Have you ever had one of those days where you just wanted to scream "f-it" whilst throwing your laser level at the wall and catapulting your toggle bolts into the trash? Me too.
This past weekend we attempted to revivify our TV wall with a pair of the ever-so-popular Ikea Lack Wall Shelf.
I have a question for you Ikea. Who hurt you?
Mounting the shelves correctly was as difficult as eating a single Pringles chip without wolfing down half of the canister. A series of WTFs supervened.
The black and decker bullseye laser level's stud finder feature was uber inconsistent (in its defense, it is a couple of years old... so it may have lost its ammo).
Eleven holes later, we finally found a stud! Eleven!! Pssh, 16 inches my butt.
Next puzzle? Hardware. We were advised to use 3/16"x 2 toggle bolts.
Can you imagine how big of a hole we had to make to have the springed wings slide through? Nix that plan after a couple of zaps with the drill (that's what she said).
A few days later (and a couple of minutes googling for new hardware research) we found our perfect match: self-drilling drywall anchors.
Total lifesaver. That audible pop lets you know it's working.
Yada yada yada, the Lacks went up with ease.
We are currently rotating the shelf decor on a daily basis. All I know is that Spuds stays put and a bigger TV wouldn't be so bad...
What do you think?
3/10/10- Linking up to Amanda @ Serenity Now! Our Family Room Project is taking a longer than expected (going on several months now) but I have a hunch that Amanda's linking parties is my spoon full of sugar. ;)
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Excellent use of 'that's what she said'! I even re-read the sentence in appreciation.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry that you had one of those 'maybe I should just set my house on fire' moments. But I'm so glad it worked out for you. Those shelves look perfect! And you didn't even throw your hammer through the wall in frustration!
I still can't get over your square dance wall. It looks SO good!
Job well done!
Well, that is looking mighty nice! I'm glad that you were able to wrestle them into submission. I have thrown many things and gotten very frustrated trying to make things even. You don't even want to see how I acted while putting up all that picture molding in the art space! Anyways, toggle bolts are such a pain to get into the wall, but they could hold your weight so it just depends what you're doing with the shelves. I think you solution was perfect, seeing as how you won't be hanging from them!
ReplyDeleteI love how you left white borders around your walls, it really looks cool!
I have those "f-it" moments all the time! And MANY of them have been trying to find studs and trying to use regular anchors. I've always thought that there had to be a better way and it looks like you found it. I will definitely have to check out those self-drilling drywall anchors the next time I'm in that predicament. It looks like it worked out great. The shelves look gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteLooking GOOD! And yes... the Lack shelves almost drove me to smash it through the window.
ReplyDeleteI would like to clear up one thing that Dolores said. It didn't take us 11 tries to find a stud. In truth...I needn't look any further than the closest mirror.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, our first attempt with the so called "stud finder" found empty space. At that point, I said "f-it...let's just drill in a straight line to find one since it's going to be covered anyway." using the tap method we struck stud on our third attempt.
Hence...11 holes, eight of which actually have something screwed into them.
So there...I'm only half moronic.
So the shelves look fantastic :)
ReplyDeleteThe orange vases give a great splash of color
And while I hate to agree with an earlier opinion that Chris had but a bigger TV would look good
I think the shelves were worth the nightmare installation, they look great in your space!
ReplyDeleteHi there! :) I am going to echo Meg and say that I was most impressed with your usage of "that's what she said."
ReplyDeleteThe shelves look great, even if you had to make 32 holes in the wall to get them up. I have been banned from buying any more furniture from IKEA, but I've never let that stop me before.
Thanks for linking up! Hope you have fun "mingling" at the party. :)
Hey that looks great! I would really like to get some of these! I was just at IKEA too! About the can lights at my house: No we did not install them everywhere, though I would have liked to. This is an old house, with basically every room lacking an overhead fixture! :) But, also, this is an old house, with a fuse box rather than a control panel (think that's what you call them.) We installed so many new plugs and I run so many lamps and appliances that the previous owner did not, that I was afraid it would be too big a load on the fuses and I feared fire! :( Our wiring is quite old and we didn't (I so hope the fire police don't come running at us with this...) run a "ground wire" to the new plugs...which our electrician told us we probably should have. So, because this house pops fuses a LOT when you are running too much, we have since held off on putting any more electrical things in. But I love the look. I want 2 over my fireplace bad!!!! If it's any consolation, in many new (expensive) homes in our area, they are in every room. Anyway, love your "progress" here! Thanks for the sweet comment!
ReplyDeleteUgh...I hate hanging wall shelves. They look so nice when they're up, but the walls..well not so much!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great! I love your family room & that awesome lego table :)