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My still bored by retirement husband was back in the underground den of detritus yesterday stacking crap on his newly constructed shelves.
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It shouldn’t surprise you to learn they didn’t take long to fill.
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We now have slightly more organized floor to ceiling crap. Among the treasure?
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Mildew covered high tech.
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An ancient rusted fire extinguisher.
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And a box of money… which if I had known was down there, I would have cashed in years ago..
🤣
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Checking on the progress in the cluttered chaos my hating retirement husband calls a cellar, I was delighted to see these:
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Looks like someone took my advice about using brackets on his shelves…. and if that’s not a genuine grade ‘A’ miracle? Ethel Kennedy didn’t own a black dress.
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Shelves are making their way along the newly insulated front wall…
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And might have a better chance at withstanding the onslaught of useless junk treasure that’s sure to follow.
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When we travel and drink, the husband likes to get a glass from the bars and restaurants he’s enjoyed. Since we used to do this quite often… we’ve amassed a large collection of glasses. Some of them are in the house but most of them have migrated out to the barn. And though we’ve stuffed the freezer compartment of the beer fridge with frosty ready to fill receptacles….
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There was still a large portion waiting for a home.
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And a whole lotta paper destined for the fireplace.
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Sadly the husband’s aborted little two foot shelves don’t offer much useable space.
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And once the double tap kegerator is installed things will be even tighter.
Roy Scheider was right.
We should have built a bigger bar.
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We started with these 3 foot long shelves under the bar.
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They’re floating shelves… and while they technically don’t float, they are an absolute pain in the ass to install. So when I told the husband I wanted two more on the adjacent bar wall, he was less than thrilled but agreed they were necessary. Of course then the stupid electrician put the new outlets too high up on the wall to install 3 foot shelves at the same height as the others. That’s when the war began.
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I was fine with moving the bottom shelf higher.
The husband was not. Which resulted in a major kerfluffle.
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We disagreed on placement…. and though I had won the 4 versus 3 custom liquor bottle shelves battle, this war ended differently.
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Busy with other things we put this chore on the back burner… or so I thought until the husband disappeared one afternoon and I found him under the bar. Removing my 3 foot shelves and all their contents.
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Unbeknownst to me, he had returned my 3 foot shelves to the store and come home with the 2 foot versions instead. I told him I didn’t want 2 foot shelves. That it would look off balance and not provide enough space.
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To which he paid no attention and proceeded to install the stubby 2 foot shelves. He was determined they fit right into the corner and ripped out the nice trim piece I had our contractor install. When I looked displeased, he assured me they would line up perfectly with the existing shelves and look great.
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I think you know how that went.
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They didn’t line up, despite the numerous hours he cursed like a drunken sailor tinkered with them.
No matter what he did, the new shelves rose slightly above the older ones and wouldn’t lay flat.
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His solution?
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A few pieces of too thick moldy old wood from under the baby barn…. to bring them together.
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Which makes me wonder what part of the invisible bracket floating shelf aesthetic he didn’t understand.
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I’m hoping once we get the double tap kegerator in there the unbalanced shelves won’t be quite so noticeable.
But either way, there’s still not enough room.
😒
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The last booze shelf was added in the Barn Mahal.
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I know the husband didn’t really want to, but as I kept finding more liquor bottles stashed all over the house ( what, you don’t keep gin in your linen closet or spiced rum in the china hutch? ) it turned out to be a necessity.
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And besides, it’s his fault that they’re lopsided. My original plan was for two shelves on each side….
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He’s the one who had to have the microwave on the end of the bar.
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Along with the 120 year old reclaimed barn wood chairs came 120 year old reclaimed barn wood shelves. Problem was the side you’re supposed to display was so dark it looked awful against the light walls and didn’t blend with the bar or chairs.
Solution? We flipped them upside down.
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And installed the railroad spike brackets.
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Talk about rugged! These shelves could hold an elephant…. but if you see a pink one wandering around, I’m shutting you off.
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Bottles were brought from the house for proper spacing.
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And then came the disagreement.
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I have a lot of bottles, which is why I had 4 shelves made.
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But now the husband only wants 2 on this side instead of the planned 3.
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When you’re mixing cocktails, variety is key.
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And I can’t put another one on the opposite side because, you know… short people.
I have more bottles that need a home. Stay tuned..
