I recently decided to bring back my Tool Talk Tuesday series because I missed the DIY section of my site…life has gotten in the way of life and I haven’t had much time to work on my house or do any projects!

At BlissDom, I met TONS of insanely talented women…and the DIYers inspired me more than I can say.  My second day at the conference, I had the opportunity to have lunch with a few women who I am proud to call friends now!  Kate, the Centsational Girl, has an amazing site and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!!!  So, she was the perfect person to relaunch Tool Talk Tuesday with!  Kate, thanks SO MUCH for lending me this post and for the sweet intro!  Next time I’m up in wine country, I’m looking you up!!!  XOXO

Now some gals are proud of their closets full of designer shoes and clothing.  (Need I say Mariah?  Kimora?  Eva?  Paula?)  Not me.  Don’t get me wrong, I love clothes, handbags and shoes too, but I don’t have the budget to invest as heavily as the aforementioned celebs. 

In truth, if given the choice, I’d take the chair and chandelier in Mariah’s closet over that shoe collection.  But that’s just me.

But speaking of closets, there is one in my world that I like very much.  It’s not gilded.  It’s not glamorous.  It doesn’t have any shoes inside.  But I’m very fond of it. 

It’s my supply closet. 

Oh, yeah, now THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!  So many adhesives, paints, and brushes, it’s enough to make me teary.  I love my DIY supply closet. 

So to answer your question about necessary products, I’ll take this shelf by shelf.  These are the products on my shelves, but I consider only the items in bold to be essential. 

Shelf One: Rubber silicone sealant, crazy glue, wood glue, spray adhesive, light & medium spackling, acrylic latex caulking, rubber cement, white epoxy, grout sealant, metal polish,wood filler, tile & stone cleaner, and a caulking gun. 

Shelf Two:  Long handle paint roller, short handle paint roller, extra rollers, painter’s tape,disposable masks, paint thinner, stain/paint stripper, paint trays, recycled plastic containersfor smaller paint projects. 

Shelf Three:   Craft paints in various colors, rags, coarse grade sanding pad, medium grade sanding pad, fine grade sanding pad, regular sandpaper, artist’s flat brush, artists filbert brush, natural bristle paint brush for oil based paint projects, synthetic angled medium brush (nylon or polyester) for latex painting, small synthetic paint brush, roll of plastic sheeting, roll of paper sheeting, spray primer, spray paints in various colors, spray paint gun, staining pads. 

Oh joy!  It’s my prized spray paint collection. 

Bottom shelves:  Oil based and water based Zinsser primer, various metallic glazes, leftover paint for all the rooms in my home, Minwax Wipe-On Polyurethane.   

I also keep a supply of tarps on hand for painting and staining, as well as a stack of newspaper for all of my spray paint projects. 

Note: Even though I store all of these chemical in a closet, I do not seal it up tight to allow for some ventilation.  Something about stored up toxic fumes makes me a hint nervous.  So these doors are always cracked open a bit.   

And I haven’t even mentioned tools!  In Part Two, we’ll talk all about tools, including power tools, hand held tools, and craft tools. 

Not including tools, what supplies do you consider essential for your DIY projects?

My friend Emily over at Remodeling This Life has graciously allowed me to feature her this week for Tool Talk Tuesday. She and her hubby, and two doll babies, live in Florida and have been turning their house into their dream home. She’s the queen of spending wisely and I love how she’s so transparent in her blog about being fiscally conservative. I wish I could bring her here to So Cal and be my angel over my shoulder whenever I have a big money decision to make! Regardless, let’s take a look at their latest project…a bathroom remodel using skill saws and jigsaws!!!

Tool Fools 101

For the last 10 days, my husband and I have taken on the task of remodeling our tiny bathroom. We don’t have a huge, fancy arsenal of tools, but we have tools that get the job done. Here is a breakdown of what was used as we worked on this project.

Skill Saw with diamond blade – this was used for rough cuts on tile under baseboard and some exposed straight edges (at the threshold into the room)

Some tips for using a skill saw to cut tile:

• spring for a tile cutter
• if you don’t want to spring for a tile cutter, practice. Be careful. Cut straight. Don’t cut your fingers off.

Jigsaw with diamond tile blade – used for cutting some radius pieces in the shower drain. This system was so bad, we ended up using the skill saw in the end to complete this task.

Jigsaw with a wood blade – used to cut beaded board

Tips for cutting beaded board with a jigsaw:

• measure twice, cut once

We’re not complicated people, can you tell? It’s amazing with this kind of tool advice to offer, that hubby has been able to rebuild our house from the ground up at all. But he’s made it work!

Other tools used for the bathroom project include a 10″ miter saw and 10″ table saw for bead board and trim, one of the most important things – the level set! I gave hubby his current 3 piece level set several years ago as a Christmas gift. I must have foreseen a crooked house in our future. Several hand tools like a hammer, wood chisel and caulk gun were also used to make this bathroom beautiful. Oh and let’s not forget the paint brush.

Check out my blog later this week to see the end results. We are almost done!