Monday, January 14, 2013

Why Projects Take Me Forever

I spent the weekend in Kingston, ON helping my friend with some fun wedding planning stuff and I left very early on Saturday morning and I arrived home late on Sunday evening. However, I did plan to get a pretty big project done on Friday night...which I should be showing you today, except that it did NOT get done because I am a terrible project-planner.

Basically, this is what I was attempting to do on Friday.


Yes, I drew myself a picture. And yes, it IS to scale. And yes, I decorated the shelves because I got bored.

The plan on Friday was to hanging up some shelves over my "dining room" table/desk so that I could finally have a spot to put my books! I actually drew the photo because I was trying to decide if four shelves would be too crowded, or if I should go with three (FYI- four won).

I even did this to be sure.

And yes, these shelves are properly spaced according to where they would sit if I had four (hence why I didn't get all Jenga up in here and stack them up four shelves high.

I thought I was all ready to go. I had shelves, brackets, plugs, screws, my 4 ft level. I was prepared. I chalked off where my holes needed to go based on where the brackets looked best to me, and I used my giant level to make sure they were spaced evenly! It took a long time, but eventually I was all ready to go. And then I started drilling. And then I realized I needed masonry bits because my walls were cement!!

Good lord these cement walls are terrible. I half-hoped I could get my drill in a decent length in the wall, but it was no good. I wasn't willing to cut my plugs down like I did with my wall lamp and my shoe rack, because I think shelves holding heavy stuff up high kinda need to be secure.

The really stupid thing is that I have been to Canadian Tire on numerous occasions over the past few months and every single time I thought to myself "I should really pick up some masonry bits" followed by "naw, I'll just buy them when I need them".

Except now I needed them and it was already 8pm and I was in my pajamas. To get to Canadian Tire would mean getting dressed, taking the TTC for 30 minutes, buying them, coming home...it would be nearly 9:30 by that point and it seemed to be getting to the point where it was a little to late to subject my neighbours to drilling cement.

So...my project is not done yet. But I think getting all the holes properly spaced out and marked is like half the battle, right? Tonight I shall go to Ctire, get those darn bits, and hopefully I will have a better post for tomorrow!

How we're your weekends?

6 comments:

  1. You're not alone in the last minute project gaff Casey! This is often the kind of thing that speed bumps is into delaying projects ... Except that all our hardware stores close by 5pm and we don't even have a Canadian Tire :p

    I love that you drew yourself a scale model, I'm notorious for this when dreaming up the next big project.

    Can't wait to see your shelves in action, after you get yourself the right masonry bits ;)

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    1. omg 5pm? I would NEVER get anything done!! Mostly because I do all my shopping on weeknights and then spend all weekend in my pajamas. haha

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  2. Hahaha! I'm SO SLOW at projects too, although I don't go quite so far as to draw a scale picture. I'm always realising after I start a project that I'm missing some important tool or component.
    That said my toolbox has already overflowed - not sure where I'm going to keep putting all the things I need for upcoming projects . . .

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    1. I use a drawer in my TV stand for tools, but it is kind of overflowing so I need to figure out some organization for that.

      I originally drew the picture to get a rough idea of how 4 shelves would look...but then I got bored and got all detailed. haha

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  3. Have I told you lately how awesome I think you are? I love how you drew a picture to scale and even stacked up books and shelves to give you a better idea. I cannot wait to see your finished project!

    And to make you feel a little better about yourself, remember how long it took me to do the bathroom makeover? Almost a year. So a couple nights is really no big deal.

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    1. Oh lord honey, have you forgotten that I announced a bathroom renovation? Last August?!!? I hope I can have mine done in under a year but at the pace I go it is unlikely!!

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