Thursday, January 19, 2012
Shelf Assembly Pitfalls....{Craigslist Bookshelf Chronicles}
Okay...so remember at the beginning of my blog I told you I would give you then nice, the ugly and the HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS I THINKING? Well....I'm there. {completely}
I
am driving home from work completely pumped that I have decided on the
finish thinking about how much I am going to accomplish {at this point
it is 6:30 pm, and we all know my bed time is 10...so i'll make this
short hehe} So I feed the pups their dinner and let them get out a
little energy while I am prepping my supplies {paint, stir stick, big
girl drill etc} I decide that the first shelf that was already assembled
could use another coat of paint {next time I am getting the paint and
primer in one!!!}. I complete a second coat of paint...
This is where we start going downhill...disaster strikes. {I miiiight be over exaggerating but that's what this is all about right???!!!} Okay so not complete disaster just...."I really wish J was home to give me an extra hand" and here's why.
I
was riding in a car a lot today {work trip} so I had quite a bit of
time to think about my looming project. I have decided what type of
finish I want to put on the shelves. The good news is that by doing the
type of finish I have decided on, the white underlying paint doesn't
have to be perfect....thus saving me a TON of time.....IF I could ever
get these doggone shelves together. Which brings us to the reason for
this posting....my "Shelf Assembly Pitfalls". I must warn you....at
9:23pm, this story ends in failure. Boringly, catastrophic failure.
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| Second coat complete |
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| I decided that the regular paint brush was too streak-y so I went with a foam 1 1/2" bush. You can get these at any hardware store or even craft sections at your local walmart, target, or michaels. |
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| Note to self...put shelves in BEFORE you paint... |
You know how turtles have shells? And when pretending to be a turtle {if you have ever done this...or can imagine doing it} you must perform a balancing act of sorts. Well imagine this...but with wood shelves.....i'll explain:
There are 3 different bookcases to assemble. Two are the same and one is different. Since I purchased these off Craigslist they came with ZERO directions-a challenge-a puzzle. Well...I LOVE puzzles so I thought hm this ought to be fun! WRONG {I am not afraid to admit that this feeling happens a lot to me}
Imagine me {those of you who know me know I am a well built German woman...there's no denying it so why try}so imagine me balancing the LONG side piece on my back while straddling the other long side piece and trying to screw the base together....I think you can see where this is going...#Disaster.
After a small egg on my head, a slightly bloody toe and a few pinched fingers I had to reassess...SERIOUSLY. So I did what any other person would do while home alone and trying to put together an awful puzzle....I grabbed the nearest structure of sorts that I thought would be about the right height...see?
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| Chair at approximate correct height...sort of, Imagine me as the chair in this scenario... |
So did I mention that these shelves are not screwed together with normal screws? but the kinds you need one of those stupid funny little allen wrenches for? Did I also mention I didn't realize this until I was trying to balance the long side piece but BEFORE I dropped it? Oh...I didn't? hm well anyway... By this time, as you can imagine, I am slightly COMPLETELY frustrated. But the chair I found helped tremendously with the assembly. I finally got that set put together and I use the last bit of paint up. Meaning I will have to go BACK to the store to get more...but that is a completely different story.
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| Correctly sized Allen wrench |
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| Broken metal... |
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| The other half...stuck in the shelf |
{DIY Davis Style}
HD
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Love the story! Your photos are a great enhancement to your tale. Don't be afraid to stretch the hell out of the truth. Samuel Clemens (a.k.a., Mark Twain) and John Steinbeck would never have gotten anywhere without stretching it and breaking it a lot. I suggest adding captions to your photos to explain each one and making the story even sillier. You have given me much joy and inspiration. Have a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteSilly Billy--the point of this blog is to give the ugly truth! I don't want to embellish any because I want people to know EXACTLY what I went through so they can learn from my mistakes and hopefully have an easier go at it! But I will DEFINITELY include all of the nitty gritty details which are pretty funny all on their own!
ReplyDeleteI can 100% see all of this happening!!!!! This makes me feel like I'm not alone!! lol
ReplyDeleteHaha, Christie! I promised all the nitty gritty details and this is pretty much word for word what happened! I really wish J had been home to take pictures because it would have been HILarious!
ReplyDelete