some small jobs done at last
By franl155
12 comments
Given the weather lately, I’ve had to call a halt to external wall-painting, so eventually I thought I’d finally have a go at some of the smaller jobs inside that I’ve been managing not to get round to: taking down the soap rack in the bathroom, putting in the kitchen, and putting my new one in the bathroom – would have been easier just to put the new one in the kitchen, but it was too small for my washing-up brushes and cloths.
Besides, the old one needed to be realigned: I got the screw-holes level, but the shelf itself was not level with its fittings, and that annoyed me:
(I know the fittings don’t look level because of the flower thingies that cover them; but if you trace a line from the centre of one along the line in the wallpaper pattern, you can see that the other one is more-or-less level with it – certainly not as un-level as the angle of the shelf would suggest!)
This time I arranged the screw-plates so that the shelf was level, or at least looked level to me, and went from there. I usually have to use a marker pen to indicate where to drill but, annoyingly, these were tiny screw-holes, so I had to use a pencil and then try to find them to mark them in felt-tip.
But when I’d put it up, I put a spirit level across the shelf, and the bubble was dead centre, so well done me.
The knife rack was where the shelf is, so I had to move that up (I always keep kitchen knives separate from cutlery – that’s the kind of accident you only want once! – so even the knives in need of washing-up are segregated)
The new bathroom shelf was easy enough to line up – perched it on top of the tiles! – but securing it to the wall was a prob, as there were no screw-holes; the wire was hairpin-shaped and the shelf just fell off over the screws. Need washers, I thought, but of course I didn’t have any, so what to use instead? Inspiration: two plastic screw tops from milk bottles (got a stack of them – bottles and tops both).
Punched a hole in each, took the screws out of the wall, fitted the “washers” on, slid the shelf brackets on – try to hold it all together so I could screw it in. Don’t look too bad if you don’t look too closely!
As an encore, I fixed some hooks for some of my pictures (been packed since 2008!). I used stick-on hooks this time, two per pic – only prob was lining them up – lol the pictures themselves hide most of the marker pen lines!
Small jobs, and not many of them, but still, jobs that were waiting long enough to be done and that won’t need to be done again (fingers crossed with the stick-on hooks!).
29 Apr, 2012
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Comments
Reminds of an afternoon I once spent trying and trying to put up a pair of pictures above the bed so that they were level. Like you, I pencilled, measured, used a spirit level etc. to decide where the hooks should go. But - and this was the stupid bit that I hadn't worked out - the fixed wires on the frames were slightly different lengths, so they were never going to hang level with each other. The wall behind one of them now resembles a small dart board. But they ARE level!
29 Apr, 2012
A day well spent. Well done you! I leave all that stuff to my OH, though I do hang pictures on walls, but not always absolutely straight, I have to admit.
30 Apr, 2012
thanks Sticki! took me a while to think of them, no idea what gave me the idea. Busted a couple trying to get the hole dead centre, or near enough.
lol Ojib, that's always the thing we tend to overlook! mine aren't exactly level, but as they're in a wall niche only a fraction wider than both pictures together, that sort of holds them straight - unless you look closely at the first of the two picture photos, you can see the difference then. I held the wire with a thumb on the wall to get the pic to hang at the right level, then took the pic down with the other hand and marked the place where my thumb was, more or less. Did hte same with the other, but the slight variation shows.
30 Apr, 2012
Hi Fran... you are inventive, creative, innovative ... ;o)
well done !
30 Apr, 2012
Love the washers!
£500 reward, in those days. A fortune!
30 Apr, 2012
Well done Fran :)))))
30 Apr, 2012
lol Lulu, took me a moment to realise what your mention of $500 was about! And in those days, servants got forty pounds a yera. Smuggling was big business in them days - ha, we reckong tax evasion is bad these days!
These were posters I bought somewhere on the Norfolk Borads and had framed later; had to trim a bit off the edges to get them to fit.
30 Apr, 2012
Jobs like that I find very frustrating Fran, it doesn`t matter how many times I check with the spirit level and measure with the ruler I still get them scewwhiff...
30 Apr, 2012
lol LIncs, same here - I need four hands - two to hold the object steady, one to position the spirit level, one to hold the pen ... I'm a bit short in the spare-hand department: and I have to get to within a couple of inches to see where the bubble is, which usually means that I can't hold the object perfectly still - and even then, given that I have to use a marker pen, the resulting line is thick enough that there isn't a dead centre to aim the drill at.
:-) I've even tried a Mr Bean and held the pen in my mouth while holding the unit against the wall but the resulting line wasn't very straight then, either!
sigh, I must get a handyman toyboy ...
30 Apr, 2012
Job well done Fran, very clever using milk bottle tops!! Had a look at what £500 would be worth today and its around £60,000! Think I may have blown the whistle for that! Lol
3 May, 2012
lol if you could ensure you stayed alive long enough to have spent it. don't think they had witness protection scheme in those days
3 May, 2012
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those washers are just great!! well done you.
29 Apr, 2012