why a bubble level is your best friend

we have been spending a lot of time at the hardware store, ikea, the store, and the place that sells great iced tea down the street.

let's do the bad news first. one: we found a giant cockroach in the bathroom. eeeew! two: ikea never has enough of anything in stock. three: nobody knows who does the private trash pickup on my street, so i don't have trash service, so everything is staying in the store for now.

now the good news: 80% of the shelving is up and looks awesome. liberal use of the bubble level and profanity enables me and the wonderful husband workerbee to create straight lines across 16 feet of wall. well, mostly straight. the other good news is that the immensely heavy floating shelf/box things have not yet fallen off of their brackets.

some pictures:


i bought a mannequin. her name is pippi, just like the little orange striped cat that lives at the pet shop down the street, and who likes to visit unannounced. actually i don't know what her name is (the cat), but that's what i call her.


the great metal angled shelf where books and magazines will go.


some of the jewelry boxes. yes, an alignment nightmare. i have to spackle and repaint everything.


gotta hang something in the box! a custom silver tag for the store. this will be my sample, i think.


workerbee at work. i did have to make him smile for this picture. he slashed a knuckle and kept bleeding all over the wall. bad derek, no biscuit!