Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Another DITY Project

As I've discussed in earlier posts, my Husband and I struggle with organization. Lately I've been looking for a wall organizer that would hopefully help us with that. Something with a mail in and out box, space for a calendar and grocery lists, etc. I was really surprised how expensive they were! And of course most of them didnt have all the aforementioned elements. Since I've been Mrs. Do-it-yourself lately I decided to draw what I wanted and see if Kenny and I could make it together. The key word here being together. I'm sure most couples who take on a joint project will have disagreeing views on its execution. Kenny and I are no different.
First, a little background. My husband has a degree in architecture and for four years it was drilled into him that if it isnt perfect, you've failed. Me, well I agree with Monet, if it looks good from far away, great! No one will notice that little flub in the corner. Besides with this project in particular I was going for Shabby Chic so imperfections are what give it character. (And yes, I realize that Monet would most likely take offense to that likening.) Granted, no one wants to hear their architect say "Don't worry, those cracks in the foundation will give the building character". However, we are talking a WALL ORGANIZER here, not a skyscraper, but with Kenny there is no difference. So I knew the first thing I needed to do is draw my design to scale, otherwise he would look at it like his head was going to explode and ask questions that make me want to bang my head against the wall. Here is my drawing.
I felt confident that he could look at this and know exactly what I wanted to do. Nope. The first things he zeroed in on were the the in and out slots. Ok, so three dimensional drawing (any drawing for that matter) is not my forte. After a couple clarifying questions I thought we were on the same page. Off to Home Depot we go, hi-ho. Once we were there, however, it quickly became clear that I had not completely articulated the design nor thought it all the way through. At first we were both laughing at eachother saying "How can you not understand this?!" But of course that can only last so long and soon it looked like his head was going to explode and I definitely needed a wall to bang my head against. The men in the lumber aisles were starting to look a little nervous due to all my gesticulating so it was time to wrap it up. It took a few more rudimentary "3D" drawings, but we finally got the wood and other supplies we needed and back to the house we go, hi....ho....
With that fantastic start I could tell we were in for another Kenny and Ashley 'Adventure', I was not disappointed. About 20 minutes in, Kenny had already "messed up" two pieces of wood and had to start alllll over. Then he started bossing me around and I had to remind him that this was MY project and he was only there to operate the power tools! So much for the togetherness.
                                    Third try.

                          I actually used spray paint on the wood then sanded it in certain places to give it a distressed look
I would like to say that as the day wore on I was able to get Kenny to relax and not care so much about the details but really the credit needs to go to the Louisiana heat. A couple hours of dripping sweat in a garage will have just about anyone cutting corners! Once it was all put together I ordered a chalkboard decal from the Etsy.com and began peicing together my wine cork corkboard. As you can see I need a few more corks, but thats really just an excuse to drink more wine!
All in all we were very happy with the finished product. Will it keep us organized? Guess we will see.

1 comment:

  1. I love it! That is seriously so cute! Will you make me one? No arguing required hehe.

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