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In this podcast I cover off our status with the basement, where we are today, where we’re headed with the rest of the reno, costs and whether its worth it to DIY your basement. I’m going to cover off in future podcasts the steps I took to complete my basement including framing, electrical, insulation, sub floor/flooring and more. Listen to Poonam and Sats speak about their experiences and challenges. If you are contemplating whether you want to do your basement on your own, listen to this podcast first before starting. The post TT24: Building Your Own Basement appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Smart homes are being a popular DIY project for homeowners. The desire to have everything at the control of their finger tips is often a discussion at social gatherings. They are in ooh and ahh of all the gadgets I have in my house. From being able to control my video door bell, to opening doors or turning on or off just about anything in my house is a highly desirable trait for a house moving forward. In this podcast I explore my selected home automation platform and all the connected devices. I also share my top 5 use cases among of sea of hundred, thousands if not millions of options. Consider having your blinds go up and down at certain times of the day, answering your doorbell and opening the door from your smart phone? Ensuring your kids are safe and comfortable around the house especially when they are sleeping? Join me on this podcast to help make your home a smarter home. The post TT23: Make Your Home Smarter appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Early warning signs of a contractor can be subtle at times, but evident at others. As a homeowner you owe yourself and your family the obligation to ensure work is done in a safe and professional way. Failure to do so can cost you lots of money. In this podcast I cover off several early warning signs of a bad contractor. These include: Unlicensed contractors that cannot take out a permit Contracts without plans and therefore no direction Contractors that ask for large sums of money upfront Loan Wolves Contractors unfamiliar with completion payment contracts Unsatisfactory references Tune into the podcast as I elaborate more on each of these and provide some real life examples on how these can cost homeowners tons of money if they are ignored. Remember you have to ensure you protect yourself because the contractor will not look out for your best interest if they are questionable contractors. aarp delta dental insurance The post TT22: Early Warning Signs of a Bad Contractor appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Kitchen renovations are considered to be one of the best renovation projects in terms of payback. The kitchen is the heart of the home and often contributes significantly to whether a buyer will purchase the home or not. I know I have covered off kitchen renovations in the past but I want to provide you some feedback on a second major remodel that I did in an old 1920s style home and the return on investment associated with it. The cabinets were built in meaning there were no cabinet boxes to be removed. These were literally built in. The cabinets were old, dated and needed to be replaced for me to make this an attractive buy. Here is a look at what the existing cabinets looked like at this home. The Before Picture of Kitchen Renovation   As you can see the kitchen is dated and very small. Notice all the available space above the stove and fridge? That is all potential space to provide more storage space and make the sell more attractable. Here is an image of the demo process. Demo I met with my kitchen cabinet fabricator who gave me an awesome deal on some custom kitchen cabinets. We agreed on the drawing and the final product for the kitchen is the following The After Picture of Kitchen Renovation   In this image we expanded the kitchen cabinets, made them more modern and gave the kitchen some life. Keep in mind the backsplash has yet to be added so the kitchen will have even more flare once completed. Furthermore we found the wall tiles were dated and made the kitchen look out of place. We opted to add a wainscot headboard panel. Keep in mind this still needs 2-3 more coats before its ready. I don’t have images of the old tiles but here is what the rehab looks like for this kitchen Wainscoting     At the end of the project we spent about $12,000 on this kitchen reno. The appraisal value from  a few agents averaged to about a $26,000 increase in equity. If this house sells at least 26K higher than originally anticipated, i look to make nearly 14K in value for about 1 month of effort. Good luck with your reno and be sure to listen to this episode to hear some tups and tricks. The post TT21: Kitchen Renovation Return on Investment appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Before I get into my five tips to designing the ultimate nursery, I have to say i’m delighted to be back and humbled by all the emails I got over the past few months. Yes I’ve been MIA for the past few months because life got super busy with my twins who just turned a year not to long ago. When they hit around 8 months life went on fast forward with them, work got super busy and now finally life has come back to somewhat of a steady state phew!! Thanks to all who actually wrote to me asking to continue my podcast, its surreal to see that our audience actually want me to produce more high quality content. So i’m back again with my next podcast and its dedicated to those that are soon to be parents or new parents thinking about designing their nursery. So here are all the tips that I can possibly share with you. When my wife and I found out that we were having twins, it was an amazing feeling. It really started to hit home when it came time to designing the nursery. Sure there