My techie readers are probably expecting a rant about GSM vs CDMA or Blu-ray vs HD-DVD, or even (to keep the blog theme) RSS vs Atom.  Instad, it seems the standards war now extends to an unlikely player: Pottery Barn.

It all started before Thankgiving when we bought Pottery Barn’s Savannah headboard (without the footboard).  We didn’t get the Pottery Barn bedframe because Mattress Discounters (future rant: why is the mattress-buying process just as bad as buying a used car?) said they’d throw one in with our mattress purchase.

Once the frame and headboard had both arrived, I went to connect the two.  Much to my surprise, the 4 holes in the metal frame matched only 1 of the 3 holes drilled in the headboard (the bottom-most one).   One bolt isn’t enough to stabilize a headboard.  I figured it was because we got a cheap-o bedframe that was probably a factory reject.  I didn’t like the freebie bedframe anyway, since it had small casters which would just marr the hardwood anyway.  So I ordered something from a small e-tailer so I could explain the problem on the phone to someone who (I hoped) would have some experience with exactly this issue.  The new frame I picked out had feet instead of wheels, which I wanted anyway to protect the floors.

When the frame arrived I had 2 surprises.  First, FedEx had ripped a small hole in the box, which turned out to be just big enough to let one of the 4 plastic feet fall out and disappear forever.  The second surprise is that the mounting holes were exactly like those in the freebie frame.  So even if I had all 4 feet, I was no farther ahead in my quest.

When all else fails, read the directions.  So I took a quick look at the page of instructions that came with Pottery Barn’s headboard.  And there I had my answer.  The holes drilled in headboard didn’t match the illustration.  If it did match, everything would fit together properly.  So I had solved the mystery.  I called Pottery Barn and had them send another one.

2 weeks later, the delivery truck arrived with a new headboard.  And sadly, it was drilled just like the one I already had.  So I rejected the delivery, assuming that the overseas factory had accidentally drilled all million headboards incorrectly.

I did more research.  The instruction sheet showed the holes one way, but this Pottery Barn page describes the holes being drilled as they were on my headboard.  Which way is it supposed to be?  A trip to the mattress shop showed that all headboards there were drilled in the “correct” style… so why did Pottery Barn insist on being non-standard?

I called Pottery Barn’s customer service team and they insisted I need this adapter.  I had my doubts (it didn’t seem like it was going to solve a damn thing) and when it arrived I was right — despite its description, it doesn’t help at all if the frame and the headboard align properly but don’t connect.  Sigh.

Another grumpy call to Pottery Barn’s customer service team yielded a refund on the adapter and a free Pottery Barn Frame which suppedly will work.  I can’t wait to see where the holes are drilled on it.  Sadly, the Pottery Barn frame has wheels (at least they are large, wide wheels) instead of feet, but hopefully it solves my problem.  If not, I’ll just drill the hole where I need it in the headboard and be done with this mess.

Time to take advantage of that “future expansion” I mentioned in my last post. The space left after removing the shelf is 38″ wide by 22″ high by 8″ deep. Perfect for a flat-panel if you ask me. I researched every single panel made in the last 2 years and found a discontinued one by Sharp that had both removable speakers and a separate ‘tuner’ box. It measured 21 1/2 inches high by 36″ wide. It was going to be a challenge to mount but one I was willing to take on. I took a chance and ordered a used/refurbished Sharp Aquos 37G4U on eBay. I wanted the separate tuner box because the other components (DVD/TiVo, etc) were going to be about 8 feet away and I’d rather route one large cord to the screen then 3 or 4 component cables (each with 3-5 RCA leads) and the cable TV coax. Plus, the screen is in a very tight space which is not good for cooling. The fewer electronics there to generate heat the better.

