The Penultimate 'Other Room' Update

Don'tcha just love that word: penultimate? The next to the last. Would that make the last "ultimate"? Not so sure about that one.

Now that I have a full week of No Day Job behind me, I find my senses have sharpened a bit. I walked across the street this morning to get something (more on that in a sec), and I noticed the backs of all the signage in the shopping center are painted green. Never noticed that before. I like it!

And yes, today is a LOVELY day!

So why was I walking to the store? To get one of these: a flat-headed extension cord. I actually have a whole collection of extension cords in my storage unit across town. I have them in a bin along with my lights for my craft shows if I am ever lucky enough to do one that offers electricity. But today I wanted to plug in an extension cord so I did not lose the outlet behind what was to become my tower of cabinets. I drove to the storage unit to retrieve two power strips, but when I got home and plugged one in, I realized the cord was in an unnatural angle and probably would become an electrical hazard, so I decided to walk across the street and buy a flat-headed one.

See? All better! (This is looking down the wall behind the one-high cabinet.) Whoever invented these things was a genius!

Because I spent so much time painting the walls, I felt a burning need to chronicle the covering-up process in painful detail, and subject you to it. So here we go!

Here I've added the second cabinet to the left-most stack.

From afar, this looks like a lovely counter top. Not for long!

Here I've added the third one.

Getting there!

And the fourth.

Lest you think I have any upper-body strength, let me burst that bubble once and for all! You are supposed to assemble the whole section, then place it on top of the previous one. Nuh-uh. I found I can place just the assembled three sides on first ...

... then take the top, set it in place, and secure it. I am so smart. (Please do not alert the IKEA police, though. I hear they are pretty tough.) Did you know all this stuff was manufactured in Italy? ITALY! There goes another myth - here I'd assumed it was a bunch of slaving Swedes making this Swedish furniture. Is nothing sacred?!

Here we have the completed assemblage from afar. I like how part of the wall is still exposed, and the room does not feel so closed in.

Along the way, you've probably noticed I started putting stuff into the cabinets. This was in an attempt to see just how much crap stuff I had left to deal with once I ran out of cabinets, and it is a lot, lemme tell you!

Look what I found under my 2004 Road Trip Scrapbook-in-progress boxes! A pack of sticky-backed textured card stock strips. I have been looking for this forEVer!

And who doesn't have a bag of bags? The latest theory is that I only bought a few of these, and they've been multiplying on their own. Who knew? Now I need to figure out a way to store them, since the cupboards are all full.

Next, I began installing the door knobs. Don't they look good?!

I will let you in on a little secret. Knowing myself as well as I do, I knew that I needed a template to have a chance of getting the knobs installed straight, or close enough to straight for my world. So I made one!

This is all so scientific! I cut a strip from the packaging of the doors because it was the exact size as the door. I folded the strip in half and laid it on top of one of the doors on the floor. I eyeballed how far in I wanted the knob by playing with it until I was happy, then I pushed down on the knob and twisted a little to make a mark in the cardboard. A pencil mark in the center of the squooshed spot and a hole punch (I have a few, you know, and they were out), and I had me a template!

Here's the first four sets of doors and knobs all installed. Niiiice!

Then we have The Shiny Doors. I put together one set to see if I could live with them, but I cannot. Sadly, this means I will have a return trip to IKEA next week to exchange them for non-glossy doors. It also means I will not get the rest of these doors done this weekend.

But on a brighter note, it means I can MOVE ON to my next task: set up a table in there and begin triaging all the crap stuff in these stacks of SU boxes in my Living Room. Oh, yeah!

But right now I think I've earned some stampin' time! I'd like to have some new stuff for tomorrow's market. I sure hope the weather will be as lovely as it is today!

Thanks for stopping by!