apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I got a slew of projects to get done in the next 30 days including a nursery for my baby due any day now, a small plumbing job for my sink and adding a wall in my bathroom. These tools would be a great way to kick start these projects and to keep me motivated enough to finish.

Well ever since the internet came along 10 years ago , I have been drawn away from hands on projects. Sucked into my computer at work professionally as well as out of work with my own ventures. All I own is a lame 8 volt power drill and a screwdriver. Help reinvent the real me.

I'm just getting started in my fixer upper home, plan on staying here for many years and I am a recent college grad. This would make a great catalyst for all of the projects I have been putting off for a few weeks.

I'm always looking for new tools. We're in the process of renovating a rowhouse in Cambridge MA. We're one year into a five year plan of a near gut renovation. We've done loads of DIY on two previous homes, but this is our biggest project to date.

Before we bought it, it was split into the saddest apartments I've ever seen. In the past year, we've paid people to replace the roof, repoint, rewire and install new HVAC...all while we lived there.

We're done with workmen now and firmly in DIY mode. We've personally demolished walls and removed an entire bathroom. While removing the old cast iron radiator pipes, I found a mummified squirrel under the floor boards. We're patching all the holes left by the HVAC and electrical work. We have no kitchen (but we're in the process of builing sweet custom cabinets). We're planning on refinishing all of the floors ourselves (we've done it before). We've been known to vacuum the bed before turning in for the night.

Maybe I need therapy more than additional tools ;-)

Being a woman, and pretty handy I must say, I can review and let you know if these tools are chick friendly. I have crown molding to install, door knobs, window frames and many other honey-do list items, that have now become, do it yourself if you want them to get done items.

I am the wife of a guy who works in construction/remodeling. He has a lot of power tools. However, he will not let me use them! I need a set of my own so I can tell him he can't use mine!

Blogged ya: http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/11/thursday-edition-of-contests-galore_08.html

I was raised by a very handy man. Growing up watching my dad build decks and gut bathrooms and renovate our kitchen (twice) meant getting bitten by the DIY bug in a big way. Since leaving home, I've gained my own space but lost access to all my favorite toys - the miter and table and wet saws, the compressors and nail guns, even the assortment of drills and dremels.

After two moves in as many years, the newest (to me) place has been mine for a little over a month. There are still boxes piled in the office, unmounted shelves and barren bookcases leaning against walls and pushed into corners, mirrors and artwork still wrapped from transit. Nothing new, considering my moving history. But this feels like home, despite the chaos. It's the first place I've wanted to put holes in the walls, and make things look permanent. And for the first time in awhile, I'm going through power tool withdrawal. I miss the noise and the smells and the dust... Well, maybe not the dust. I've put off getting my own toys, but it's time now, and I finally have a place worthy of the effort.

In case you missed it, this is me begging. :)

I'm a first time owner. Is my second year living in my condo (what a great feeling). I'm a pretty much DYS type of person. Every tool that I own is hand use or electric (no wireless) and trust me as much as I love them my hands some times don't. I still get my projects done. If I don't have the right tool, I try to do what I call "the tool combo." Call me an old fashion but my saw still is an old fashion hand saw. Hopefully not for much longer. It sure would be nice to have the VPX Starter Set and test it out. Become part of the 21rst centery. Plus they are pretty cool looking (just FAB) go power tools.

I just moved into a great apartment in Hell's Kitchen - the entire top floor of a brownstone! But when people ask what I did to get such a good deal, I tell them that the apartment has some "character". This includes a 3x5 foot hole in the wall between my roommate's room and my own. We've undertaken a project to patch the hole ourselves with some dry wall and lumber. The problem is that the Home Depots in Manhattan don't have saws to cut your dry wall or lumber. So I could borrow a saw and power screwdriver, or I could win this contest, have a set of my very own, finish my wall, have a little privacy and report back! This would be the perfect project to test out all of the VPX set's capabilities.

My husband misplaces his tools a lot between his car, his work, and his cluttered half of the garage. I really could use that Black and Decker starter set in my next winter project: I'm transforming my entryway closet into a landing strip, complete with bulletin board, charging station, and shredding corner. On my honor I promise to treat them with the respect good tools deserve, clean them regularly, and always put them back were they belong after completing a task.

Why do I think I should win this? Because we are a family of eleven -- yup, nine children -- so as you can probably imagine, we are also a family of do-it-yourselfers, in the name of frugality. If we can't build it, we can't afford to have it.

My oldest two sons (one of which unscrewed every doorknob in the house with a screwdriver at the age of three), are becoming quite proficient in the use of tools lately, so it would be great to have an extra set around.

Next on the agenda of things to build: bookshelves and triple bunks.

I WILL USE IT!!!

I'll use it because my bedroom is an uninsulated attic with muslin tacked over the rafters. Pathetic!

I'll use it because the space where my dishwasher should be has to be ripped out because it was installed by a nameless man who put it in a place where I couldn't open the silverware drawer. Clearly a woman needs to do these things.

I'll use it to install shelves, to hang lights, to do something about that eternally running toilet, to hang curtains in my daughters' rooms... Our place has 2 bedrooms, thus the attic living for me.

Tools are my best friend right now!

I would put this set to very good use.

Since I started my new job in a new, small (there's 2 of us), design studio, I've been splitting my time between design and building furniture in the office. I've built everything in there so far, my boss is pregnant, so I pretty much do it by myself. 3 desks, 1 bookshelf, 2 big chairs, a bookshelf, 2 credenzas, 1 giant cabinet (it's 7 or 8 feet tall), wheeled cart, and I did a file cabinet today. I've still got a lot more to go. I would love to be able to keep this at the office for all my building I've got left. Right now I drag my tool bag back and forth, since after I build at the office, my wife has projects for me to finish in our new apartment.