 

 

 

   

I couldn’t use a typical plasma/LCD mount in this set-up because I didn’t have enough space to ‘drop’ the screen into the mount (most had a 1/2 “lip” to hold the screen). A full articulating mount seemed like overkill, plus the ones for 37″ TVs are very expensive. I thought about custom-building a simple mount out of aluminum, but didn’t want to try it without a drill press. Fortunately, I found a good compromise with the Peerless 850 — it pulls out a modest 10″ and rotates a bit. Great for good ventilation during long movies, or for rotating the TV a bit when folding laundry on the floor.

With only 1/4″ clearance on the top and bottom, accuracy was critical. I test-fit the screen on the mount on some bare stud-walls in the basement to get exact measurements before trying it for real.

 

 

 

   

Here it is installed in the shelves.

 

 

 

   

Now for the wiring. In the lower-left of this picture you can see the DVD player and the tuner box tucked under the built-in desk area. The large gray cord is all that goes to the TV.

 

 

 

   

Then I used a hole-saw bit with an extender to drill through the shelves and the wall.

 

 

 

I installed some PVC pipe as conduit in the longer runs through the wall to make running the wire easier. 

I installed some PVC pipe as conduit in the longer runs through the wall to make running the wire easier. Unfortunately, this room was not wired for cable TV. However, since my condo sits right above the garage that should be easy to remedy. I removed the baseboard right behind the DVD player area to find — the house’s original baseboard! As you can see, it was really wedged in there:

 

 

 

   

I didn’t want to cause a lot of damage getting it out, since I didn’t want to make this into a drywall project, too. A circular saw wasn’t going to make a big cut once I set the depth guage to about 1/2″ (the gash in the wood is where I tried to do that and changed my mind). A quick trip to Home Depot solved my problem — I found the as-seen-on-tv RotoZip that has now been legitimized since it was bought by Bosch. It cuts everything, has a depth gauge, and can get pretty close to the edges of the baseboard. It also comes with this great carrying case:

 

 

 

   

I was thinking that it would make a pretty hip purse, and at $150 it seems pretty cheap when compared to a designer bag. What other handbag comes with a RotoZip as the included accessory?

To make an already long story somewhat shorter, the RotoZip lived up to its name and I had the wood pulled out in about 60 seconds without damaging the neighboring drywall.

 

 

 

   

I RotoZipped through some of the lath, dropped a coax into the garage, hid the large hole in the wall with the DVD player and Tivo, moved the tools back to the garage, cleaned up enormous mess I made, and now I’m ready for houseguests! (And I’ll get away with it as long as my guests don’t read my blog.)

Wood filler, that is. Not (just) blog filler. I picked some up Elmer’s Wood Filler at Cliff’s, because I was going to in some way need it to fix the damage to the bookshelves. But, first I had to get rid of the screws that were sticking out of the wall. I thought about trying to pull the screwheads through the plywood, but I didn’t want to cause more damage. I couldn’t hammer push them back into the wall because the bookshelves (and the screwheads) abutted an old plaster wall which probably didn’t leave room for a 2″ screw to camp out.

So, I broke out my trusty vice grips and bent the screws back and forth until they snapped. It was surprisingly easy. Then, I took a nail set and punched the screw in until it was recessed aroud 1/4 inch.

Then, I applied my Elmer’s wood filler over each of the damaged areas. I slightly over-filled each area so I could get it perfect with sanding.

 

 

  

Once dried, I sanded with 120 grit paper until the wood filler was flush. Then, I sanded the entire area with 220 grit in preparation for (re-) painting.

 

 

  

This project (all 10 sq. feet of it) reminded me how much I hate painting. Perhaps it’s because I was tasked with re-painting the exterior of our house as a teenager. (After finishing one side of the house I had had it — I hired a friend to do the rest and did computer consulting jobs to pay him.) Anyways, back to the project at hand. Another benefit of keeping in touch with the previous owners is that I could ask them what paint they used. They kindly left a list of all of the paint colors used in the house. I’m sorry I asked. I went to the paint store and found out that the paint used on the shelves is some special import from Holland and it costs — get this — $25 per half liter. For those not doing the math at home, that’s $189/gallon, assuming there’s no price break for larger quantities.