were some mistakes we made but we learned quickly. Here are my Five Tips to Designing the Ultimate Nursery You would be surprised with how much sorting you need to do with a newborn from clothes to onesies, diapers, bibs, wipes, jackets, hats…i can go on and on. It’s very important to keep things sorted for babies. We designed our closet keeping in mind we have twins. We delegated the left side to our son and right side to our daughter. We learned quickly the need to split uppers from lowers because your baby may spit up just about anywhere. The middle columns were used for diapers and wipes     To the left of this part of the closet I designed a few shelves and drawers for bibs, onesies, socks, hats and baskets for toys. In case you little one decides to enter the room, you have to make the closet baby proof. I used soft clothes drawers, rounded all my edges and corners and installed locks on the inside of all drawers. So planning when designing your closet is key. 2. Safety of children is obviously top priority when designing a living space for them. When it comes to safety window blinds come to mind as a potential hazard for your child. According to Consumer Product Safety Commission that they have seen a case at least once a month where a child has been hanged to death spanning decades through window blind chords. When we purchased the house we had window blinds with chords but were quick to replace them with cordless thermal blinds. First it not only eliminates the threat of strangulation but also acts to keep warm air in during the cold season and vice versa during the summer. 3. A product that I swear by is called Angelcare. This product essentially monitors your baby’s breathing and if your baby for some unknown reason stop breathing it will alert you. It works by placing a sensor pad under the mattress. I will warn you when your baby is tiny they may move to one end of the bed and off the pad which will trigger it. But to be honest i’d rather a negative reading every now and then vs something happening to my children. Definitely a worth while investment 4. In addition to providing a safe environment for your baby, you should also provide a comfortable place for them. For that reason i’ve installed a humidity sensor and temperature sensor. The temp sensor is connected my Nest thermostat so if it goes too low or high, my nest will trigger. We also have a whole home humidifier so I can adjust accordingly as well. If you don’t have a whole home humidifier, no problem you can pick up a standalone unit from your local store that sells baby gear. Here is one that I know a friend has and she really finds it helpful. 5. Last is install a dimmer that you can control with a remote. The dimmer is important because when you enter the room you don’t want to startle you baby with a full blast of light. Now I strongly recommend one that can be controlled from a remote because I’ve found myself in a scenario several times when I’m with one of my twins, on the rocking chair and the need to shut the lights completely when my baby falls asleep. Before I get up to put them in the crib, i want to ensure everything is in place to keep the comfortable otherwise you may find yourself repeating the process if they are in any discomfort and start to cry again. I’ve personally installed the Lutron Cassette with Pico remote which works flawlessly.   Well guys I hope this podcast has helped some of you out there. Stay tuned for may more podcasts on the way!   The post TT20: Five Tips to Designing the Ultimate Nursery appeared first on Tool and Tie.

So you’ve decided you want to create a mancave? excellent choice. I’m actually in the process of creating a mancave myself. Now to really have a mancave there are 5 key things you need to have in order to earn the title of “mancave”. In the absence of these 5 key items, you just have a basement, not a mancave. You need some kind of kegerator or some kind beer dispenser. My pick is the bottoms up dispenser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZ08QvOFMc You need some kind of sports centre that allows your guests to kick back and have that sports bar feeling. You can purchase a pool table, dart board table, ping pong table and a whole lot more. If you really feel crafty you can make your own. here is a link to making a pool table: http://www.hgtv.com/design/rooms/other-rooms/how-to-build-a-pool-table You can google how to make any other items if you choose the DIY route. You need some kind of entertainment system. Built in surround sound in your walls or ceiling is an awesome addition A secret haven. Every guys needs a space where you can just hang out and relax. You can create this secret space behind an entertainment wall or bookcase. Again you can google some awesome ideas for a secret place for you guys You need a gym down there to keep in shape. Whether you are in great shape or sub par shape, it doesn’t matter. You need something where you can lift some weights before those guests come over or before you head out on a Friday night. You need to get those muscles activated and the cardio on to feel better and do better in general. If you want more details tune into this week’s podcast for more details. The post TT19: Five Mancave Must Have’s appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Finishing a basement can be an exciting but sometimes scary process. There are so many things that can go wrong if you aren’t careful or hire somebody who isn’t careful in getting the work done. While designing a basement can see multiple configurations, there are a few key fundamental things anybody looking to finishing a basement should look into before starting. Tune in to this weeks podcast to listen to my five basement finishing tips to help you get the work done properly the first time and avoid costly renovations down the line. The post TT18: Five Basement Finishing Tips appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Many people have been contemplating whether they should cut the cord. The big question is whether they can stay away from that oh so convenient TV guide and the tons and tons of channels that come with those expensive cable packages. We contemplated the same and the result? Tune in to this weeks podcast as we share our experience with cutting the cord. I’ll speak to you about the pros, cons, alternatives, how life is without cable and more important what my wife had to say! In this podcast I refer to several different products and services. Below is a link to the most important items that helped me get up and running with life without cable. We cut the cable, are you ready to do so as well? Helpful Links HD Homerun Antenna’s Direct DB8e Antenna Raspberry Pi Kit Netflix Hulu   The post TT17: Cut the Cord appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Wouldn’t it be just great to get up in the morning and not have to beat traffic to make it to work in time? Well that possibility may exist for you depending on how diligent you are with your craft. Welcome to the 21st century where a large number of transactions are online driven. What if I told you that you can sell your stuff online and make a healthy margin? I’ve sold coffee tables, dining tables, cutting boards at margins of 50% to 1000%. If you’re interested then read on. I’ve sold a lot of my creations online and i’ll share with you some of the places where i’ve found great clientele that were willing to pay the prices that I commanded. 1) Etsy.com is a great place to sell your craft. Whether it be earnings, a coffee table, or even toys, etcy is definitely something you want to check out. It has an enormous online presence and provides access to millions of customers. 2) Cragslist is another great way sell your already made products. Its free to list and you get access to a very large number of clientele. The thing to watch out for craigslist is the clientele will be looking for value hence lower prices. Be careful of what you put on craigslist because you don’t want to erode your margins. 3) Custommade.com is another popular website that connects people looking for custom work with those that can create their desired piece. Customers submit pictures or drawings of what they are looking for and a “maker” will go ahead and provide a quote to design what they are looking for in an efficient manner. The caveat is this is only available in the US at the moment. Tune in to the podcast for this week to hear about the rest of the online resources that can help drive volume for you business. The post TT016: Make Money Selling your Craft Online appeared first on Tool and Tie.

In this weeks episode, I tackle 5 key questions that came from you, the audience. First off I want to thank you for taking the time to ask me these questions and second Poonam picked these questions because they resonate with a larger audience. Please continue to send me questions to sats@toolandtie.com or send me a free voicemail using speak pipe. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this week’s episode The post TT015: Your Questions Answered appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Seeding vs. Sodding, the decision that most home owners face when spring kicks around. It’s one of those decisions that tests your budget and patience. We recently took on our own backyard project and chose one over the other, which one? read on… The decision of whether to seed or sod can be a confusion and frustrating one. Typically seeding your backyard requires some prep, seeding, some kind of top coat to keep the birds away and a lot of watering. The time for the seeds to germinate and grow can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks depending on your sold condition and location. Sodding on the hand is instant turf. You can lay it down in one afternoon and keep the benefits the next day (although you should be jumping on it right away). Installing sod can be quite tricky sometimes. If your backyard isn’t perfectly level, you may need to lay down some soil to help bring it to level. You need to install you sod tightly with one another otherwise you will see some dry spots which doesn’t look too appealing. Other than the process, the cost is a big factor for some on whether you seed or sod. A roll of sod costs about $3-$5 depending on where you purchase it. The same area provided by one role of sod would cost about $1 in seed to cover. So if your lawn is very big, the costs can add up. The costs above are assuming you do it yourself. If you get someone to install it for you, the costs will only go up from there. Here is the video I used to lay down sod in my backyard   Whether you choose to seed or sod you need to provide you lawn with water daily at first. I don’t know about you but I do work and it gets challenging to water my lawn everyday. So to help me out, I installed a railbird DIY irrigation system with a timer that will water my lawn unto two times daily at the times and days that I specify. Installation was fairly straight forward and it takes the worry away from me for having to remember to water the lawn every time. For those interested in the Rainbird here is the link to it on amazon. Checkout the podcast for more details and don’t forget to subscribe to get some of our awesome freebies. The post TT014: Seed vs. Sod & DIY Home Irrigation appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Taking a vacation? Did you know some of the biggest disasters in your home could occur when you’re away. From water damage to theft, home owners that left for a beautiful vacation would be coming home a disaster. There are however a few things a homeowner can do to minimize their chances of walking home to a disaster. Here are some tips: 1) Turn off your main water valve. You would be surprised at the number of homeowners that have commented on their pipes bursting while on vacation (google it). When a water pipe bursts, it can be a very unsettling feeling if it happens in front of you. Imagine nobody there to turn your water off. All those hardwood floors, furniture and other valuables getting soaked and damaged. The cost for water repair could be as small as a few hundred dollars to replacement of your entire structure. The other benefit of doing this is, if you are the unlikely victim of a burst pipe, your insurance premiums would likely skyrocket and your water damage coverage could be limited or removed all together. 