The fails

Sure, the blackboard looked easy, but it took a little longer than expected. Here are my fails:

 

One:

 

At first, my grand plan was to have part blackboard, part magnetic board. I bought the handy dandy premade blackboard section and then bought the metal piece.  Conveniently the metal piece was 1x2 and the blackboard 2x4. Then I got it all home and started measuring. Oh, the 2x4 foot blackboard….SO NOT two by four. More like a little under two and a little under four. Which left my metal sheet hanging over.  It was too thick for me to attempt cutting so I brought it back to Home Depot and they laughed when I asked them to cut it.  In a condescending tone: No, we only have wood saws, you’ll need something much more powerful to cut through that. Yeah no shit Sherlock, that’s why I’m here. So that was returned. Plain blackboard it is.

 

Two:

 

The trim.  You know how they tell you to buy the most flat and straight boards they have? Yeah, you should listen when people tell you that. One of my trim pieces was pretty warped, but I figured it was no big deal because I was nailing it all to the wall. Guess what, when you try to nail something to just sheetrock, it’s a joke.  So, back to Home Depot to buy a straighter, less warped board and paint it all over again.

 

Three:

 

After my second trip to Home Depot I got home and realized there was one nail left in my nail gun. Seriously. I had to call Mom because I couldn’t even stand to make one more trip there.  (I’m not even going to mention how I bought extra nails but because I didn’t realize they came in different gauges, the size I bought didn’t fit in the gun. Of freaking course I bought the 18s when it only fit 16s. Whatever that actually means…)

 

Four:

 

Did you know white paint really isn’t white paint at all? I wanted to match the trim so I used the leftovers in the basement and then needed more. I bought some bright white paint because that is what the bucket said in the basement. Oh no….not the same at all. Oh, looky here…they mix in some yellow and brown. Because that makes sense.

 

 

 

Five:

 

And this is not so much a fail, but a nice little life lesson. After I hauled in the air compressor and got out the nail gun, I tried to attach it to the hose. Um…not working. Every which way I tried that little end was not fitting where it needed to go. I had to eat my pride and call the husband. He then described putting the “female end in the male end” by pulling down on the movable piece (I was twisting that piece). Really? Female and male parts? I thought that was his way of dumbing down the instructions for me or being funny with his descriptions, but that is really what they call it in the business.