Are you handy around the house? Do you have a handy man perhaps? I wish I knew how to use the drill. I located the drill, located some screws and sockety things, marked the spots where to drill in the wall and set about nagging my husband to do the rest. Luckily for me he obliged on the one day off he had this week. Then he had a hell of a time getting the things in… screws broke off in the wall, drill bits bent and twisted, shelves were hung slightly less than straight…but I did not complain. All I could see was the awesome!
Wolfie sleeps in a sunroom next to our bedroom. It feels a little bit like shoving Harry Potter in a cupboard under the stairs – but Harry turned out alright so I think Wolf will be fine. We live in a one bedroom apartment and as such space is at a premium. Despite the fact that Wolf is already in the smallest room in our home, he also has to share it with a giant Expedit bookcase from Ikea. So it’s kinda like he sleeps in a library. Which is amazing, of course!
In keeping with the library theme I thought it would be nice to brighten up the walls with some books on display. Enter the Ikea Ribba frame shelves!
Wolf loves them. I love them. Tom loves that we love them. It was worth all the DIY pain.
You may have noticed the 4 Ikea Ribba frames hung above the shelves – another act of DIY pain as they don’t supply the correct hooks to make them hang from the wall, thanks Ikea, and so I had to buy four more frames to use their sawtooth hooks and wire them up myself. Ridiculous. But I purchased those prints well before Wolf was even born and they had been sitting there, in the frames, waiting patiently to be hung so I am pleased they are finally on display! They are pages from a vintage children’s book from the 50s. I took a gamble that we were having a boy and that we might name him Wolf. Lucky he was a boy otherwise we might have had to call our daughter Flow!
Ah Ikea. It fills you with inspiration and potential then you get it home and want to end it all. Maybe it’s best I don’t learn how to use the drill after all.
EDIT – Hmm since it is International Women’s Day today I think ending this post on how I probably won’t bother to learn how to use a drill and how I get my husband to do all the handywork around the house is a bit misleading. Well. Maybe it’s not misleading but I do want to say I am up for more than your usual gender stereotypes. (I am also bone lazy and would rather someone else do the hard work around the house sometimes! But as a feminist I believe I have a choice.)
Yes, I am a stay at home mum these days, and a wife. I don’t get paid for my work and I don’t help pay our bills. But I definitely consider myself equal to my partner, and to others, and believe I have the right to choose what I want to do with my life and how I live it. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by so many amazing women; inspirational, courageous, bold, nurturing, intelligent and compassionate women who support me on a daily basis. Thank you for making me proud to be a woman.
in the light of the sun 
March 8, 2012 at 1:41 pm
I can use a drill. It is one of my favourite things – until I actually get to the drilling bit. When it goes well I feel amazing, but it does require an attention to detail and a persistence that does not come naturally to me. I’ll stick to the DIYs that you can unpick and try again, I think. That and 3M strips. Although I’m pretty sure you should be able to buy picture wire separately. I know I got a frame re-strung at a framers, but that wasn’t super cheap…
That reading corner looks absolutely amazing.
March 8, 2012 at 2:26 pm
This looks amazing! Lucky Wolf!!! I can see a children’s story about the little boy who grew up in a library right now. Oh do write it do!!