2) We also turn off our gas valves for our fireplace and stove. This is again a small precaution we take in case there are any gas leaks. In addition to gas leaks we also unplug any electrical devices, again for precautions. 3) It’s always a good idea to let neighbors, friends, family and your alarm company know you’re going away on vacation. Have someone check in with your house just to make sure everything is ok. The garage is actually a very common place thief’s break into to get access to your home. Check out this video on the 6 second break in and how to prevent this from happening to you. 4) Last, if you’re into some technology, consider getting a home automation system that you can use to point cameras, put your lights on vacation mode and add door and window sensors. Here is a cool video to help you understand how the Belkin Wemo works. To find out more details about some of the tips stated above, click below to listen to the full podcast. Hopefully this will help you better manage your vacation plans and increase the odds to come back to your home just the way you left it.   Important Links Belkin Wemo Plug Belkin Wemo Light Switch Wink Home Automation Smartthings Home Automation The post TT013: Home Tips While on Vacation appeared first on Tool and Tie.

In this episode I talk about flipping properties and reflect back on our experience. When you are looking to flip properies for families as opposed to investors (covered in the last podcast), you always want to try to make an emotional connection with future purchasers. When you look to invest for investors to purchase your property, they look at maximizing rental revenue and are less focussed on the detailed asthetics. Unlike homeowners, they are less emotionally invested as a result over investing can be a sunk cost, When looking to build an emotional connection with your purchasers, there are three key areas that have worked well for us when looking at where to put those investment dollars. First is the heart of the house which happens to be your kitchen. You want to stay on a budget of course but dont be afriad to invest a little more in this area. When a new homeowner purchases a home, they want it to be move in ready. So if you go the extra mile, homeowners will reward you for this investment. The next area in the home you want to consider is the bathroom. This is sometimes a make or break for homeowner seekers. Again, they want to minimize any work when purchasing a home. If you have the work done in advance, they will reward you for the work. Last is ensure your property is decently landscaped. Sometimes homeowners wont even step inside your home if it doesnt look decent on the outside. Often times the perception is if you take care of the outside of your home, there is a good chance you will take care of the inside. Also when looking to sell your home, dont forget the option of hiring a staging a company. Sometimes they can decorate the room in a way that would open options for homeowner, who may be willing to pay a bit more in light of what the staging shows them. I have found that staging services have worked well for us in the past. Well that’s about for this episode folks. Be sure to listen to the podcast or send me a note at sats@toolandtie.com The post TT012: Flipping Properties appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Flipping properties can sometimes be a daunting task. Without the proper background on understanding your audience, homeowners can sometimes make unnecessary investments that can spiral their investment down the toilet. Homeowners can spend a ton of money on kitchen renovations or bathrooms to spruce them up. Most of the time they consider what others buyers would like if they were to purchase this home down the road to justify their renovation costs. However, majority of homeowners often exclude a core subset of buyers: the investors. There are investors out there that will purchase home with the intent of never living in it, but rather renting it only. If you live in a popular neighborhood with little options for income suits in your neighborhood, then your home may be the diamond in the rough to these investors. I’ve had some personal experience with income suites in an older home that we renovated. We spent about $23k in a basement renovation, which afforded us the ability to charge rent of $1500/month (what would have been $1050 before the reno) and a local realtor appraised the home to be valued at $30,000 more than before the renovation. We didn’t do anything fancy nor did we splurge on expensive décor. We simply made the unit code compliant, safe and habitable, which simply paid off. We invested 23,000 and the payback was $30,000 (in 3 months) plus an incremental $450/month in rent (1500-1050) for 9 months. The total profit in 12 months was $34050. ROI = 34050/23000 = 148%. We assume your expenses would remain unchanged before or after the reno. If they do change you can simply subtract them from the investment gain (numerator) to calculate your ROI. IRR = 12%, no bank is going to give you 12% in a year. So overall we agree that income suites are one of the most profitable home renovations least in our experience. The post TT011: Investment Properties appeared first on Tool and Tie.

