I'd Hammer in the Morning, I'd Hammer in the Evening

subtitle

The continuing adventures of Kristie and Lisa - Bookshelf Builders

and this time we have pictures!!

Well - Saturday was the day. We did our test run to Home Depot to check out the supplies we would need. We spent the following Saturday morning driving all over getting the supplies we needed, then getting more supplies, then getting more. We had our sample shelves built so I spent the week going to the different places picking up what we needed to finish the job.
I ended up driving all over the city. The Home Depot near us didn't have enough and wouldn't get getting another shipment in until Monday - too late. So I had to drive a half hour away to pick up the rest at a different Home Depot. I did manage to return the brackets we decided against. I ordered the lumber - all different sizes last Tuesday. They were busy and said it probably wouldn't be ready until Friday. That was fine I told them, as long as it was done by Friday.
So early Saturday morning we were ready to start.
At this point, this is what the intended book room looked like







Hindsight being 20/20, it would have been much better if I had left the boxes of books outside the room we were working in!!
Before we started, we of course had to eat first. So once again we headed to MacDonalds for breakfast (their coffee is awful but I love their hash browns). It was much better this time though since we had all the supplies waiting in the basement! (that's our sample shelf in the background).



It was amazing how much quicker it went this time. For a while. We got all the bracket holders up, the brackets on - and then.......
The wood wasn't all the right lengths!!! We had 5 pieces that were too long and we were completly short one whole piece.
You know what this meant - yuppers - a return to the lumber store. I wanted to take back the 5 pieces that were too long, but Lisa, being an independent kind of a girl (woman) had found an electric jig saw and announced we could cut them ourselves. Now I was nervous enough just cutting the metal pieces with a hacksaw!!! When she decided to use a power saw, well, my imagination went wild!! She measured them, found a pair of safety glasses and was ready to begin sawing. She needed me to hold the pieces. It was kind of hard doing that while looking the opposite way - but I managed it. I tell you, my heart was racing and I think I barely breathed for the entire time it took her to cut them. Just quick breaths while she put one piece down and picked up the next one. But she managed to do it without cutting off a finger or an arm or any body part whatsoever!
So now it was time to get that last piece we needed! The guys at the lumber store recognized me and asked how it was going. Remember that a week earlier, I had explained all about what we were doing in a "why say in 10 words what you can say in 100" conversation. I told them about the 5 pieces that were too long and they said we should bring them back. I looked at Lisa and then back at them and said that's what I wanted to do, but she cut them herself. I then went on to say if we had brought them back I wouldn't have been so traumatized. At that moment Lisa kind of hit me.
We stopped for a late lunch on the way home as it was now after 3:00 pm and we needed to feed again. We are nothing if not creatures of habit. The week before we had MacDonalds for lunch and Hawaiin pizza for lunch. Again we had Hawaiin pizza for lunch yesterday.
So - now we had all our lumber and our bellies were full. We set about to put it the lumber up on the shelves to see how it would work. Of course, the brackets weren't in tight yet and a few times the whole balancing act of lumber and bracket came tumbling down. But we got them back up again. We had been putting little screws on the bottom so they wouldn't go flying off the brackets. Rather than take down a section at a time to add the bottom screws, we took them all down. And then couldn't remember how they went up again. A few curse words came out of my mouth right about then let me tell you.
But - we got it!!

Picture time - a few before!





The shelves were built and it was time to unload. We had half the books unloaded before it dawned on us that we were going to need a lot more shelves!!! I knew I had a lot of books but good golly Miss Molly - my addiction is worse than I thought!!!
The top part of the walls were full, so now the next project is to get half book cases and put them together to hold the rest of the books. I'm thinking this will be next Saturday's project.
We got quite a few unloaded before it was time for Lisa to leave. I continued puttering around for the rest of the evening. When I finally headed for bed, I looked at the clock and it was 5:00 this morning. I'm headed for bed soon but before I do - I leave you with the after. There is still work to be done - but this is what it looks like so far!!
















Ryan and his girlfriend Laura came over today and I proudly showed him the room Lisa and I worked on. He seemed sort of impressed but said he wouldn't read any of these books. He then pulled this one out of the shelf and showed Laura and said "See! This is why I wouldn't read any of my mom's books" He, of course had to pick one with one of the salicaious of covers. *sigh* Half naked man with woman popping out from between his legs. Could he have picked a worse one?? I'm thinking not!! (it is a good book though!)

And here are a few pictures of why we aren't done yet. Nine of these I have left! Nine!!!



And then after we get the rest of the shelves ready????

Alphabetizing!!!

'til later