When Things Go Sideways–Literally! Never Had This Happen Before!

Welcome to the 746th Metamorphosis Monday! Happy Monday! I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Mine was great except for one mind-numbing incident. lol So you know how I’ve put together a gazillion of these white storage cabinets for use here in the garage? I have 9 here in the garage–five along the side wall and four on the front wall.

Complete Garage Makeover

 

I decided to order two for the basement storage room since I love the clean style of this cabinet. Some good news–when you order these cabinets via Amazon, they are no longer delivered by UPS. Instead, they are now delivered by two strong Amazon employees. You may remember in the past when UPS was handling the deliveries, they would always arrive badly damaged with gouges and chips–even entire side panels broken in half! So glad they found a solution to this problem. The two I ordered for the basement storage room arrived in pristine condition.

 

I opened them up in my entryway and carried them piece by piece down to the basement. That took a while! Next, I assembled one of the cabinets and all went well just as it has the other 9 times I’ve put these cabinets together in the past.

 

But then disaster struck! I awoke early on Saturday, eager to finish putting the 2nd cabinet together. I had already added a lot of the hardware the night before so there wasn’t that much left to do. I finished assembling it, then stood it up,  and…are you ready for this–the entire cabinet collapsed sideways onto the basement floor. Thankfully, it fell away from me and not toward me, although if it had fallen toward me, I may have been able to catch it.

When it fell, every single panel ripped apart and it landed in a big pile of damaged pieces. I was flabbergasted! I’m not exactly sure what went wrong, but I’m guessing I didn’t secure or tighten something well enough during the building process. After assembling 10 of these cabinets with no issues whatsoever, I guess I was due for a failure. I’ve ordered another cabinet and it should arrive this week. I will be double-checking everything during the building process this time! Good thing I don’t construct buildings or bridges for a living!!!

 

In the meantime, I filled the cabinet that I put together on Friday–you know, the one that didn’t fall apart–so you could see how much household stuff these cabinets will comfortably hold. I was pleased to see that they are definitely deep enough to hold things like bathroom tissue. This cabinet below is still not full–there’s quite a bit of room left for smaller items. Note: I’m waiting to put the doors on until it’s moved into the storage room since the doors add a tremendous amount of weight. These cabinets are a lot easier to move without the doors, learned that when I did the garage makeover.  (Cabinet is available here: Storage Cabinet with Doors in 3 Colors.)

 

As mentioned previously, these two cabinets will go here in the storage room along the wall on the right. I’ve already emptied and moved the open shelving that was on that wall, so the room is completely empty (except for the Christmas tree) and ready for the painting that should be taking place this week.

New Flooring, New Lighting, Basement Storage Room

 

One other thing I worked on this week was going through all my old paint from the past 30+ years to see what was still good. A lot of it was so old, it had completely dried up inside the can. For the paint that was still good, I labeled the cans so it would be easy to locate if needed in the future.

 

I love this label maker I purchased a few years back! I’ve used it a lot more than I ever thought I would. If you could use a good label maker, the newest version of this one is available here: Label Maker.

Great Label Maker

 

I’m looking forward to sharing how the storage room looks once the baseboard, trim, and painting are complete–and the freezer, cabinets, and workbench are all back in place.

New Lighting for Basement Storage Work Room

 

Looking forward to all the great Before and Afters linked for this week’s Met Monday! Pssst: Did you know Between Naps On The Porch is on Instagram? You’ll find me on Instagram here: Between Naps On The Porch. Like to know when a new blog post is up? Subscribe for email updates (it’s free) and your e-mail will never be shared. Subscribe for free post updates here: Subscribe.

Metamorphosis Monday: Metamorphosis Monday is a party that’s all about Before and Afters. Please link up your Before and After projects like DIY projects, room makeovers, craft projects even recipes. Please do not link up Table Settings, save those for our Tablescape Thursday party on Thursday. If you are participating in Met Monday, you’ll need to link your post to the party using the “permalink” to your MM post and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on the name of your post, then copy and paste the address that shows in the address bar at the top of your blog, into the “url” box for InLinkz when prompted. NOTE: Please do not link up more than 3 posts from your blog. In order to link up, you’ll need to include a link in your post back to the party so visitors to your blog can find the other party participants.  When linking up to the party, give the InLinkz system time to find the link in your post to avoid having your link held for moderation/approval. Thanks!

 

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Comments

  1. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt when that cabinet collapsed~ I can’t believe you are putting them together and moving them around by yourself, that is amazing! The one you filled looks like an aisle in the grocery store, that is a lot of stuff! Thanks Susan, I hope you had a nice Mother’s Day!

    • It’s not that hard to move them right now since I’m building them on the side of the basement that doesn’t have flooring yet. I’m going to get help from either the painter or someone else to move them into the storage room once he’s done painting. I don’t want to risk damaging the flooring in there.
      lol Well, I try to keep a few things on hand since the last time TP was scarce, I ended up taking all that I had with me when I went to Ohio to help with my grandchildren during the time the schools were shut down. It def came in handy because there was no TP in any of the stores there for a while. This is the only cabinet with grocery store items. The other cabinets will hold vases, lightbulbs, small appliances I use occasionally, distilled water for my humidifiers…stuff like that.

      • Putting those cabinets together is hard. I said if I won the lottery, I would never touch a screwdriver again. Did you contact the company and tell them what happened ? It’s not the first one you have assembled.

