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Before starting your next paint job, have your tools ready. For the prep, you'll need putty, a putty knife, sandpaper, masking tape, drop cloths, wash buckets, rags and liners. You may also need a step ladder for those hard to reach areas. Of course, you will also need the right brushes and rollers for the job.

Don't throw out that rusty old patio furniture - salvaging it can be a great weekend project. Use a wire brush or sandpaper to remove all the rust and flaky paint.Wash and dry it, then give it a good coat of metal primer. Choose a good outdoor metal paint and apply a couple coats. Invest a little elbow grease and you've got something worth saving.

For a designer look in your bathroom, try using cultured marble. It's easy to work with because it's made of real marble dust mixed with plastic resins. It's lighter in weight than real marble and less expensive too. To cut, use a rotary saw with a masonry blade, and smooth the edges with sandpaper. Use a panel adhesive to attach the sheets to the wall and brace them firmly overnight. Remember to use safety glasses and a respirator when working with cultured marble.

For a great finish on your painting projects, start by preparing the surface the right way. First, counter-sink any finish nails. Then fill all holes and imperfections with a fast drying wood fill. Caulk and smooth all cracks and seams. Sand the surface smooth with fine sandpaper, and seal any knots with a clear shellac to prevent resins from bleeding through your finish paint.

With use, a hammer's head will become smooth and may cause the hammer to slip off the heads of the nails. An easy fix is to rub the hammer head on a sheet of sandpaper to dull down the surface. This will allow for more traction between the hammer and nail.

Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. You can literally cut corners on jobs like installing crown molding with the ingenious coped joint. Instead of calculating miter and bevel for all the angles in a room, save that for the outside corners, which you see most. For inside corners, you can cope the joint. First, install two parallel walls of crown without calculating any angles; just cut them square to the adjoining walls. Ensure a great fit by cutting those first pieces just slightly too long and springing them into place. After you ve cut the adjoining pieces at a 45-degree angle, coping the joint simply means removing the meat behind the leading edge so it will fit perfectly against the profile of the first piece. First, you mark the leading edge with the side of a pencil so you don t lose it as you re cutting. While a coping saw is the traditional tool to use, if you re having trouble, check that the blade is tight or try reversing it so the teeth face the wrong way. Or, here s a hot tip: Use a 4 1/2-inch handheld grinding tool with a flexible sanding attachment to quickly grind away the back of the joint. To clear any remaining imperfections, attach sandpaper with spray adhesive to a short section of molding, following its contours. Run this along the coped edge to clear any remaining obstacles to the perfect joint. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008