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I don’t drink coffee, never have. But if any brand were ever to tempt me to start? This might be it.
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As previously noted, we had an electrician in to put some electrical outlets under our bar. And because we’re either cursed or the unluckiest people on earth, things did not go well. I won’t bore you with details but after 3 hours of trying… ka-Ching! …. the only option was this.
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Ugly ass exterior junction boxes… that because I let the husband supervise? Were mounted too high and now leave me unable to run the three foot long shelf I’d purchased for that spot.
Two foot long shelves it is. Grrr.
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A recent trip to our local pub found the owner munching on these. And while I utterly despise all sugar free, fake ass, wannabe chocolate? These weren’t half bad. Of course I was a few Cosmos in by then, so they may have actually tasted like cardboard. For $15 a bag, I don’t think I’m willing to check.
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Yes.
Yes they are, and bless their little souls for the good cheer they spread.
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Now that the bar construction was complete, it was time to outfit it. And while we’re still waiting for the chairs and wall shelves to be completed….. I wanted some shelving inside the bar for glasses and various drinking paraphernalia.
Enter the floating black shelves I found.
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If you’ve never put up floating shelves? I don’t recommend it. They look and sound lovely…. though they’re anything but for the poor schmuck who has to install them.
And I think we all know who my poor schmuck is.
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Two shelves and two hours later, my other half was less than pleased with my choice. He was even less pleased when I told him I would be buying two more.
Moving along…. the mini beverage fridge was slid into place.
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And plugged in.
Although that didn’t go well either.
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Considering the electrical outlet is on the opposite wall. This is something the husband didn’t contemplate when he bought the fridge and though I did…. I kept quiet and let him discover it all on his own.
I’m thoughtful that way.
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( The electrician will be here in two weeks to add outlets. )
And one more thing… while reading the instruction booklet for proper beverage cooling procedure? I had to laugh.
( read marked lines )
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Something tells me this unit was not made in the good ole USA.
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That’s the sound my checkbook made when we drove down to the design studio to purchase the custom made bar chairs my husband had his heart set on.
We met the two very pleasant Lithuanian immigrants who own the business and found they do interesting work.
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Their furniture is starting to catch on and has been written up in numerous magazines.
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Maine restaurants and businesses have contracted large orders….
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And its only thanks to Covid that they considered a small order like ours.
These are the 30 inch swivel pub chairs my husband fell in love with.
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Made from 120 year old reclaimed barn boards and strong enough to seat an African elephant, they’re remarkably comfortable as well.
The designers explained it would take 6 weeks to make our 6 chairs because they just had to lay off most of their people due to the virus. A huge order from L.L. Bean had been cancelled, which while bad news for them… was great news for us.
They were even kind enough to let us take a sample chair home for a test run.
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We sidled it up next to the (still unfinished since the contractor seems to have taken a powder) bar and the height was perfect.
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I’m hoping to match the front facing of the bar to one of the medium shades on the chair.
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If the builder ever decides to return.
A few days later when we brought the chair back, I decided I needed some matching shelves for my liquor bottles.
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They’ll look like these. The wood will match the chairs… which pleases me, and the brackets will be made from old railroad spikes… which pleases the husband.
Two shelves on either side of the bar window for a total of four. What the hell. If you’re going to do it, do it right.
Ka-Ching!
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Try as I might to avoid it, sometimes I have to go upstairs in our barn.
This usually forces me to emit a heavy sigh over the husband’s new acquisitions.
You know, the ones he snuck in there without me noticing.
While I was pleasantly surprised to see he’d done a little organizing (read – shoved everything to the sides) and the floor was visible this time….
And also delighted to see a small section of crap had been put on a shelf.
A shelf!
(What? You don’t collect dusty old water stained cardboard boxes half full of rusty rivets and tacks…
Why ever not?)
A groan did escape me when I saw more bed frames….
And old rusty pesticide sprayers…
As well as whatever the hell this is in front of the vintage cabbage slicers.
I’m thinking I should make him use that in the baby barn to level out the dirt floor.
You know, as penance for bringing the damn thing home in the first place.
I wish I knew.
And if you’re thinking to yourself, geesh River, that didn’t look so bad…. let me point your eye downstairs where it looks like this:
And this:
And this:
Enough said.
River's world..... 