When selecting flooring options for your home, home owners are typically faced with the dilemma of flooring style and the various options. In this episode, I talk about the various flooring options, where to use them and where not to use them. I don’t cover installation options because I prefer that be covered in a future episode. In this episode, I want to strictly focus on the various options and give you my perspective on selecting the best options for various rooms in your home. The post TT 010: Flooring Options appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Home automation has come a long way over the last 3-5 years. The term Internet of things (IoT) has become a buzz word as of late. There are many home automation systems out there including Wink, Smart things, staples connect, Revolv etc. However I have been exclusively using the Wink platform and I’m about to give you the skinny on whether your should buy or not When looking at a product, I base it on five main criteria which include: 1) Ease of Use 2) Assortment of Products 3) Performance 4) Security 5) Customer Service 1) The Wink hub is quite easy to use when you get it to connect. They have an iOS and android platform that can be used to help pair devices to the wink hub. They have a great graphic interface however pairing devices isn’t always a walk in the park. Sometimes you have to call into their customer service who will walk you through issues and help you pair but even that could be a half a days of effort. For example my lutron light switches connected fine, but getting my schlage lock and GE bulbs were a task. Overall I would rate their ease of use a 3/5. 2) The wink hub has an impressive number of devices that it can pair to out of the box. It has several antennas built in including lutron, Leviton, Bali, schlage, and Nest to name a few. When comparing to other products on the market it has one of the best assortment of products that it supports. The one big bummer is that it does not support Wemo. I spoke to the CEO, Ben Kaufman who confirmed in an email that Wemo wasn’t coming to the Wink platform. The other thing that wink lacks is offline support. It requires you to go through their cloud which can slow down that process and in the event your internet goes down, render the hub useless. Having said all of this, I would rate their assortment a 4/5. 3) Performance over the past few months started to deteriorate in my option. Every new hub update requires some kind of compromise on performance. Sometimes my locks don’t work and other times my lights are not responsive. I’ve emailed and called Wink several times and although their best intention is to help, I often walk away a little frustrated with the time commitment to get it to work. Performance for me is a 2/5 4) Security is quite obviously important to me. I would certainly say the wink hub is fairly secure. So secure that a few months ago, Wink had an embarrassing occurrence where they pushed out a firmware update that prevented the hub from communicating with the wink server. This really irritated thousands of wink hub users who had to ship their device back to wink to “unbrick” or use a DNS solution to repair it. When the manufacturer gets locked out of the hub, you know it’s maybe too secure. To their credit they did give out $50 gift cards to their online store but that still didn’t go to well with others given their already inflated store costs and ridiculously high shipping costs. I would give security a 5, but their boob move a few months ago earn them a strong 4/5 5) Last but not least is customer service. I’ve compared customer service between that of Wink and its competitors and I have to say wink does have one of the best customer service. You can reach them on Facebook, Twitter or phone and they seem to be responsive. Email on the other hand is very slow. I genuinely felt that they wanted to help you resolve issues with your hub and connected devices and would spend hours to help you resolve the issues. Also it depends on who you talk to over at wink. I have spoken to some folks that are questionable but overall I was content. Relative to their competitors I give wink a 5/5 on customer service. The overall tally is 18/25. So would I buy it? If you are able to get the wink hub on a deal like buy some lights and get the hub for $0.99 then it’s worth it. However for the $50 price tag, I would not buy it strictly because of the performance. They way the wink hub is trending may evidentially be a $50 paperweight in about 6 months. If they are to turn around their act, they may win back old customers that have since turned elsewhere. The post TT 009: Home Automation – Wink Review appeared first on Tool and Tie.

