Yeah, thanks, Mr. Murphy

I honestly don't know why I even try.

I'd been in Dollarama on Saturday and happened to see some door/drawer knobs, brushed "nickel" (the cheap version), two for $1.50. Couldn't go wrong at that price, so I bought a bunch to replace the ugly green painted knobs I've had on the "kitchen" doors and drawers for years.

Well, of course Mr. Murphy had to drop in for a visit. Every stupid knob needed a different length screw, because of varying thicknesses in all the drawers and doors, so what should have been an easy thing turned into a LONG exercise in mega-frustration and much cursing. It's just a good thing I have a ton of screws of varying sizes, all neatly sorted and arranged in my tool box. And you'd think the drawers would all be the same thickness, but nope...no, no, no. And gee, the last drawer, the bottom one with my plastic wrap and foil and baggies, well, the damned thing fell apart as soon as I unscrewed the old knob. That was the only thing holding it together. So the drawer base, in two parts, collapsed, and the front face fell off too. Biggest piece of shit cupboards/drawers I've ever seen in my life. Eventually I found screws thick enough to hold the pieces together, except they were too long and a few of them came through the face of the drawer, so I had to back them off and now when you open the drawer you can see them sticking out into the interior.

You know, I was going to paint these things--or at least I think about painting them every summer--but they're not worth even a can of paint and the effort it would take. Seriously.

Oh, and hey, the new knobs are smaller than the old ones and gee, when I took the old ones off, some of the paint came off too, so now it looks even worse than before (pic attached).

I don't know why I bother. Obviously I'm not cut out to be a home owner. ::Headdesk::


I wonder if I'd qualify to be on the new (Canadian) HGTV show, "I Wrecked My House." Hmmm.

Comments

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said…
It never is as easy as it seems. No matter what.
Cat Lover said…
Oh goodness Kim you did have a hard time! Sometimes it just seems one thing goes wrong and another and another..... So sorry,wish we were there to help!
Saku said…
Yikes, sounds like whoever put your kitchen together did it with a mishmash of leftover cabinets from another job...or were really, really crappy carpenters! Instead of wasting paint (initially I had pain but maybe that was right too) maybe you can find some sort of decal to put behind the knob? I suspect if you try to paint the darn things there will be a whole lot of sanding needed..based on the photo.

But the idea of I wrecked my house sounds fun too :p
Anonymous said…
Hug! Okay...you made me laugh, only because this sounds like stuff I do. With Bill on the road so much it it just me...doing stuff like this. Hang in there. And contact that show! *wink*
Oh how frustrating! That's how my home improvement projects usually end up too.
John Bellen said…
That would indeed be frustrating. I'd have the same reaction. But keep an eye out for knobs or handles that cover more area that should do it; maybe handles that span the spot covered by the knob now, and a coat of paint beforehand. These ones will do until you find replacements.

Believe me, I know the sort of day you spent.
Rian said…
Kim, I've done the same thing myself. Found some really cute leaf shaped drawer pulls for our bathroom a while ago. But discovered when I tried to put them on, that they didn't cover the circle made by the old drawer pulls. I put them on anyway... and was *going to look* for some metal circles or something to put under them to cover the marks. That was several years ago...
meowmeowmans said…
That is SO frustrating, Kim. I like Eileen's idea bout the decals behind the knobs!