Also it looks like you'll need my review right after thanksgiving. During that time I'm going to visit my dad, his nickname: "Jim the toolman." Go down any aisle at Sears and point to something, he's got at least one and probably has 3... So after I get done doing some basic things with it, you'll get the other half of the review from a craftsman/carpenter who's been building things for over 50 years.

I just moved into a new house.. when I say new I do mean new to me not actually "new". The house has quite a few "fixer projects" and to make matters intresting its quite small so any sort of combo tool is a huge welcome in this household if they work the way they should! I'd love to do the review! Actually I need to put a sliding door on Connor's closet and this would be just the thing!

My husband and I just purchased our first home. It's a 2 bedroom bungalow in a suburb of Kansas City that's big claim to fame is a dead President and a bank robber.

My husband has worked three jobs (he's an Art Director by day and illustrated children's books by night, and in the spare time that seems increasingly hard to come by these days he's doing Apparel and Children's bedding)
We have saved every last penny possible to make this happen, so much that I think I might be eating more Ramen Noodles than college... which is just sad, but I would love to surprise him with such a gift.

We have a million little things to do around the house, like rig a dryer vent, and fix the bathroom door that closes by itself (our poor Boston Terrier keeps getting stuck in there!), add in some support to the water line... and the list goes on and on just like it does for any home owner.

So my plea, is to help make my home beautiful and make my husband smile. Because for a man who is literally working his fingers to the bone to put his family first, it would be really awesome to give him a treat to test his manly awesomeness (while he vents my dryer of course).

Just two months ago I moved into what I expected to be the beautiful, charming apartment I had signed a lease on. What I actually moved into was the cold heartless unfinished remodel that my landlord forgot to mention. (before you gasp in disbelief, yes it is legal) Little by little I have been adding warmth back into the space but it has been difficult since the only tools that I own are the part of the orange Ikea toolkit.

Don't get me wrong, I have been able to do a lot with the toolkit but there are projects that I haven't yet been able to tackle for lack of tools. As a graduate student I do not have the expendable cash to spend on non-essentials. I know that with a little help I will be able to finish the projects I am dreaming of and transform my rental into a vibrant friendly home.

The process of embarking on my own and having options to shape my space is intimidating. Now, free of dorm furniture I am finally entering the ranks of the homeshapers. I value the opinions of members of this site, with your advice and a few tools you have the power to make my transition a wee-bit smoother.

I was raised by a Disneyland carpenter who taught me and my brother how to use power tools, put up shelving and jugsaw cut all kinds of fun projects. Now I live in Texas, far from Dad and the OC, where my husband and I just bought our first home -- a hundred year old beauty in the heart of San Antonio. We recently adopted a stray border collie puppy, "Hopey" (named after the "Love and Rockets" comic books), who hid out under our house during a thunderstorm.

Now that Hopey's growing up, we need to build a fence so she can run around. She loves going for walks, running fast and sprwling out in the grass. Hopey cries, wimpers and wails every day when we have to lock her up (as we both work) in our small screened-in back porch.

Since I lost my beloved drill in the cross-country move, I would love to use these VPX tools to build a wooden fence across the front of our property with a cute archway between our pomogranate trees. You'd be making a sweet creature sooo happy and help reconnect me with my building talents.

"Hopey"-ing to build up sum happiness ;-)

-- La Pocha

i think i deserve this starter set because my roommate has broken all of my tools.
at least with this set i can keep it hidden, neatly, in the dark corners of my closet and always leave a light on for it and great it when i come home.
i would love it as a favorite child and polish it and always fluff the pillows it lays on.

i need these tools or i may end up living in shambles F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

So here's why I should get these tools. I just graduated college. My wife is still in school. We just bought a house. Let's just say it politely and say it was a "fixer upper". We've been living there for 3 months (we got married three months ago). Before we got married, I took the shower out thinking, this won't be too hard to put back. Yeah, well that was 4 months ago. We have to drive to her mother's every other day to take a shower. I need these tools to motivate me to put the shower back together. Then we won't have to waste gas and time to drive to take a shower. My wife would like very much to be able to take a shower in her own house. Plus, I won't smell at work anymore.

Also, if you want a great review on the battery functionality, I work with batteries. I'm an electrical engineer and can give you great information about batteries.

Yeah, so if you want my wife to be able to take a shower at her own house, or even if you just want to keep my wife from having to smell me everyday due to my infrequenty showering, please give me the tools. Thank you!

My husband has many talents, but handy he is not. I have had to take diy projects into my own hands. We have a basement to finish and a bathroom to update. And don't even get me started on all the shrubs and trees that need trimmed back. These tools are perfect for conquering my ever-growing project list.

oh my ~ everyone has such long intense stories for why they should win.... all i can say is i've always wanted to own my very own set of power tools so i don't have to borrow from family & friends, but i can never affrod them, because those luxuries just aren't possible in my budget ..... so i'd be eternally grateful and i'd put them to very good use. thanks so much for having this give-away!

I'm a (real) journalist and, if nothing ,will give you my honesty. I am a relative novice at home improvement, but not that I have a home to improve, this should change and it would be nice if B&D were there with me. But perhaps the best reason: I was previously thinking about going with Ryobi and if I can't get my hands on your set, I may have to...