TWEAKS+inspiration : Who Removes Floating Shelves?

Here's another shaggy dog story where one innocent idea led to more work than I planned. Isn't that mostly the way it goes? Years ago, I asked P to install some IKEA floating shelves in an area on our bedroom level. My plan was to surprise him with a trophy wall of memories of building and competing in various model aviation contests. All went well for about 10 years. Then one day he said we could let go of the memorabilia. Let's see what happened next.

For a few years, I changed with the seasons, filling the shelves with stuff from the basement.

Then I thought it would be a good gallery wall but soon realized the wall gets a lot of sun which fades the photos. Plus, these shelves were hard to work around.

When Jesus and his crew were here this spring, they took down the shelves, removed the electrical outlet and painted the wall. As you'll see below, I painted the cardboard (found in a neighbor's recycling pile) "picture" in chalkboard black paint (which I had). I was really just interested in highlighting my $10 flea market frame. Soon I was living in a shaggy dog story. The planter I had was too short for my new snake plant. I tired adding straw to hide the rim of the nursery pot but that wasn't practical.

I drove to IKEA to buy a bigger planter and even though I measured, it was way too tall for the plant. My inexpensive plan was to buy plastic saucers, gluing them together to form a base inside the planter. Oh, and then I had to buy special glue for plastic so the cost skyrocketed.

And of course, this wouldn't be a shaggy dog story, if I didn't have more than one friend involved. Last Sunday, Mary and I were on our way to get In-And-Out to picnic at the San Leandro Marina. I asked her if we could make a quick stop as I had to buy rocks. Without missing a beat, she replied, "I love to buy rocks." We went to a nursery but they were fresh out. As we were walking back to the car, she said, "You know, I've got rocks you can have." Later she texted me a photo of some of the 65 rocks she wanted out of her birdbath. Free rocks and she even washed all 65 for me.

So now the plant was settled in the pot and the gap was covered with clean rocks.

Now I was ready for installation but a bum knee currently limits what I can do on a ladder. When Ruthann was visiting from Oregon, she volunteered to climb up to nail in the picture fastener. I was so thrilled, I barely gave her time to finish her breakfast before I took her up on her offer.

A basement full of choices but I really wanted it simple. Texting photos, Ruthann suggested the pen&ink drawing but I faced the same strong sun problem.

Here's the final result (for now). Doesn't this look like it could have been done in one Happy Hour?

The current scenario on the other wall in the same room.

I need to replant the fiddle fern and maybe change out the art, although I do enjoy my "Girls Waiting at the Tea Dance." You walk through this area to get to blue guest rooms and my pink bedroom so the colors are a nice intro to the rooms. My plan is to limit the stuff on the table but include a few more gazing balls to refract light and keep continuity with the cabinet top. As you might imagine, this is another project for someone with too much time on her hands. Have a wonderful Sunday!

PS - What happened to the floating shelves Oscar removed? One of the floating shelves floated home with a nice painter and the other went to P's old studio. I've kept a few of his handcrafted planes and some of his trophies and other memorabilia - just one shelf full. Even though he wasn't much of a trophy guy (mostly giving them to kids), I think he'd approve.