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what's you specialty?

topic posted Wed, January 26, 2005 - 9:22 PM by 
Hi all.

Is there a handy skill of which you are especially proud? Mistress of many?

My most handy skill is decorative painting.. fancy faux finishes & such... and when someone says.. "can't be done" I like to figure out a way that it CAN.

How 'bout you?
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  • Dale
    Dale
    offline 49

    Re: what's you specialty?

    Thu, January 27, 2005 - 8:50 PM
    I'm pretty proud of my carpentry/drilling skills! I'm still scared of power saws, so I let the lumberyard do the cutting!

    I've made a rocking sectional for my livingroom and a deck. I hired someone to put ramps in my house - he was shocked when I told him that I built the deck myself.
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  • Jezebel
    Jezebel
    offline 106

    Re: what's you specialty?

    Wed, March 30, 2005 - 5:11 PM
    I'm a damn good decorator. I can take what I have and make it all go together in a room in a way that makes it feel finished.
    I'm also a pretty good painter.

    Mistress of all trades, master of none; I can fix all kinds of daily emergencies but wouldn't know where to start with a remodeling.
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  • Lisa
    Lisa
    offline 13

    Re: what's you specialty?

    Thu, March 31, 2005 - 4:33 AM
    I'm pretty proud of my carpentry/woodworking skills. And I have done lots of remodeling stuff. I would like to learn some plumbing stuff, though.
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    • Mere...
      Meredith
      offline 21

      Re: what's you specialty?

      Thu, March 31, 2005 - 4:34 PM
      I can say with complete sincerity: Paint Stripping.

      This was a skill I knew nothing about. . . until I decided to paint a dark color onto existing trim in a room. There was so much paint, varnish, polyurithane and oils on the trim- that the paint wouldn't stick to it at all-even after sanding. So I decided to strip it down to bare wood.

      1 month later. . .


      Seriously, I tried every paint stripper on the market, and heat guns, everything for all the moldings and trim in the whole room, and ended up refinishing the floor while I had all the crap in my house. I ended up finding out that under 7 coats of paint, 2 coats of varnish and 2 top coats of polyurithane the trim work was actually solid oak. So I stained it the dark color I had wanted to paint in the first place, and it looks AWESOME!

      So, I can strip anything now, I'm not afraid of old paint. :)

      ~smile~
      Meredith

      P.S. This project is now the reason I'm not allowed to start stuff in the apartment without telling my boyfriend first. The room was seriously torn up for almost 2 months.
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      • Re: what's you specialty?

        Thu, March 31, 2005 - 6:39 PM
        yuppers.. longterm torn up living space is a remodeling hazard :).

        grats on the stripping; it's hard work... how nice you had great wood under all that paint!

        I've been avoiding mine since I moved in (13 years ago..wow!!), but am gearing up to do it this summer.
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