Thursday

Home Improvement Gone Wrong

The idea was to create a work surface in my office, with shelves above it and storage underneath, for doing art and home schooling. I designed what was supposed to be a lovely and functional arrangement. Ah the best laid plans of . . . well anyway.
The first thing that went awry was that the wall is all plaster and no studs (ok, there is doubtless wood in there somewhere), so the shelves could not be attached as originally planned, there was series of other unfortunate events, and now I just don't know.
So, now the living room and office are trashed and the unit is, somehow not what I had in mind.
If you have any constructive (or construction) thoughts I would love to hear them

Far more attractive is this shot of the Free Radical on my second trip to the hardware store

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

Molly bolts.

I wanted to post a link, but I still haven't figured it out without messing up the margins and rendering the link useless.

So.

Google "molly bolts" or "wall anchors." Or just bike on down to your local independently owned hardware store and explain your problem. Hardware store personel are among theeeee most helpful people on the planet. Seriously, they're the best, and I don't care if I'm stereotyping!


I used to hate to love my plaster walls in a former home for this very reason. Plaster seems to keep a home cooler in summer, but I'll be danged if you can hang anything on plaster without using some kind of anchor. It's no bog deal -- just takes some getting used to. Hang in there (no pun intended).

Jennifer said...

big deal.

big

and that comma should have been a space

and I'm typoing like crazy because it's late, and I'm up waiting for Mr Z to get home ...

that dave said...

sometimes the lathe, if there is lathe behind the plaster, can hold picture etc but i don't know about shelves.

if the ceiling has greater strength than maybe the shelves could be suspended from the ceiling with bolts and metal wire.

i love the photo of the your bike with lumber!

when i was immersed in 'home reno season' during the past month i was using my car way to much. it really began to wear me down.

hope the project works out.

westwind said...

Great ideas, although, in the case of my poor little house, which has survived several very unfortunate "remodels” prior to my arrival, the ceiling is a 'false ceiling' that sits about 2 feet below the real ceiling and cant bare any weight, and I think the wall in question may just be sheetrock and construction adhesive. There might be some lath in there, but I have yet to find any.
I am thinking that I may instead run shelves up the perpendicular walls, on either side of the work surface.
Hauling lunber by bike is a fun challenge. The shot included in that post was the second trip, on the first trip I hauled plywood! Prrof -if you needed it- that I am crazy ;)