In this episode we cover off wainscoting and our journey down wainscot lane. Wainscoting adds a beautiful element to any home that brings out a rich look and a pop that leaves visitors in awe of your beautiful home. To give you an idea of the possibilities behind wainscoting, here is a before and after look of our wall. Here is a picture of our wall before wainscoting. Now here is an image of our wainscoting after   Notice in this instance, I’ve added in a thicker door trim and swapped out the baseboards. This covers only but 9 feet of the entire project. So let me show you how to put this together on the opposite walls. Now in the podcast I mentioned different joinery methods whether you use glue, tongue and groove, or the keg jig system. I mentioned board and batten but that was my mistake. Board and batten is a particular look for the panels (whoops). We opted to use the Kreg joinery system. Basically drill pocket holes behind the wood, connect them together and nail them to the wall like this: There are three stiles in the picture above, a rail on the top and the baseboard (some would consider this just a thicker stile). Once you connect those pieces just nail them to a wall. I use a nail gun but you can use a nail and hammer if you have a lot of time. Always ensure the rails and stiles are level and plumb before nailing it in. Next I chose to prime the wood just to see what it would look like (sometimes I get excited and do silly things). This is not necessary at this stage but I really wanted to get one wall done. Here is what it looks like: Next, we opted to put in moulding in between the panels. See below for an example: You can purchase a long strip of moulding (usually 8 feet) for around $5. You would mitre this at a 45 degree angle and then join the ends. Once you have done that for each box, you will now start priming your wainscot. Something like this: Another tip is to paint the top colour before you stick on the wainscot. We learned this the hard way after the fact: Notice how on the far wall we pre-painted the top so when the wainscot goes on we only need to worry about touch up: Once that is done, its now time to add on the baseboard and paint   Finally, add some decorative art and swap out that ugly light fixture (most people didn’t even notice) and you’ll end up with a beautifully done wainscot wall   Now finally my rail and stile calculator has worked for so many people already. I am offering this calculator for free for my subscribers. All you have to do is register on the side bar and you will begin to receive all my freebies including my project plan and my rail and stile calculator. The post TT 008: Wainscoting appeared first on Tool and Tie.

In this episode, Poonam and I will be talking about accent walls. There are so many options on the market today that picking and choosing the right one can sometimes be a task. So in this podcast we aim to simplify things as much as we can. More specifically, we cover off horizonal, vertical, painted, faux brick, wall paper and removeable wall paper. Here are some examples of each type of accent wall: Faux Wall Vertical Stripes help add height to the room Horozontal Stripes helps add width to the room Paintable and removalable wall paper with texture Accent walls are a great way to add a focal point to the room. You have to pick which wall you want to have as your accent and ensure that wall remains the focal point. Accessorizing the room too much can take away from the focal point and confuse people that walk into the room.   The post TT 007: Accent Walls appeared first on Tool and Tie.

What is cooking guys? This week I’m excited to be sharing some technology tips for you home improvement enthusiasts out there. I’m actually going to dedicate this week’s episode to an app that I absolutely love using to help me design and visualize my space. The app is called Interior Design for iPad made by Black Mana Studios. As a note, I get no monetary compensation for promoting this app, I just like it so much that I had to share. The reason why I like this app so much and opted to use it over some of its competitors (all of which I own by the way), is due to its simple design and powerful user interface. In one app you are able to visualize and design with ease.  If you recall in episode 4 I spoke about the before and after of my kitchen with pictures of the before and after. What I didn’t share with you was my design in the app. Below is an image of my first design for my kitchen.   Now this was my first version. Again if you go to episode 4 you’ll get an idea of what the kitchen looked like before. The kitchen actually looked very similar to the one above except on the left we opted for a desk over more pantry space. I designed this kitchen with the app in just under a few hrs. There is a 2D interface that lets you draw the rooms and then you can zoom in for a 3D view. I liked this app so much that I contacted the CEO of Black Mana Studios to give them a virtual high five. I spoke to Aki who runs the company over there and Aki told me about their newest generation of software called Tap Glance. This is a relatively new tool that helps you create a 3D almost real life render of your design. The design above was later modified to more accurately reflect what the kitchen looks like today. Below is a picture of the design in Tap Glance. They opted to use Tap Glance over Interior Design app because it has higher detailed models and materials. So here is what my design looks like in Tap Glance.   The purpose of Tap Glance is it takes an image like the one above and converts it into a real life looking picture. So Aki helped me render this image and here was the result   When I saw this rendered image I was nearly taken a back. I had to look closely to determine if this was really a shot of my kitchen or a high quality 3D render. Now to give you more perspective, here is what my kitchen actually looks like today.   The image is almost bang on. You may notice some subtle differences like the vent cap or the crown moulding but otherwise i’ve never seen a more realistic render of any space in my house like I have seen with Tap Glance. So for those who want to get a real life image of what your vision could look like, Tap Glance is a great solution. For others who are looking for a simple 3D design to visualize space, Interior Design app is  still a great choice. A big thanks to Aki over at Black Mana Studios for introducing me to Tap Glance and providing some visuals for our audience to see. Also congrats to them for having strong rating for the Interior Design app in the app store. If you want to find out more about Tap Glance, you can visit them online. For any questions please don’t hesitate to send me a note at Sats@toolandtie.com The post TT 006: Interior Design App appeared first on Tool and Tie.

