Measure Twice, Cut Once Is It?

Ah yes, it is. Or shall I say, it is now.

My first attempt at making flat shelves didn't go as planned. I measured once and debated going back for the second measure before heading out to Lowes but thought that was an unnecessary use of the next 30 seconds of my life. Little did I know what should have been 30 seconds turned into almost a week of impatience. My local Lowes lumber-cutter (I think that's a technical term) painstakingly cut me 5 pieces of plywood to 10.5" x 29". Perfect I thought. Luckily, I did decide to double-check the size before my next step. Turns out the pieces weren't so perfect. Turns out they were about an eighth of an inch too wide. SO CLOSE, yet so so far. Boy was I ticked. It was all my fault, too. At first I thought maybe the Lowes man cut it incorrectly. Nope, 10.5" on the nose.

Several days later I mustered up the energy to go back and see if they'd trim the pieces for me, being that the only tool we own that might do the job is a handsaw. Not even sure why I mentioned that as a tool that might do the job. To my surprise, the friendly customer service representative told me it would be no problem and off I went to the cutting station. My burden had been lifted... until it came crashing back down on my shoulders twice as heavy. The lumber-cutter working this day crushed my dreams. Now, I'll keep (most of) my criticizing comments to myself, but this guy seemed like a total amateur as he measured the length instead of the width to see what to cut. He proceeded to tell me it wasn't possible. I tried my hardest to charm him and explain to him how the previous lumber-cutter made the magic happen. I realized there was no hope. I suppose I could have asked for a second opinion, but a flicker of humility and kindness sparked in me and I decided to let it be.

Too bad that flicker went out by the time I came home and told the story to Jeremiah.

The following weekend we decided to go out and just buy a whole new piece of plywood and get it re-cut to the correct size. Story of my life. I finally put that frustration behind me once I got home and successfully dropped the shelves into place.

I inherited this wrought iron shelving unit from my mom, who actually won it at Longaberger basket bingo. She never really loved it in her dining room and was ready to pack it up and store it. Being that we're losing a room pretty soon (to the babe!) I figured I could use all the storage I can get my hands on for our bedroom when things transfer over. The unit isn't really my style but I think fits in nicely with our bedroom decor, which is a bit out of my comfort zone altogether. I've always been bothered by the opening shelving though. I mean you can't sit a frame on a shelf that's not flat. What a disaster. So, I had to find a solution. That's where the plywood came in.

To jazz the entire shelving unit up I decided to wrap the plywood in wrapping paper. I think you'll agree it's a great solution. Of course I couldn't be too matchy-matchy so I went ahead and picked up two different types of wrapping paper but in coordinating colors. Quick, easy, and inexpensive.