its great. Plus, my fiance Shannon has one, so it only makes sense for me to get an iPod. We can share songs and videos easily thru each others iTunes. I purchased the 80 Gig iPod Classic in black. I think Apple added some great features, such as the split screen and the Cover Flow option, but I have a feeling they will be doing a complete upgrade very soon. I bet future iPods will have Wi-Fi and a larger screen. I also purchased a set of iLuv speakers for my desk at work. The iLuv is great, it sounds good plus it charges my iPod. You can even transfer songs from iTunes while you are listening to music on it.

We are even considering getting Apple TV in the near future.

Home Improvement Books

Tom Venanzio — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:12:41 +0000

I was shopping for a Do-It-Yourself Home Improvement book. I went to Barnes and Noble and was surprised at the extensive selection they had available. Since I am a beginner at home improvements, I wanted to find a book that was easy for me to understand. I pulled down about 5 or 6 books and thought of projects that I would like to complete. Then I looked up the projects in the books and found the book that was easiest for me to understand.

I ended up with picking “Do It Yourself Home Improvement: Step by Step Guide to Home Improvement”

This book seems to suit me best. I would recommed you flip through as many books as possible before you decide to purchase one.

Vintage End Table Update

Tom Venanzio — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:50:45 +0000

Shannon discovered a vintage end table at a rummage sale. She picked it up for $2. It is a three tiered, step style table. Each tier has a leather top. Also, there were wheels attached to the bottom of each leg, but one was missing. Overall the end table was in pretty rough condition but after a little sanding and paint, it turned out to be a wonderful addition to our living room.

Started sanding the table

First I removed the three remaining wheels. Next step was to sand the table down. I always wanted to get a palm sander, so I figured what the heck! I ran up to Home Depot and purchased the Ryobi Corner Cat Sander. It worked out great!!!

Next I primered and painted the table. Here is the final result. I think it turned out pretty good.

Baseboard Heaters

Tom Venanzio — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:28:40 +0000

Currently the house has baseboard heaters. There are pros and cons to these. The thing I like best is that each individual room can be set at different temperatures. One thing I dislike is their appreance, and you also have to be careful you dont put anything directly in front of the heaters.

A few years ago I painted the heater in the living room silver. I was in a black/white/gray stage of my life. Luckily now I enjoy color in my life. I can thank my beautiful fiance Shannon for that! Anyway, the heater in the living room was not blending in well with the wall color and everything else in the room.

So I disconnected the heater and took it outside to paint. I bought some heat resistant white paint. I re-connected the heater and it turned out great.

…non-matching silver

…updated with white

Bathroom Renovation

Tom Venanzio — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:48:43 +0000

A few weeks ago I did a renovation of the bathroom. Unfortunately I don’t have any before pictures of it to compare the improvements to, but it was a very basic bathroom. It had linoleum flooring, a plain almond colored sink and almond colored toilet. With tons of help from my future father-in-law Lee, we put in tile flooring, new toilet, pedestal sink, and all new trim. I have a few pictures of the updated bathroom to show.

The new tile flooring

New vanity over toilet

Pedestal Sink

Oh, and one thing I did wrong. When I was removing the old toilet I could not get the tank off because the bolts were so rusted. After wrestling with the old toilet for a few minutes trying to rip the tank off, I gave up. I lifted the the whole toilet up and carried it outside. I ended up straining my back and was hurting for about a week.

My First Blog Post

Tom Venanzio — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:14:00 +0000

So here it is! I have decided to start a blog. A blog that will show improvements I am doing to the house, woodworking projects and just about anything. I will be using this Blog to help inspire myself to create new projects. I have been inspired to do this by my wonderful fiance Shannon. Her blog is amazing. www.shannylee.com

Hopefully you will all enjoy.

The first project I want to share is changing the side lights on the house. My old ones were comical to look at. They were cheap lights that are 14 years old. There was pretty much nothing left of the side light and the light out front was getting to be the same way.

The Side Light

The Front Light

So I upgraded. I bought these sweet lights from Home Depot. The light has a motion sensor and has two levels. They stay lit, but the light is dim. Once the sensors pick up motion they light up bright. So far I love them.

Thats it for now