Off the Shelf

Weekend mega project #2134501-1B1-2K42-6-A – “Wall Shelf”.

BUKAN PROJEK KERAJAAN BARISAN NASIONAL

Why do I want to install a shelf on my beautiful newly-painted wall?

1. Though the biggest person in the house, I have the tiniest room. So, I need space not only for my-big-fat-ass-self but also all my stuff. And I have plenty of stuff – I think – to put on, er, any place I can find; hence a wall shelf.
   
   
2. Now that I have my ‘piece’, I need some excuse to drill holes and drive screws to justify acquisition of said power equipment.
   
   
3. I need to spend some hard-earned cash.
   
   
4. It maximizes my utility?
   

So, how does one go about installing a wall shelf?

1. Find a space on a wall to mount the shelf and measure the space available so you know how big or small a shelf you can mount.
   
   
2. Find a place or piece of furniture to lie down while you visualize the designated space with a shelf mounted. Sleep over it. Savor the sight of the still naked wall. While you’re at it, get a general idea of the kind of shelf you want to mount. Remember that you can always scrap the whole idea.
   
   
3. Go stare at an IKEA catalogue till a suitable candidate is revealed to you. I settled on a RM119 Liden wall shelf for its clean, bare look and 10kg load-bearing capacity.
   
   
4. Go buy the damn thing! The weekend is a bad time to go anywhere near Mutiara Damansara; a school-holiday weekend is worse. (When is the worst?) Fear not, you can always count on people preferring save RM1 and park their cars outside!
   
   
5. Assembly is easy your grandma can do it, but IKEA doesn’t supply the screws for mounting the shelf on the wall. So go buy them. Get a spirit level too, unless you don’t mind a crooked shelf.
   
   
6. Unless you have four arms or go by the name Otto Octavius, grab another person to help you with the mounting.
   

TA-DA!