Gone are the days of asking a friend to borrow a cup of sugar.  Tonight my friends came to my rescue with a drill and a saw.  Because I was doing something that I am NOT good at, and that is: attaching ANYTHING to drywall.

I bought a couple of cool ‘floating’ shelves – really long, white ones, at IKEA.  I need to take advantage of my upper wall space to display all the cool things I’ve made at the trade shows, and my ever-growing collections of canvas and altered projects.  And I really need to get them off of the wall-mounted countertops that are supposed to be a place for friends and kidoodles to work on art projects with me.  I’ll admit it for all to read – I have Flat Surface Syndrome.  This means that any flat surface must be covered with STUFF.  I’m constantly battling it.  I’m not the only one in this household that is affected though – and while that should be a consolation – it actually means that I’m completely frustrated by the clutterdom that is my home.  So the wall mounted workspaces actually should be folded down flat to the wall when not in use.  HAHA!  Ok, well they are now!

Back to the project…

It doesn’t matter that I use my special whoawhatzit to locate the studs in the wall.

It doesn’t matter that the laser level device said it was ok to place things as they were.

It doesn’t matter that Laura came to my rescue with a drill, with a cool screwdriver attachment.

All of this preparation cannot prepare you for the fact that I got the floating bracket in place and VOILA! discovered that my shelf was impossible to put in place over the rods because it was colliding with the cabinet in the corner.  And that puppy was NOT coming down.  It has been bracketed, attached to multiple studs.  The wall will come down first.  What to do?

It takes a Vila – or at least a neighbor as crafty with tools and woodworking as Gary is.  He chopped off 4 inches of shelf and YIPPEE, I was able to save a shred of my dignity and my shelving project.

Now, I stare at the wall opposite and know that another shelf is going to go there tomorrow.  Will I have to call upon my friends again?

Stay tuned…

P.S. the craft area is in the midst of yet another reorganization project.

P.P.S. *added 4/6/07*
One of my friends was laughing at me about cutting this down to size rather than moving it.  Ok, I wasn’t clear about moving the bracket — but I was fortunate enough to get the first and last screw holes aligned with studs — and that is an amazing thing which I wasn’t going to give up.  Moving it would have lost that support which is key — even the ‘non Vila’ in me knows that much!  There are 8 holes to screw it into the wall, and they aren’t adjustable – they land where they may.  I was lucky that it works with the wall where it did because what you do not see in the picture is the door opening to the hall is directly to the left of this shot.  Losing 4" of shelf was completely acceptable.  And now I know for the other side that I am going to find that first load-bearing stud and make sure that I get it aligned exactly the same way.  Luckilly there is no wall cabinet in the corner on the other side, and it is a continuous wall so I have a lot more flexibility in placement.

Go Vila… Go Vila…  IKEA brings this out in me.  What is so dang frustrating is they KNOW you are gonna be a klutz installing things to the wall.  That is why they are smart enough NOT to include the wall screws with their products.  So it’s all Mea Culpa rather than Theya Culpa…