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New blog post: Building a Better Shed Base (five years after building a bad one).

In August 2015, I bought myself an 8ft x 6ft shed and I’ve documented the process of erecting that, previously on my blog. But I didn’t do the best job of installing it and, over time, these flaws would begin to show. Earlier this week, I realised a YouTube video documenting much of this first stage on improving the base and foundations. Now, I thought it might also be good to get something down…

New blog post: Hacking the Ikea Neiden Bed Frame

While assembling the two Rast chest of drawers that I’d purchased from Ikea, I needed to be able to increase the height of my Neiden bed frame for them to fit underneath. Here, I’ll be sharing what and how I did that.

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New blog post: Assembling the Ikea Rast chest of drawers.

For most of 2019, I was struggling to adapt to life inside a smaller bedroom and without sacrificing the generous accommodation of my double bed. That change may come in another couple of years, when my memory foam mattress nears the end of its recommended life expectancy (they generally say seven to eight years). When I moved in to my previous flat, I swiftly bought a 4ft high tallboy off…

New blog post: Mounting an adjustable TV wall bracket in a rented property.

In an continued effort to further reduce the clutter on the floor of my living room, I came up with the idea of setting my TV on to a wall-mounted bracket. My only caveat was that I live in rented accommodation and that I’m not allowed to fix anything to the walls, anywhere… Having recently moved an Ikea Hejne shelving unit in from the bathroom, I realised that I could happily mount it on to this.

New blog post: Looking at the Ikea Hejne Shelving Unit I purchased last year.

After moving in to a smaller flat last year, I quickly realised that I didn’t have the space for two of my Ikea Ivar shelving units. One was sold locally and, although I managed to squeeze the other in to the bathroom cupboard space, I soon decided that it was excessively deep and warranted downsizing. With that second Ivar unit sold, I had the funds available to purchase something more compact;…

What Are Work Clothes?

For those of us who’ve work in manual and physically demanding jobs, it may be fair to say that we’d be able to conjure up a similar image when pressed to describe the features and appearance of ‘work clothes’. Attire we wouldn’t wear to a formal occasion. We might wear it for an evening after work but not at a weekend, unless we’re actively doing something work-related. Splashes of paint, worn…

New blog post: A tour of the flat I recently moved in to (with HONEST photos...).

I’m sorry it’s been so very long since I last wrote on this blog. While it’s not an excuse or reason for this absence, I’ve gone through the process of moving home, over the past month. In this post, I’m going to share with you some views of my new home.

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Assembling the Ikea Neiden Double Bed Frame #IkeaNeiden

It was probably a couple of months ago that I went out and bought myself a new bed frame. Replacing my old one (which was given to me in 2011 and second-hand at the time) is something I’d been thinking about and, while I had aspirations towards making my own frame, I’m still lacking the facilities and space for doing much in the way of woodworking.

So, it was with another trip to Ikea that I…

Making an OS Map Box

Since 2012, my collection of Ordnance Survey maps has steadily grown. They’d always lived within an unfashionable cardboard box, before I recently made an alternative solution from 12mm thick birch plywood.

This is a project that I completed in February of this year, although the official start date leaps back to the beginning of 2017, when I ‘sourced’ the materials from the off-cuts pile at the…

New blog post: Looking at the #StanleyFatmax backpack I bought in December.

I wrote, in a previous post, of my intention to buy a backpack for storing my most-used hand tools. Well, days after writing that, I went out an bought the Stanley 195611 Fatmax backpack from my local Bunnings Warehouse. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to get around to writing about it.

For those who don’t know: Wesfarmers the Australian company who own Bunnings, purchased Homebase in the UK,…

New blog post: Thoughts on #BlueMonday and the reality of daily demands.

Today is known as Blue Monday. For many, it can feel like the ‘darkest’, coldest and loneliness day of any year. Little to look forward to and a reluctance to struggle on.

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New blog post: Ryobi Vs. Makita ...Because I'm always thinking about tools, even when not using them!

I hold to an intention and hope of finding a new workshop this year. I won’t even begin looking until these dark and chilly months have passed but, when the time does come and I’m physically able to walk through that door, I will be looking to add a few tools to my arsenal. If not immediately then, sensibly, over time.

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A look at the ADMI Gaming PC I purchased for general use in October.

Since 2010, if it wasn’t 2009; I’ve been doing pretty much everything from a ‘less expensive’ laptop available from the Argos catalogue. Within the past two years, it’s been getting slower and slower. On top of that, I occasionally hear the fan inside crunching and grinding away… My laptop wasn’t going to last much longer and, even after backing up all of my files, I was going to need something…

Recounting the #DIY work I carried out at a friend's house a few weeks ago.

I recently made reference to the fact that I spent a weekend working at a friend’s house in early October. This largely involved sanding the wooden floors in two rooms and attending to the near-disastrous state of alcove shelving in the living room (some people should be banned from owning hand saws).

Let’s start by looking at the big job: sanding. Lots of sanding. Then again, downstairs.

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Why don't more people carry their tools in a backpack? #tooltalk #toolstorage

Last weekend, I was working at a friend’s house for the whole two days. This meant lugging a portion of my tools (mostly hand tools) and accessories from their storage location, in to my car, to and from the house and then back again, once the job was complete.

I quite like being able to do jobs for other people but I’ve never been a fan of physically moving tools back and forth.

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Some of you may remember how, earlier this year – before the summer that appears to have come and gone so quickly – I erected a fairly straightforward freestanding, temporary fence to keep my mum’s puppy from wondering off along the shared driveway.

Inevitably, I was asked to do the same again alongside the garden to the rear of the property. This is a job I actually completed in July and, as I…