Office Shelves. And Faux Billy Balls.

A-yup, still on the prowl for other or smaller projects around the house to complete, hanging on for Mike to bust out his paint decision.  That's ok, I can wait as along as he needs.

For a long time I had plans or thoughts of plans or hmm I'd like to have some plans for a coupla' shelves in my office.  I spend a decent portion of time in this itty bitty tiny little room so function is important but most especially is minimal visual clutter.  Even as I look around now, there's stuff I'd like to rework and it's not even that bad.

The other day I noticed my desk was getting all gunked up cluttery.  And spots around the room were cluttery.  Or continuing to amass clutter.  Plus I got tired of this wood Ikea drawer-y cabinet-y box thing sitting in a temporary spot on the floor.  Plus I have been dying to set out these neat vases my dad bought for me while we were at a Habitat store many years ago.  (Such a ridiculously cool store.)

So, suddenly and unexpectedly I found myself attempting a tidying-up and an unplanned-for plan for some wall shelves.  Body goes, brain follows, doh.  Stuff and choices, yeah, sometimes they just burst outta nowhere.

I had hidden a slew of Hailey's favorite toys in the office closet so I had to calmly bag those and merge them downstairs with the rest of her belongings.  That hurt my heart.  I then stumbled across an envelope of photos from her Dog Training 101 graduation at Anti-Cruelty Society.  My dad came down for that which was neat.  Looking at those photos....well, cough, ahem, you know.

Last week marked a year ago when she had her amputation surgery.  A year.

Boy, did we struggle with that horrifying decision but it was the only one that was going to give us the option of stopping/slowing the cancer, giving her (an otherwise perfectly healthy girl) a chance at more life.

So when March 18th came last week, I had a tough day.  Remembering the fear, the stress, the tears, the anxiety and now missing her terribly when I fully expected she would still be here with us.  Then around 8 pm on the 19th was rough as that's when we brought her home from the hospital, newly minted as a tripedal, us so scared, her so sad.

I know.  I said I was going to try very hard not to relive moments from a year ago.  Some things I guess I can't not un-relive though.  Is that too many negatives?  I dunno.  It's tough -- everything in this house has a connection to her in one way or another.

So.  Right.  Shelves.  Faux Billy Balls.

A while back these brackets were on sale at Menards for a mere forty nine cents each so resistance was futile.  I liked that they were simple, not in my face design-wise, they borderline create an almost floating shelf effect, and they were paintable with spray paint.  Bingo!  Plus sheesh, who can resist forty nine cents?!

As I was moving things about the room and reorganizing the closet a bit, I rediscovered the cut off pieces from the shelves I had trimmed down and installed in the kitchen window opening area part.  And guess what?  They worked in size for the brackets.  Huh!  Happy happenstance.

So off to the basement I went, dug up the dark blue spray paint and gave the brackets a spray.

While I was waiting for those to dry, though honestly I wasn't very patient about it, I thought to finally make those faux Billy Ball pom poms I had desired to make, what seems like eons ago.

I took the yellow yarn I had gotten and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped it around a paint stir stick as that measured about an inch wide, a seemingly good size.

Ah see, here's that pair of scissors I attached to a lanyard for ease of accessibility while I was taping out the wall for the paint in the foyer.  Super handy around my neck.  Not so good for walking near Finn though as he's insanely tall and the points can easily reach his sweet face.  Be attentive and careful, my friends.

I trimmed them further after this photo.  Just 'cuz.

Wrapped the yarn, tied them off, snipped the loops, roughed them up in my palms so the fibers would frizz out, then gave them snippy trims to even them up and make them smaller.  A while back I had gotten that package of stem wires* too, just for this particular occasion.

Once the brackets were dry enough-ish, I brought them back upstairs and started eyeballing things on the wall.

Near blank wall.  My graduate degree was impressively framed by my parents.

Up first went the Ikea cabinet-y thingie.  It's got crap like staples, rubber bands, binder clips, random other junk and such in there, ya know, handy office supply gunk.

Next were the shelves.  I measured them and decided to separate the brackets by about ten inches.

Guesstimating the best distance between shelf brackets.

So up went the first shelf.  Here's where it would've been nice if I had let the spray paint dry completely. Ahem.  Ah well.  Then up went the second shelf.

Then up went the vases I love so dearly and Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.  Plus a photo of our beloved family dog Bear who left us about eleven years ago and various other small things.  I've since added the Playmobil ambulance my brother gave me.  Grown up?  Me?  Nah.

Then boink, popped those faux Billy Ball stems into one of the vases which already had that green froggie foam stuff left inside from another time and place.

Cutie faux Billy Balls.  Awww!

I know, it's a tricky room to photograph due to its size and lack of natural light.  My apologies.

I haven't decided how I like it all yet.  If it's too contrast-y against the dark blue wall color.  Or if it's just all new stuff on a blank wall I've gotten used to as being blank.  Or if it's just too much stuff visually for the room.  So we'll see how this pans out.  Mike thought I should have put one of the shelves up on the short wall next to the window though when I held one up there he kinda crinkled his nose and walked away.

Not a super exciting share for you today but it is something that's been on my list for a looong time.  A check mark off the list it is, or at least a check mark in pencil!  Heh, as most check marks seem to be in this household....

*The stem wires are a Joann Fabrics affiliate link.  Mwah, thanks!