Maybe it's my amazing Simon and Garfunkle Pandora station that has me reflecting on past failures, or perhaps it's because I just finished binge watching season 6 of Girls, but I feel like sharing a mistake I made lately. It's not a big mistake as mistakes go, but it's still worth mentioning so that, you, the loyal reader, may reap the benefits of my misdeeds in hopes of never repeating them.
Three words: Secure. Your. Load.
I recently attended a very lovely estate sale in a neighborhood of San Jose that they keep hidden from the rest of us. It seriously looked like a hillside burb you see in movies. I knew as soon as I started ascending the hill to this majestic neighborhood, that I was in for a treat. I found little bits and bobs as the English like to say, but what I really walked away with was a magnificent 48" long, PRISTINE, antique gold mirror. The wood was perfect on it. Not a chip or blemish. It's like it's been frozen in time from 100 years ago and I'm Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark where he finds the golden idol. You know the one.
So, I carefully secured this treasure of a mirror with moving blankets and rope. It stayed in my whip for 4 days before tragedy struck.
Now before you go jumping to conclusions, spoiler alert; it's fixable. When I started to tell my husband this story, this is the look he gave me:
I would expect nothing less from my loyal readers as well. He knew what happened. He knows me very well. You think you know what happened, but I'll tell you it wasn't that bad; just inconvenient.
Four days of driving around with this mirror and I'm surprised it didn't break earlier! On Tuesday, in a panic looking for a furniture to replace a buffet that sold the day prior, I hastily found a gorgeous antique buffet (check out my IG @birchlanereclamation for pics). Two lovely gentlemen helped me load this beast into the back of my Element. It couldn't be placed on its back due to the mirror occupying the same space so we set it upright drawers facing out...not in. First freaking mistake. I had tie-downs and rope so I thought, this will be a piece of cake. I've secured large furniture before. However this time was different. My primary rope was securing the mirror against the wall so all I had was some blue straps with hooks that my husband insists are eight feet long. Either I can't figure out how to stretch rope, or he's mistaken which ones he left in the SUV. Oh, and a partial dog leash that we keep in the car for emergencies. Regardless, I wasn't left with as many options as I thought I had. Can you visualize the disaster that is about to unfold? Good! Because I couldn't.
So I made my second mistake by just tying down the legs. Yeah, this seems like an obvious blunder, but I pushed and pulled on that bugger and it didn't budge...until I took the first right turn. Load shift. It's a real issue. Live it. Learn it. The drawers were the first to topple out, slamming into the mirror. I think it's only saving grace was that it was covered with blue foamy moving blankets. Then, with the weight of the drawers pulling it down, the rest of the buffet followed suit. I was relieved not to hear a loud *CRACK* but I wasn't out of the woods yet. After extending my right arm over the seat and holding that heavy oak buffet around every turn, I made it to my final destination. You may be asking yourself, "Silly girl, why didn't you just pull over?". Valid question. For one, I'm stubborn. Secondly, I didn't have far to go. And third, the damage had already been done. It wasn't going to fall over more in the next 2 miles.
So I arrive at Antiques Colony where my space resides, and assessed the damage. The buffet was fine! I was super relieved because I just paid too much for it and didn't want to eat that loss. At first glance, the mirror seemed fine nestled inside it's moving blanket cocoon. Then I went to move it into my space. Here is when my dreams of a perfect gold antique mirror went down the drain. The glass was intact; huge victory. The wood frame; not so much. Little pieces started crumbling off into my hands and the beautifully carved top was snapped cleanly off. Now I have a baggie of broken dreams.
On the bright side, it's really nothing some time and wood glue...maybe some nails too...can't fix! Learn from my mistakes: Turn furniture with drawers and doors to the inside of your vehicle wall; secure your load; and most importantly, if something is super fragile, get it out of the car before you load in huge pieces of furniture.
So now it sits in a sad heap on my garage floor. Hopefully I'll be able to fix it this week(end) and have it in my space soon. Stay tuned, friends!
Three words: Secure. Your. Load.
I recently attended a very lovely estate sale in a neighborhood of San Jose that they keep hidden from the rest of us. It seriously looked like a hillside burb you see in movies. I knew as soon as I started ascending the hill to this majestic neighborhood, that I was in for a treat. I found little bits and bobs as the English like to say, but what I really walked away with was a magnificent 48" long, PRISTINE, antique gold mirror. The wood was perfect on it. Not a chip or blemish. It's like it's been frozen in time from 100 years ago and I'm Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark where he finds the golden idol. You know the one.
So, I carefully secured this treasure of a mirror with moving blankets and rope. It stayed in my whip for 4 days before tragedy struck.
Now before you go jumping to conclusions, spoiler alert; it's fixable. When I started to tell my husband this story, this is the look he gave me:
I would expect nothing less from my loyal readers as well. He knew what happened. He knows me very well. You think you know what happened, but I'll tell you it wasn't that bad; just inconvenient.
Four days of driving around with this mirror and I'm surprised it didn't break earlier! On Tuesday, in a panic looking for a furniture to replace a buffet that sold the day prior, I hastily found a gorgeous antique buffet (check out my IG @birchlanereclamation for pics). Two lovely gentlemen helped me load this beast into the back of my Element. It couldn't be placed on its back due to the mirror occupying the same space so we set it upright drawers facing out...not in. First freaking mistake. I had tie-downs and rope so I thought, this will be a piece of cake. I've secured large furniture before. However this time was different. My primary rope was securing the mirror against the wall so all I had was some blue straps with hooks that my husband insists are eight feet long. Either I can't figure out how to stretch rope, or he's mistaken which ones he left in the SUV. Oh, and a partial dog leash that we keep in the car for emergencies. Regardless, I wasn't left with as many options as I thought I had. Can you visualize the disaster that is about to unfold? Good! Because I couldn't.
So I made my second mistake by just tying down the legs. Yeah, this seems like an obvious blunder, but I pushed and pulled on that bugger and it didn't budge...until I took the first right turn. Load shift. It's a real issue. Live it. Learn it. The drawers were the first to topple out, slamming into the mirror. I think it's only saving grace was that it was covered with blue foamy moving blankets. Then, with the weight of the drawers pulling it down, the rest of the buffet followed suit. I was relieved not to hear a loud *CRACK* but I wasn't out of the woods yet. After extending my right arm over the seat and holding that heavy oak buffet around every turn, I made it to my final destination. You may be asking yourself, "Silly girl, why didn't you just pull over?". Valid question. For one, I'm stubborn. Secondly, I didn't have far to go. And third, the damage had already been done. It wasn't going to fall over more in the next 2 miles.
So I arrive at Antiques Colony where my space resides, and assessed the damage. The buffet was fine! I was super relieved because I just paid too much for it and didn't want to eat that loss. At first glance, the mirror seemed fine nestled inside it's moving blanket cocoon. Then I went to move it into my space. Here is when my dreams of a perfect gold antique mirror went down the drain. The glass was intact; huge victory. The wood frame; not so much. Little pieces started crumbling off into my hands and the beautifully carved top was snapped cleanly off. Now I have a baggie of broken dreams.
 |
| Baggie of broken dreams |
 |
| Looks fine from a distance... |
 |
| Not so much. |
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