Ready-Made Standoff Strips
Updated: Sep. 30, 2021Use carpet tack strips as finishing standoffs.
Simple alternative to tradition standoffs
When I’m painting or finishing items and need to keep them off the table’s surface, I use carpet tack strips. They’re cheap, reusable, and I can cut them to whatever length I need. — Jim Feldner
Learn how to make some finishing standoffs to keep in your workshop.
Next, check out 40 projects you can get done over a long weekend:
Remove Wallpaper
Set aside a full long weekend for this messy, tedious project. It's not the most fun DIY project you'll ever do, but the time and effort you put in to removing wallpaper the right way, repairing any drywall damage and prepping the clean surface for paint will be well worth it in the end. Here, we'll show you the best way to remove wallpaper.
Build a Fold-Up Workbench
Every good workshop (even if it's just a sliver of your garage) needs a quality workbench with ample storage. Begin this space-saving starter workbench in the morning, and you'll be using it to work on projects by the evening! Check out our step-by-step directions.
Umbrella Table
Sipping a cool drink in the shade of a patio umbrella is the ideal way to spend a hot afternoon. And this stylish umbrella table (and how to build a table story) will set your umbrella off beautifully and provide a stable base to avoid accidents when the wind picks up.You’ll need moderate skills to complete this project. For example, using pocket screws and operating a miter saw, but you should be able to finish it over a weekend.
Seal the Driveway
An asphalt driveway can last almost 30 years. But you can’t achieve that long life span unless the driveway was installed properly and you perform regular maintenance, like filling cracks annually and driveway sealing when needed. It's not a glamorous project, but it's a must-do when you have some extra time.
Install a Simple Stone Path
Instead of an expensive, labor-intensive formal path, save money and time with one of these casual garden paths. They'll blend in better and will look like they've been in your garden forever.
Kitchen Stool
Kitchen stools can be incredibly helpful for reaching the upper cabinets if you, or someone you love, are vertically challenged. This particular one is designed in the shaker-style and features two steps and dowel joinery. However, the most important step in the construction is the use of a router and template to create the side parts. All you need is a router with a top-bearing flush-trim bit and you too can make this useful kitchen stool.
Garden Arbor
This combination arbor and swing may look like a challenging, weeks-long project, but it’s not. If you can drive screws and handle a saw, you can build it in a weekend.
Completely Organize Your Garage
Is 'clean up the garage' always on your to-do list? You can check it off in just one long weekend with these DIY tips and projects. We'll show you how to clean the garage floor, create storage space for all of your stuff and more.
Classic Wooden Cart
If you enjoy gardening but not making multiple trips to collect tools, fertilizer, flats of plants, mulch, a garden hose and a weed bucket, you’ll love this simple cart. It’s lightweight and easy to maneuver, but it works like a heavyweight. It’s easy to build with these step-by-step plans.
Remove a Wall
People are always asking remodeling contractors, 'Can I remove this wall?' And the answer is, 'Yes, any wall can be removed. But there are a lot of factors that affect the difficulty and cost of the job.' We'll explain these factors, including how to tell if the wall is load bearing, what hidden costs you may encounter, and what professional services you'll need to hire to get the job done.
Build A Folding Adirondack Chair
You’ve fled the office for your special retreat. You change into your comfiest clothes, grab a long book and a tall drink, find a spot with a view and a breeze, and slide into a spacious, comfortable chair. The chair? It’s an Adirondack chair, of course. Our version is designed for maximum comfort. It has a deep seat with a rounded front edge, spacious arms, and a curved, laid-back back. When summer’s gone, fold up the chair for easy moving and storage. You can build these chairs from a variety of wood species. If your chair will live outdoors, redwood, cedar, white oak or Philippine mahogany would be good choices. They can be left unfinished to weather naturally, or given a clear preservative finish. I built mine with cedar, which is lightweight, readily available and moderately priced, check it out!
Put in a Boardwalk
Paths built with concrete, stone or pavers are expensive and labor intensive. They require a lot of digging, hauling of tons of materials and the disposal of tons of soil. If you’re looking for an easier path, consider a wooden walkway, especially for wet or sloped sites.
Build a Sliding Pegboard Storage System
If you've got a couple of hours to hang out in your shop on Saturday morning, you can build this brilliant pegboard storage system. This project takes workshop storage to a whole new level, employing both sides of seven pieces of pegboard, all housed inside a compact box. Check out the step-by-step photos, instructions, tech art and a how-to video.
Create Storage Space
The space behind a door often gets wasted, but with a little ingenuity, you can turn it into a handy storage area. Use it for storing cleaning products (here's a handy kitchen cleaning checklist), storing small utensils mini bakeware items, or even as extra space for small food storage containers. And because the back is made from pegboard, you can hang items as well.
Cantilever End Table
It's always fun to add flair to a room with new furniture, but furniture is expensive. This stylish end table, however, won't break the bank, and you can build it in a morning. It's a super clean design—just a box on stilts—that you can customize to suit your needs. Check out how to build this cantilever end table.
Build a Raised Garden Bed
Build a raised garden bed from natural rough-cut stone that blends perfectly into the landscape. Using standard tools and a diamond-grit circular saw blade you can build this project in a long weekend.
Rearrange Your Rooms
Before you start sliding the couch across the living room, decide first which furniture will go where. Sketch a floor plan with the correct measurements of each room, measure your furniture and create your layout. Then, as you move things, you and your helpers can place your furniture in the correct spot and not have to touch it again. Plus: Check out these brilliant tips for moving.
