• tools for everyone!

    I’m the first to admit that I am not the handiest handyman. However, maybe it’s a gender thing, but I love tools. All kinds of tools, gadgets, anything that will enable me to accidentally do more damage to my house while attempting to switch out a light fixture or thermostat or something else equally simple.

    As we all know, it’s important to have the right tools for the job, and in the interests of making sure you all have the right tools (as well as a jillion useful knicknacks that will come in handy on a regular basis), I’ve added a tool section to our Amazon Astore, replete with a coupla dozen near little doohickeys that you had no idea you needed – but now must have.

    So, should another equally disaster-prone handyman or handywoman in your home require that special holiday gift, look no further.

  • Floorplanner.com – the single most awesome thing I’ve seen all week

    I guarantee you will be as hooked on this as I am. Floorplanner takes those mediocre house-plan / design packages out there (including the really crummy online, browser-specific, super-crashy versions like Home Despot’s) and puts them all to shame. First of all: it works. All the time. In every browser I’ve tried it in. It’s fast, colorful, has an enormous number of colors and patterns available, lots of furniture, easy wall / door / window / angle drawing tools, and it’s just so much darn fun! Plus they are constantly adding new tools and objects. Play with it and email me your best Craftsman creations – I’ll put them up on Flickr!

  • stuff you can’t live without: Mag-o-Grip

    I don’t frequently recommend individual products here, but this is so incredibly useful for anyone who builds, repairs or otherwise tinkers that I had to mention it.

    The Mag-o-grip (not sure about the hyphenation) is basically a magnetic wrist-wrap that lets you keep nails, screws, nuts, bolts, drill bits and other useful metal things on hand. That’s it – so simple I’m amazed it hasn’t been around for 100 years, but I guess truly useful things are often this simple – and not really obvious until you see them. It’s available for about $15 from MDG Tools and various retailers. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of having forgotten nails, nuts and heavy staples shred my shirt pockets and clog up the dryer lint trap…