[Perhaps Madonna's "Hung Up" would be appropriate, though clearly she was thinking about something else.]
Recall my excitement about the pending installation of my long-awaited closet system that was ordered back in March. Well, the closet system was installed a couple weeks ago. It was more or less what I thought I had ordered (again, recall that this order was defined and placed in German with a salesperson who spoke nearly as little English as I spoke German at that time). And perhaps not surprisingly, the guys who came to build/install the system also spoke limited English. But, I mean, how much English does it take to tell them how to install a pre-configured system, right?
(Quick time out here as you are probably looking at the photo and trying to figure it out. The cabinet is black-brown wood with black glass panels applied at the top and bottom. There are three doors that slide open and allow one of the three sections to be exposed at a time or for all to be closed. In the current configuration, you will note a lot of color, which, at least in the bottom section, is my response to the weird cubbyhold situation -- stuffing rolled up exercise attire into the slots for easy access with some semblance of organization.)
They were asking, for example, at which height I wanted the closet bar in the section that would hold dresses and long items, as well as for the bars in the divided section for jackets on top and pants and short skirts on the bottom. I mean, shouldn't there be standard heights for where these bars should be? Suffice it to say, there apparently are not and when I started unpacking (finally!!) the wardrobe boxes that had been lurking in my bedroom and the study, I discovered that the dresses dragged on the floor (and thus covering shoes, for which shoe racks had not been provided as I had thought I had requested) and the jackets were nearly spilling into the pants area on the other side. But this was nearly the least of my worries. And don't get me started on the odd cubby hole things that I thought were supposed to be small drawers for hosiery and the like, but weren't.
One of the specific features I had wanted in the closet system was a large space in the center section for a TV (which TV would be the 26" LCD I bought from Barney as the temporary TV for my digs and which was to be moved into this space and replaced in the living room with a larger model, which is a topic for a separate blog). Um, yeah. Problem. The unit backed up flat against the wall and covered the cable and power outlets, which I only realized much later because I hadn't been able to communicate this to the installation guys. And no ability, even if I were able to somehow get to the boxes, to be able to feed them into the closet system without drilling holes.
Did someone say drilling? As with power tools? I feel compelled to refer back to a previous entry that I believe was titled, "I am Sparky's Sister." Have tools. Always looking for more. Will drill. (Not to be confused with, "Drill, baby, drill," which is a conversation for another day. But imagine how angry I might sound if I have that conversation in German! ;-))
So this past weekend I set about remedying the height of the closet bars, the distribution of the shelves and the certain matter of electronics. The first toy that was required (and which was purchased the day after closet installation) was something that I believe is called a pocket hole saw. (I feel compelled to mention I came to that conclusion based on a review of the Home Depot web site. I knew what I was looking for in the Hornbach store here, though, if that makes you not lose total confidence in me being a biological sister to Sparky.) Basically, picture a circular band of steel. The bottom side of the band has an aggressive edge of metal teeth like any other saw. And the other end fastens (that's a gross simplification) to a power drill. When engaged, this tool can drill circular holes into flat surfaces. You know, surfaces like the walls of a closet system....
Problem was, I didn't know exactly where, behind this closet system, the power or satellite outlets were. I measured the height of the outlets in the rooms, which appeared to be consistently at about 12 inches (or whatever the centimeter equivalent is, but this American only has a "standard" measurement tape measure -- in case you're thinking of stocking stuffers for Christmas already). I recalled the approximate position and began drilling in the back wall of the closet. And then the power went out. Hmmm.... Yeah, that's because Captain Intelligence (I'm being sarcastic) had indeed estimated correctly and drilled directly into the extension cord plugged into the electrical outlet behind the wall, resulting in a short and a very nice example of how German electrical systems are designed to prevent accountants with power tools from electrocuting themselves. So I had uncovered one outlet, but more remained. And I couldn't recall whether there were multiple outlets before one got to the satellite connection. Um, nutshell? Three power outlets, so now there are a series of four interlinked circles in the back wall. (If I did a fifth, could I get an Olympic award of some sort because it kind of looks like the rings.....) I then drilled another hole between the left and right sections of the closet system and we were in business with fully functional TV and satellite receiver.
All good. But the four circles bothered me. I wanted to clean them up before I put all the clothes back into the closet. So back to Hornbach I went in search of a nice sawing tool of some sort. I ended up buying a Dremel tool with a separate "cutting kit." Sweet, right? Now, I should have thought, "Hmmmm, I don't recall Sparky himself ever referring to, let alone extolling the virtues of, his Dremel tool." Well, yeah, that's because the Dremel documentation indicated it was for DIY projects. Ruh roh.
But I had the special cutting cut, so all was fine, right? Not so much. The cutting tools included were not meant for wood surfaces. So the round discs ended up essentially creating friction with the wood and pretty much burning it, rather than cutting it. Now, this makes for an interesting smell in one's bedroom, but hardly solved the problem of how to clean up this series of holes before hanging the clothes up in the closet.
So.... Nutshell, I have TV and satellite service in my bedroom. I have several new toys. Cords are out of sight. There is a slight scent of campfire in the air. And I still have no idea what the cubbyholes are for. Life goes on.....
No comments:
Post a Comment