Fortunately I only needed a small amount, so I took my 500 ml container and some less exotic (Benjamin Moore) primer they suggested and went home. I wiped down the area with some tack cloth (which, by the way, is not the most pleasant product to use since it leaves your hands feeling like you dipped them in tree sap), masked the area, and then primed the un-painted stripe in the middle.

 

 

Masked and primed.
  

The infamous Dutch paint.

Painting was pretty straight-forward, though for $189 a gallon you’d think they’d make a paint that was a little less finicky. Cleanup involved one of those uh-oh moments: when washing out my brush, I realized that I had forgotten to buy any paint thinner. I wrapped my paint-covered hand in a paper towel and ran to Cliff’s to grab some. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should support your local hardware store. They’re “there when you need them.” Driving 30 minutes to Home Depot with a paint-covered hand doesn’t sound very appealing.

Painting was pretty straight-forward, though for $189 a gallon you’d think they’d make a paint that was a little less finicky. Cleanup involved one of those uh-oh moments: when washing out my brush, I realized that I had forgotten to buy any paint thinner. I wrapped my paint-covered hand in a paper towel and ran to Cliff’s to grab some. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should support your local hardware store. They’re “there when you need them.” Driving 30 minutes to Home Depot with a paint-covered hand doesn’t sound very appealing. 

 

All painted! 

 

 As you can see from these pictures, I added another old-work electrical box (it’s orange and has no back because it’s only for low-voltage applications) for “future expansion.” There’s a matching opening in the cabinet below to feed any wires through.

Now it’s time to wait and watch the paint dry…

I’ll take a break from the bookshelf project in favor of one with more instant results. Actually, this is this first project I did at this place. And it was a great idea, because it makes the space under the sink so much more usable. I picked up the parts at one of my many trips to the incredible downtown Container Store. We actually had to make several trips because I had to measure (and re-measure) the under-sink area several times to figure out what combination of slide-out products would fit.

 

 

 

Everything including the kitchen sink


As you can see from the photo, the trash can is on the left, an Elfa slide-out basket in the middle (has to be low to fit under the garbage disposal), and a sliding wire basket on the right (which clears the plumbing by just millimeters) for the recycling.   

The installation was a snap. About the only thing that went wrong was that I had to do was raise the Elfa up by about an 1/8 inch so that it would clear the lip on the bottom of the cabinet. A quick trip to (where else?) Cliff’s yielded some nylon washers that did the trick.

We finally own our own place (well, close enough) and now I can’t get rid of this urge to rip stuff up (even if for no other reason than I can).

So, let’s get that started. This room is nice enough, but there are a few too many shelves if you ask me. Let’s take care of that.

 

 

 

 

 The previous owner (the one who built these gorgeous shelves) told me that they are secured with only nails, so removing one of the shelves shouldn’t be too tough. Certainly nothing a jigsaw, some elbow grease, and a little touch-up painting can’t take care of.

First step: removing the decorative molding. This way, I can re-build the shelf if something goes wrong or I want to restore the bookcase. A project for another day will be to rebuild this shelf to be removable. Using two chisels makes this pretty easy. By using the flat edge of the chisel against the molding, the molding is spared any damage (same can’t be said for the shelf).

 

 

  

Now I’ll just slice the shelf as far I can with my jigsaw and then finish the rest inch or with this little tiny saw. The jigsaw portion took about 10 seconds, while the piece sawed by hand took about 10 minutes of knuckle-scraping.

 

 

  

After cutting down both sides, I’ll just pry out the center piece …

After cutting down both sides, I’ll just pry out the center piece … 

 

  

… to reveal …

 

 

  

… huge amounts of damage to the plywood because the shelves were built with screws after all! Damn! About half of the screws pulled all the way through the 3/4″ ply, and the other half pulled out of the shelf instead, meaning I’ll have to figure out a way to cut them off.

Well, the gentleman who lives upstairs goes to sleep around 7:30pm, so that’s enough hammering for one night. Tune in next time …