The rule of thumb in my house seems to be -- the minute you make one improvement to the home, something else will go horribly wrong.
That's just what happened to me yesterday, and being totally inept and frustrated when it comes to do-it-yourself stuff, I just had to blog about it.
About a week ago, I had custom curtains made for my living room and family room by a local New Jersey shop called Pat's Decor and am very happy with the results. (Luckily the curtains were installed for me.) I went the custom route because I doubt that any curtain rods installed by me would stay anchored to the wall. It's the first time there have been any window coverings in my living room since my husband and I moved into the home seven years ago, and the curtains give the rooms a finished look.
So, of course, something had to happen to ruin my short-lived homeowner's bliss. While sitting at my computer yesterday, I was startled by a loud crashing noise that sounded like the ceiling had fallen down. I rushed out to find out what caused the noise and found that the wire shelf that spans the length (at least 8-feet long) of our master-bedroom closet had fallen, along with all the clothes that had been hanging from it.
So now, because I literally don't know how to put a screw into a wall, I am faced with possibly having nowhere to hang my clothes and having to stare at the multiple holes the incident left in the drywall for many, many months. It seems that my home's builder had screwed the eight-foot-long (or so) shelving into the drywall (with drywall anchors) and only used two supports. Does that seem wrong to you?
I found a very simple to understand video from Lowe's (see the video at the top of this post) from YouTube on installing a wire closet-rack system and think maybe I should give it a try. I notice that Lowe's suggests using a hang track and vertical standards, which weren't used in my closet. (My rack was only hung with two brackets and drywall anchors.) Hopefully, the task won't tax my non existent do-it-yourself skills too much. (A tiny belt rack that I installed a few months ago in the closet has already come down.) We'll see -- perhaps I'll be calling a handyman in a few days.
Readers: Any advice on how to get the shelving back up in my closet? I'd love to hear from you.—Lauren Baier Kim