Thursday, August 13, 2009

this is why i don’t do projects

For the past few months, I’ve had this project that I wanted to do in our mudroom/laundry room.  All I wanted to do was make an area for the girls to hang their jackets, bags, and other things that seem to clutter our house.  Sounds easy enough, right?  Well, that’s what I thought too.  So I bought a couple pieces of wood and some coat hooks and constructed my two coat racks.  Then I located the studs in our wall and went to work attaching them to the wall.  Five of the eight screws went in just fine, but three of them are now sticking out about 3/4 inch and will NOT go in any further!  I asked Patrick to try when he got home from work and he can’t get them to go further in OR even get them to come out now!

IMG_5751 IMG_5752

Looks okay from these pictures, and it is very sturdy, but I can’t just leave those screws sticking out cuz it will drive me crazy every time I walk by them!  NOW what??  I really wish I had the abilities of my friend Erin to just construct an amazing project from start to finish. . .

12 comments:

BS said...

You can cut the heads off with a hacksaw, then drill them out slightly with a specialized drill bit, then put some wood putty over, dry, sand, and then touch up with paint. They'll be invisibie.

Erin said...

i'm blushing! thanks.

i think your coat racks look great meredith but i agree with you the screws sticking out would bug me too. i can't think of a reason why they wouldn't go in completely. i'll ask michael if he has any ideas.

p.s.- totally jealous of your mud room. wish i had one!

It's Been a Day! said...

well if you had one of those 80s entertainment centers, you could totally do a project like that. you know, like the one I have and currently use!!

hope you figure out the project!

Andrea said...

this crap happens to me all the time - hang up a curtain rod, simple, right?! there is ALWAYS a screw that won't go all the way in and of course i've predrilled.... looks cute though, you must be feeling better!

Andrea said...

this crap happens to me all the time - hang up a curtain rod, simple, right?! there is ALWAYS a screw that won't go all the way in and of course i've predrilled.... looks cute though, you must be feeling better!

merathon said...

bret-- thanks for the tips, although do you really think i have any tool that has the name "specialized" in it?

erin-- don't be jealous. remember it is a mudroom-SLASH-laundry room. definitely not big enough to brag about!

paige-- when you move into your big pimpin' house, you'll have no need for it anymore, so you can give it to ME!

annie-- yep, i predrilled too! apparently i should have used shorter screws. and yes, feeling much better, thanks! one of these days we'll make it up to visit you guys!

Molly said...

My advice was also the hacksaw. If you don't want to drill them out you might be surprised at how well the paint will cover them without all the steps in between- then you don't need anything "special". Looks cute, though!
(Also, you might need a more powerful drill to get them out, if you want to try that again. You'd be amazed what a heavy duty drill can do. Talk to your friend Erin, I bet she's got a good one! ;) )

Tracy said...

Ahh...the bliss a few well placed hooks can bring! Sorry about the screws that I have no advice about. You reminded me that I never posted about my OWN mudroom project earlier this year...hmm, maybe I'll do that one of these days when it doesn't seem so "oh yeah? well look what italicized I did!" :) Hooray for mudrooms!

JoEllen said...

Hey Mer, I have 2 q's for you but don't have your email address anymore. 1-Do we all still have access to that Whirlpool F&F discount? You mentioned you had used it recently when I bought the dishwasher, sadly we did not go that route (and I LOATHE our dishwasher now).
2- Whatever happened to the newsletter? Not suggesting you have to do it, you have enough on your plate, just wondering what happened to it...

Unknown said...

Wow. Looks like great advice. I have had this happen to me too and hate it! I always procrastinate using screws and drills because of this. I am glad I read all the comments for great tips. Hope it turns out well.
Great to see you last night too. :)

Lauren said...

I think it looks good:) I noticed JoEllens comment about the newsletter. Sounds like another big project.... If you are going to put anything together let me know if you need any help.

Courtney Baker said...

That's a bummer, but it does look great! I like the way it spans the whole length!