Want to Build Your Own Cabinets? This episode is jam packed with some great details on how to build your own cabinets. You know I spent nearly $25,000 on my kitchen cabinets and counter tops. Had I known what I know today about building cabinet, I could have saved almost half that amount with no big difference to overall quality. How? By finding the courage to take on this task on my own. Will it extend the timeline? definitely, will it be a lot of work? without a doubt yes it will, can you do this project? With the right tools and the right attitude you absolutely can do this on your own. My Crack at the Cabinets When I first got started with cabinet construction, I had no idea what to do and how to start. My biggest concern was quality and since we were looking to do a built in desk, I didn’t really have an option to take it out without destroying the whole thing so my nerves were definately tense. Unfortunately I couldn’t located the before picture but truthfully my process started with a visit to the local home improvement store by looking at the cabinet construction. I also looked at the cabinets that went into my kitchen and thought to myself that this couldn’t be hard. So I checked out some video’s on youtube and had to recommend the ones by Kreg (I don’t get anything from Kreg for endorsing their product, I just believe its a great tool) and took my first crack at it.     Hopefully those video’s helped you. Some of the tips in the video are somewhat advanced especially adding the veneer around the door. All these are optional. The point of the video is to help you get familiarized with the Kreg tool and cabinet construction.  In terms of the door, I wanted to make a shaker style door. Here is what my door/drawer design looked like for the desk Now there are a few ways to make shaker style doors. You could 4 pieces of 1×3 popular wood and make a frame out of it using pocket screws and then attach a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to the back or you can use a tongue and groove set to make a tongue and groove joinery (see helpful links again). Again you connect the four using tongue and groove and slot in a 1/4 plywood piece in between. Making these doors was a lot easier than I expected especially if you decide to make the door using the four pieces and the plywood on the back. Whether you are making doors or drawers the concept is the same Cabinet Construction Next you want to put together the cabinets. Again this was a little easier than expected and since this was my first time making them I elected to use a Kreg Jig which is an awesome pocket hole jig. You will also need pocket hole screws which you can pick up for a few dollars from your hardware store. I also used my Dewalt cordless circular saw to cut the plywood sheet down but you can always get the plywood pre cut based on your measurements at the hardware store. Once I had everything cut, I drilled some pocket whole screws and then put the cabinets together. Below is a picture of my cabinets in the basement Notice in this picture I also made some drawers. This was just 1/2 plywood that I screwed together and nailed a 1/4 sheet of plywood on the bottom. If you look at the drawers you will see these rivets on the sides. Thats where the pocket screws go to screw in the sides. They won’t show because they will be covered up by the drawer front as shown below Now that I had my base cabinets put together I wanted to see how well they looked with paint. So I took the drawers off, sanded them, make sure the seems on the drawer fronts and cabinet doors were completely sanded down. I then added the first coat of primer. Below is what it looks like after the first coat of primer. I used a Wagner spray gun to spray on the white paint. I used Benjamin Moore Advance paint which creates a beautiful look. I did two coats of primer and 3 coats of paint. The seems are completely undetectable. To finish off the cabinets I added two coats of a water based polyurethane with a sand in between the two. We used 3/4 plywood for the top of the desk, again primer and Benjamin Moore Advance paint with a polyurethane to seal it. My wife also liked the accent faux brick look so that was added. The end result is below DIY Can Save You Big The contractor quotes were on average $4500 for the complete job. I was able to do the entire job for less than $800. If you add in some of the additional work such as the faux brick, chalk paint etc the cost was just under $1000. A savings of over $3000. You Can Do It Too This was my first time taking a crack at this kind of work. The quality in our opinion is no different than what a contractor would give you. In this case you can atlas say you did the work on your own. If you’re not comfortable taking on the work yourself ask a friend to help. Sometimes it becomes a fun weekend project. Make some cabinets for storage, something to put in the basement or the garage. Helpful Links Kreg Jig Dewalt cordless circular saw My Drill set for the pocket hole jig but any drill will do Wagner spray gun   As always feel free to send me a note at Sats@ToolandTie.com   The post TT 005: Build Your Own Custom Cabinets appeared first on Tool and Tie.