Tales from the Toolbelt

When my parents visited us this past weekend, I made sure to ask my dad to bring his power drill with him. (After all, you can't visit us without taking part in home improvement in one form or another!)

Our poor drill, a lovely housewarming gift, gave up the ghost due to a manufacturer's defect. It wasn't user error. I swear.

Anyway...we'd received an amazing hand-decorated plate at our house warming party. I knew it would look perfect displayed on a small ledge inside our downstairs half-bath. The room has a luxurious feel to it, with oil-rubbed bronze and black fixtures and a rich wall paper.


After using my dad's drill to hang the display ledge, I moved on to the other half of my project. We have an awkward gap between our base of the room's mirror and the countertop. I'd realized that the perfect solution for the awkward gap was the installation of a matching display ledge to hold bathroom bits and pieces!

I drilled my pilot holes, inserted anchors and screws and prepared to hang the ledge. Oops!! I forgot that I had moved my sticky-note hole locators out of the way when measuring for the other ledge. Rats!

As I moaned to myself about this latest home improvement mishap, my dad stuck his head in the half-bath and asked if I was drilling spy holes. (Grrrr...very funny.)

I removed the screws and anchors, measured (twice) and drilled again. This time: success!! I had a perfect ledge to hold our decorative "H" and a small bottle of room freshener.

I set up the display and went on with my morning. About an hour later, we heard The Boy laughing in the half-bath.

What's so funny? I asked.

Well, he said. Why didn't you tell me that your latest home improvement project was to leave subliminal messages for our guests?

Hmm....I guess I'll have to rearrange those pieces so it doesn't look like we're telling our guests Hi when they sit down on the toilet!