Take Out a Stump
You've been staring at that stump in the front yard for years; it's finally time to remove it! You can remove a stump by renting a power stump grinder, but another way is to buy a can of stump remover (available at most garden or home centers). Most brands are made of powdered potassium nitrate, which speeds up the rotting process.
Improve Drainage in Your Yard
Nurture the land in your yard and protect the environment by channeling rain water and runoff from gutters into a rain garden planted with deep-rooted, colorful native plants. We'll show you how to do it step by step.
Replace Flooring
If the carpet in your living room is looking worn, remove it and install some hardwood flooring.
Make (and Play!) Backyard Games
This classic backyard game is easy and inexpensive to make yourself. And with legs that fold up, it’s easy to tote along for tailgating, camping and more. Plus, watch the video tutorial for a quick how-to!
Paint a Room
Choose a paint color and give a room a fresh look. If you have a few days off strung together, painting is a quick project to complete, so you can get things back in order ASAP.
Stacking Totes
Have a couple of hours free this weekend? Build these stacking totes using 1/2-in. plywood for an inexpensive and very useful solution for stowing toys, shoes, blankets and other clutter out of sight. Perfect for a kid's room or entryway, these stacking totes will hide a lot of clutter but still keep items easily accessible. Follow the video tutorial, how-to instructions and tech art below to build one (or 10!) of these simple storage containers.
Build an Instant Deck
The simplicity of this ground level deck makes it fast to build. With a helper and all the materials ready to go first thing in the morning, you can have a completed ground level deck before sundown. Get the complete plans for this project here.
Paint Your Doors
Freshly painted doors can make a huge improvement on the look of a home's interior. An airless sprayer simplifies painting in two ways: First, if you want to speed up a job that requires several gallons of paint, you can apply it twice as fast as with a roller or brush. And second, if you want a glass-smooth finish on woodwork or doors, the airless sprayer can lay the paint on flawlessly. We show you how the machine works, good painting techniques and how to avoid mistakes.
Construct a Playhouse for Your Kids
Most playhouses stand empty after the kids get older. But this one won’t. Dave Mensch made it large enough for big kids (or even adults) and finished the interior like a house. Complete with insulation and electricity, it will evolve from a playhouse into a place for sleepovers or a quiet homework spot as his girls grow up. Check out more photos of this playhouse.
Add Design Elements
Create the look of traditional paneled walls for your bedroom or living room with painted MDF strips. For very little money you can completely transform the appearance of your house.
Start Your Lawn Over
This one will take more time than just a long weekend, but if starting your lawn over is a big project on your to-do list this season, getting started with the first steps as soon as possible is very important. Learn how to completely restart your lawn with this step-by-step guide.
Resurface the Garage Floor
Cleaning and resurfacing the floor usually takes one day (on the other hand, clearing out your garage so you can work may take weeks!). As a first-timer, you might achieve a perfectly smooth, flat finish. Or you might end up with a few rough spots and small ridges. But even if your work is far from flawless, you’ll still make a bad floor look much better. And remember this: If you make some major mistakes, you can add a second coat—this time with the benefit of experience.
Build a Garden Closet
If you don’t have room in your yard for a large, freestanding shed, you can still create plenty of space for garden tools with a shed attached to the back or side of the house. This garden closet project is easy to build, even for a beginner. If you’re an experienced builder, you can build this shed in a long weekend.
Clean the Carpet
Dirt is like thousands of little blades that cut carpet fibers. When you walk across a dirty carpet, you grind sharp dirt particles against the yarn, making tiny nicks in the fibers. All that fuzz mixed in with the dirt in your vacuum cleaner bags is your beautiful carpet headed out the door one bag at a time. That's why it's important to deep-clean your carpet once in awhile, and a long weekend is the perfect time to get it done.
Install Cabinet Rollouts
The lower cabinets in your kitchen often waste space, as they're deep and it's hard to bend down to reach right to the back. But custom cabinet rollouts use the space more efficiently and also save your aching muscles from all that bending and reaching. By choosing affordable materials, you can build rollouts to house pots and pans, bakeware, food items like cans and boxes, and even your waste and recycling bins. And check out our other kitchen storage and organization tips to save even more space.
Start a Vegetable Garden
Build a raised bed for planting your favorite veggies, and you'll reap the rewards for many months to come.
Tile a Backsplash
Tiling a backsplash above the counter is one of the easiest ways to upgrade an old, tired kitchen on a tight budget. You can choose from the vast array of handsome ceramic tiles available, including easy-to-install square ones or more difficult mosaic tiles.
Make a Garden Walkway with Mulch
This garden path is as easy to build as it is to look at and walk on. A bundle or two of cedar shakes, a roll of landscape fabric and a few bags of mulch is all it takes. Here's how to do it.
Refinish Hardwood Floors
Sanding hardwood floors might seem like a pros-only project. It’s a big job that creates big disruptions in your household. And then there’s that big, scary sanding machine. But it’s really not that difficult. Our veteran floor finisher will show you how to successfully prep your floors for a new finish.
Fix a Sinking Driveway
It’s normal for asphalt driveways to sink a bit over time. But when your driveway repair has sunk to the point where it’s 4 or 5 in. lower than your garage floor, it’s time to fix it. If you don’t, water will pool in the depression, seep into the soil below, and eventually destroy the driveway.
Finally, Build Your Dream Shed
This shed has a large sliding door on one end to access the 8 x 16-ft. storage area, three windows for lots of light and a front entry door for extra convenience. But the best feature is the large covered porch where you can work on projects or just hang out in the shade with friends. We'll talk you through how to build this dream shed step by step.
Originally Published: June 10, 2019
