Confessions of a Fugitive Mind
March 06, 2006
Conspiring Against Me
A couple weeks ago I decided I had to do something about the lack of work space in our spare room. I measured and drew and planned and measured until I had everything decided. I would build a table using a door, some existing shelving units, and a couple table legs. John suggested I buy a folding table, but I scoffed at the suggestion.
I started tearing the room apart, rearranging the furniture to better suit my needs. And then I changed my mind. When moving the shelving units I saw how flimsy they were and decided that my table needed four legs. Off to the Internet I went, in search of drawings and photos of tables made of doors. I found plans and wrote them down, calculating how to cut the 2x4s for maximum economy. Then I changed the height of the legs, and how the leg braces were attached.
On my way home from book club on Saturday I stopped at the Home Depot in Shrewsbury and bought everything I thought I'd need, including a 36x80 inch hollow core door. It wasn't until I saw the door hanging out the back of my car that I realized what a poor plan I'd made. Not wanting to drive 40 miles with my trunk ajar, I returned the door. Jon came with me to Nashua afterwards where I picked up a new door, an under cabinet light, wood screws, and pegs. I started sanding that night, only to discover that I couldn't find any of my sanding blocks. So I ran to the Walmart across the street for more sanding blocks and finished up most of it before heading to bed.
Sunday morning I finished sanding and started measuring to drill my holes. It was easy-peasy until I got to the legs. There was no way my dinky drill bit was going to make it through the 3.5-inch width of a 2x4. So I moved onto the leg braces, which I bought the pegs for, only to find that my little drill wouldn't fit the bit big enough for the pegs.
So while I was out making my last trip for scrapbooking supplies before next weekend's retreat, Jon bought me a long drill bit and borrowed Steve's larger drill. Problem solved. Until the batteries in Steve's drill died. I was able to swap things around, but it delayed things a bit. When I was finally able to put things together, I discovered that the 3" bolts listed on the original supply list were too short. The 6" bolts were still plenty long enough and the table is now up and relatively sturdy. It's just as well, since I came home with half the number of nuts I intended to buy.
While struggling through all of these set-backs last night the hose on the washer came unhooked and dumped several gallons of water onto our floor (and our neighbor's ceiling). And, as if things couldn't get worse, my can of spray primer was defective. No matter how many times I cleaned the nozzle it leaked paint more paint than it sprayed. By the time I went to bed last night I was ready to torch the table. I know it will be nice when it's done, but it just seems to be conspiring against me.
Posted by criminal at March 6, 2006 02:32 PM