Construction adhesive will hold just about anything, but sometimes it doesn’t form a strong bond right away. If you need to speed up the adhesion process, the folks at Liquid Nails suggest you try the “venting” method: After gluing the two items together, pull them apart for one minute, and then press them firmly together again. The bond should now be good and tight between them.

Have a nice weekend,

Wyatt Myers
Online Editor, Workbench

When you need to cut a hole in drywall, just crease the sides of an envelope to hold it open and then tape it beneath the opening to catch the dust. This prevents a lot of messy cleanup later on, especially over carpet.

Have a nice weekend,

Wyatt Myers
Online Editor, Workbench

Color-washing is popular in faux-painting circles, and you can put your own spin on it to create the perfect finish for picture frames or any other painted project.

The technique requires two colors of paint: a basecoat (we used black), and a contrasting “color-wash” (we chose a rusty red).You’ll want to use a stiff-bristled chip brush to apply the wash, so the brush strokes stand out.

All you have to do for this technique is prime and basecoat the frame. Now load the chip brush with paint, and dab off the excess. Then brush aggressively in a criss-cross motion to create the brush strokes (Photo, above).

Have a nice weekend,

Wyatt Myers
Online Editor, Workbench

If you ever have to repair a scratch on a piece of furniture, you often have a “problem within a problem” — having to find a close color match for an existing piece of furniture. Often, commercially available stain is close, but not close enough.

There are two solutions to this problem. One option is to take the piece to a local paint or stain shop and have them mix a stain that matches. The other option is to experiment with mixing stains together. And if you mix the stains on a piece of glass above the surface of the furniture you’re trying to match, you can get an immediate sense of whether or not the color mixture will work (Photo, left).

Have a nice weekend,

Wyatt Myers
Online Editor, Workbench