I am behind in posting this, so my apologies for my absence.

I went to my accountant to get my taxes done yesterday, glad that is behind me for another year.

Now onto turning some trash to treasure:

Recently, I was in the basement of my condo building, tossing some old cardboard boxes into the cardboard recycling bin.  While doing this, I noticed that someone had thrown a wooden furniture item in with the cardboard.  At first, I was just going to let it alone because I don’t need one more thing in my home, but on closer inspection, I realized that this little baby, a solid wood chest which was missing the drawers, was a very sturdy piece of furniture and the missing drawers simply made way for what could become very useful shelves that would work great for holding my decorative papers.  And it was not a large piece, so I could fit it into my home without too much trouble.  So I got a cart from the place where the carts are kept next to the recycling bins and I dug the wooden chest out of the cardboard recycling bin and placed it catty-wampus in the cart (the only way it would fit).

A humorous note:  As I was wheeling the cart down the hall to my condo, my neighbor, a young lady of about 25, saw me.  We greeted each other, and I told her that I had found this item in the trash (felt rather pleased about it).  I think she may have gotten a mistaken impression that I must be destitute if I am digging things out of the trash because she promptly told me she had some clothing she thought would fit me and went into her condo and came out with a blouse and a sweater that she wanted to discard, but now figured I might need.  I just smiled and took them, thanking her.  I ran them through the wash when I got to my place and ended up giving away the blouse but kept the cute hoodie for myself.

Here is how the chest looked before I altered it for my own purposes:

It has some nicks and stains on it, but I washed it down to get any dust or cooties off.  As I said, the three drawers were missing, but their tracks were still there in the middle of each “shelf.”  I was unable to unscrew the screws that hold the tracks in place, even when using my really short screwdriver.  Neither was I able to pry them loose.  They are very well-attached and are not coming off via my own sincere efforts.

To address this issue and create shelves that would be even and level across (so that the paper, which is pretty spendy, would not warp over time), I decided to cut down some pieces of very sturdy cardboard from the boxes that had held my new vanity and commode for the bathroom remodel.  I had been saving those boxes for their Herculean cardboard, and now was relieved to have a use for them so I could cut them down and get them out of — you guessed it — the living room.  I measured and cut smaller pieces to go on each of the small areas on either side of the drawer tracks.  It took two pieces for each side on each shelf to get the thickness I wanted, so I cut 12 of the smaller pieces.  Below is a photo of some of those smaller pieces placed on the shelf.  And no, it is not a fancy look.

Once I had cut and placed all the smaller pieces on either side of the drawer tracks, I was able to cut larger pieces and place them across the entire area of each shelf so that my papers could sit without having to curve over the drawer track.  See below:

And below is the finished (for now) product, holding all my decorative papers just as I intended it should:

It’s not lovely and pretty and coordinated like so many pieces of furniture I see in the craft rooms of people who post videos of their craft spaces to YouTube, but it is perfectly functional, serves the purpose I intended for it, and all the materials were free and kept some items out of a landfill.  Best of all, my papers are safely and neatly stored and will not get bent or damaged before I use them.

And, because my studio is quite full, this item actually sits next to my bookshelves in my bedroom.  But that is fine with me.  This way, when I am thinking of a project, I can spread all my paper stacks around me and choose the appropriate ones easily and then store the unused portions easily on the shelf again.  This fits well with my motto for this year, “Imperfect action gets me there.”  I am finally realizing that waiting to do something perfectly is just ensuring that the task never gets done, so I am embracing imperfection and getting things done with good momentum.  Works for me.