Hanging Shiz is hard

Devon and I bought our first home in April 2019. We were so excited to be able to make this place "ours". We could do whatever we want without permission. We could paint, pick out our own washer and dryer, change out the blinds (because apparently that's a thing), even change our light fixtures, which we did. And is also a whole other story in which I also had a LARGE learning lesson on that. Large learning lesson, Say that three times fast. Or how about every day for a whole year. 

Another part we were pretty excited about is hanging stuff. I mean, that is a massive part of turning a house into a home. Photos of your family, your marriage, your dogs, whatever you want. Other items that require hanging could be decor pieces like a sign, or a massive clock that has sat on your open-concept living/dining/kitchen floor for six months. Not to mention, your giant TV that you have never mounted in your life because your actually scared shitless. Luckily, we got some help with that one. Hanging "stuff" just feels like the next step up, you know? It is the, "I'm an adult, I bought this house with my money, and now I don't have to worry about my landlord yelling at me for holes in the wall". While that might be true, the yelling thing still stands holy. It might not be your landlord yelling, only now it's your spouse. You guys, hanging shit is not all it's cracked up to me. There's measuring involved, something called "dry-wall anchors", nails, screws, screwdrivers, hammers, levels, AHHHH. I'm going crazy over here. 

But alas, we knew the time would come where we can't rely on our dads, brothers, and step-dads to come over and hang this TV or this massive AF clock. We had to learn. That's the best way. So we started with some shelves! But not any shelves, no they had to be fancy and be these things called, floating shelves that have no anchors. My choice, obviously. ​

 

They are just cute/basic floating shelves. These were great, when we opened the box and took some time to understand how these are to be hung. It was one of those that you put part of it in the wall and then slide the actual shelf in the pegs and it's super sturdy! Love those, great, awesome! We hung these shelves up around Christmas time. 

Fast forward 3 months later....Next stop, upstairs in the spare room. Last week I got a massive wave come over me of stress that the spare room was a complete mess without any direction. I just felt like something had to be done, other than just picking up the mess and clean. There was nothing on the walls and we are in limbo from the full bed that's in there without a headboard or frame. So, I moved around some items that were in there, a desk, clothing rack, and moved the bed to the other side of the room to create space for something to actually happen on the wall, like people actually live here! I actually found a clearance large wall mirror at TJ Maxx for $20. Next, what else do we want to do? Photos and shelves. That's all I've got. Mind you, I am definitely not an interior designer at all! 

Side note, a lot of people have this idea in their head that event coordinators have an innate ability that since they are good at coordinating event and organization that they are also good at design. I'm living-breathing proof that that is not accurate at all! But, there are those coordinators that are both, they have that sense of style, design, creativity, and coordination. I'm here to tell you that you can have a combination of those or possibly none. For example, creativity can mean lots of different things. I like to be creative in my words and ideas vs actual writing (I have handwriting like a left handed 12 year old boy) and graphics.

Anyway, we got our last shelves at Target so why not try that again. Devon and I went to target searching for the same shelves we got for downstairs but alas, they were out. However, they did have these other wooden shelves and the quantity we needed. They actually would work great in that space too because the floors were actually the same color, crazy.  ​However, they had a different backing than the white ones did downstairs. These had what the devil calls, "keyhole slots". They are the worst! See below:

However, this is where the problem started. Well, we thought we did measurements right (in which apparently we don't know how to measure), but the mirror was about 2 inches too far to the right so the other shelf did not fit. Okay, next option. Both shelves on the same side and one shelf and hanging frames on the other. That was the next solution we came up with without moving holes around (something else we are terrified of). So here we are now:

As you can probably tell, we have measurement problems again here along with color issues. BUT, basically this all to say, IT'S OKAY! We are taking this time to make our mistakes and learn from them. I still like this room and I like the idea so if you tilt your head, you can't even tell, haha. Basically, it's not perfect but neither are we so it's reflective right? This is our first home and this is where we take the time to understand and learn what to do and not to do. To all you newly weds and newly homeowners that have had this happen to you, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! haha. The intent here was good but definitely could of had a better outcome given more patience and research. AFTER THE FACT, I found this great measuring tip for keyhole slots with duct tape that makes it's so much easier!