Friday 27 November 2009

D.I.Y. or Don't I.Y.?

Patience - First Up... take a short trip over to Heather's blog and follow the link there, to see a short video of an amazing piece of art-work. Stunning!

To return to the business of the day.... If you happen to have read my Tuesday post, you'll know I took a trip to the local branch of That Swedish Shop. 

I put together J's new desk-chair and the tall DVD unit that he's going to use to display models or store paperbacks (the jury is out on whether he wants a red display unit and a blue paperback library...)  On Wednesday I put together the new table for J's room (waiting for him to come in from school and help me stand it up, as it weighs about 20 tonnes!)


As you can see from the clutter, it's already in use and appreciated!

That was Tuesday & Wednesday.  Then I was busy with other stuff, some of which I have yet to blog.

This morning I thought I would be awfully clever and save dear D. a bit of work this weekend.  I put together this for my new workroom:

Pardon the weird angle and the junk on top, but this is my new drawer unit, which may sit under the desk (or it may not...
Feeling very pleased with myself (for good reason, I feel), I thought I'd continue and see how far I could get with assembling the shelving unit and accompanying desk.  The instructions were very straighforward and, although the top and side pieces look chunky, they are hollow, so weigh very little.

 
This is how far I got.
 

DIY is not always as simple as it seems.  The screws will not go into the base, to fix the side on.  They just push the side away and threaten to damage the rest of the unit.
I thought it would be a good plan to put the top on first, but when trying to line it up with the four pegs on the top central divider (no longer attached in the photo), I broke a dowel off at the level of the hole.  Thinking it would be a good plan to take out the dowels and turn it through 180 degrees, to resolve the problem of the broken one, I snapped another dowel too.

Cue lunch time!  I will have to ask D to help me after all. It's obviously a 2-person job - one to hold it and one to hit it! I suppose that should have been obvious - carried away by my first success, I obviously switched off my common sense.

I think I'll stick to blogs and housework for the remainder of the day.
 

8 comments:

  1. Congrats on what you did get done. I too have done those projects where they go so well you think you can conquer more only to find out you have to wait for help!

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  2. I always have problems with those dowels. either they won't go in to begin with or they crack when I try to join them to the other piece

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  3. well done on how far you got. My DIY is awful! Thanks so so much for all the etsy links. LOVED the photography one. might try a few of her ideas in my own work. Also gonna try and pursaude my mum to have a look ( stocking time??! ) he he! I am thinking of a link to send you in the mean time check this out. It is basically a site that links to loads and loads of crafty projects.. Genius! www.craftig.com
    Abi xxxxx

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  4. Well done! There is no way I would have got that far without a lot of help!

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  5. You did so well! And I am sure they deliberately make those dowel bits difficult to do. It's all looking good, I hope the rest of the family were suitably impressed by all your hard work.
    Have a sit down and a glass of wine, you deserve it!

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  6. Thanks All! I may take up Debs' suggestion. Wine does make me sleeeeep though!
    Well, tomorrow's another day and I will have a willing helper! Should get it all done. Yippee!

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  7. LOL. That swedish shop has a lot to answer for in our house. I want to read the instructions, hubby doesn't. I like to sort out all the little screws before hand, hubby doesn't!

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  8. Jools, the trick is to send hubby to put the kettle on, ask him to find the biscuits and then have a good nose in the instructions / bag of fixings while he's out of the way!

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