  2. Oh, Susan! What a shame! I’m sorry that happened, but I’m impressed by your positive spirit about the incident. Gosh, that place is going to look great when you’ve finished painting and setting up your cabinets. Personally, I like the closed cabinets. It keeps everything nice and tidy looking (as opposed to open shelving.) Thanks for the update. Looking forward to seeing the completed space. I hope you and the other ladies had a nice mother’s day. Have a great week.

    • Well, I wasn’t very positive right after it happened! I was a combination of ticked off and confused! lol One part of me wants to know what I did wrong and the other part doesn’t want to know at all…and just wants a new cabinet to build. I wish it didn’t take so long for them to arrive…takes at least a week now but at least they arrive in perfect condition. I do, too! I didn’t think TP would fit on the shelves but once I tried it in my existing cabinets and realized it did fit, I decided to go with closed shelving. I can’t wait to get done with this phase and start planning bathroom renovations!

  3. Judy Hubbard says

    I can’t believe you can put these cabinets together yourself! And carry the pieces down to basement! You must be very strong! But everything you’ve done looks amazing! What a difference!

    • It’s really not that bad. Once you build one cabinet, you come up with little techniques that help maneuver things. I don’t like carrying the pieces down because it’s so boring hauling them down. But the only way I can get them down to the basement by myself is by doing it one or two pieces at a time. I have to carry the side panels and doors one per trip, but I can carry the smaller pieces (like the shelves) 2-3 at a time. Thanks, Judy! It’s def come a long way! 🙂

  4. Michele M. says

    Oh my goodness, Susan! That is absolutely AWFUL!!!! What are you going to do? As for how much storage it holds – that is awesome. It will be so great once all done. Worth all the expense and efforts you’ve been putting into this project!

    Glad to know you had a pleasant Mother’s Day weekend. ♥ Hope you have a fabulous week, too.

    • I ordered a new cabinet (should be here this week) and I’m going to get right back in the saddle! lol
      Thanks, Michele…hope you did, too!

  5. Yikes, what a catastrophe (even though it could’ve been worse, I realize). I knew you’d love these better for your storage. That’s a great way to hide the necessities.

    • Yup, you know me well! I like my open shelving in the crawl space storage room, but now that this room is looking a lot more spiffy, I really think the closed shelving will be a lot nicer.

  6. So glad you weren’t hurt! I saved those cabinets from your first post about them in my Amazon wish list for when I tackle the garage clean out and organization. Thank you for showing all of the paper goods it held. They definitely seem to hold quite a bit. Thank you for the party! Have a great week ahead!

  7. I’m so glad you weren’t hurt when the cabinet fell apart. Also, that all your pretty dishes might have been in it. Nice storage for grocery items. We buy the exact same items!
    Can’t wait to see the finished makeover. Looking great already. Happy Belated Mother’s Day, Susan. 🙂

    • I won’t be storing any dishes in these, just household stuff. 🙂 I used to only buy Charmin TP but I tried the Kroger brand a year or two back and found I like it a lot better–plus, it’s cheaper. Thanks, Anne! Looking forward to sharing it!

  8. Susan, that sounds like it might have been a structural problem or something that was a fault in the product. After having put together so many others, it seems like it wasn’t your fault, but the product. You have such great storage space! Hope you had a great Mother’s Day weekend. Thanks for having us over.

    • I wondered about that, too…since I’ve never had anything like that happen. I have another cabinet arriving in a few days so hopefully, it will go a lot better. Thanks, Debra!

  9. Wow – glad you were not hurt when that cabinet fell! Hard to believe you put so many together to have this one collapse. I love the look of these….thinking of some for our laundry room that also has enough space to double as a storage area. I have a stainless steel shelving unit in there, but these look so nice and finished. And…THANK YOU! I finally purchased the Therapy Stainless Steel Cleaner that you recommended and it is wonderful. A mark that has been on my refrigerator forever is now gone!!! And all the appliances look like brand new. Thanks again…I shared it on my blog this week and gave a shout out to you. Thanks for all your ideas and tips!

    • Oh, I’m so glad you like it, Ann–I love it, too! That’s amazing that it got that mark off your refrigerator–that’s wonderful! Thanks for the shoutout, so appreciated!
      XXX

  10. I enjoy that you’re real, that you let us know when things go right and when things don’t. I definitely have garage envy – your space beautiful! I hope moving forward your new cabinets come together easily and you enjoy them years to come. For folks talking about the scarcity of TP, when COVID hit and we were hard pressed to find any, I found a company called Who Gives a Crap and they deliver TP right to your door! It’s also environmentally friendly – no plastic whatsoever! I look forward to having mine delivered – no concerns!

    • Thanks, Karen! It feels to good to be renovating some of these spaces I’ve been itching to update for so long. That’s a hilarious name for a TP company! Ha! Great that they deliver, too!

  11. Susan,
    Thanks again for hosting this charming party every week! I know how much time goes into doing so and I want you to know that it I truly appreciate it!! I hope you have a great week!
    Hugs,
    Deb

  12. I am glad you did not get hurt by that cabinet. Do you think it can be salvaged or will you need to throw it away? Seems like such an awful waste. After the scarcity of TP during the pandemic, I have started stocking a bit more too. I am in Florida so I do not have a basement. I have mine stored in the garage. That is about the only change I made since the pandemic. I am not stocking more meat or canned goods. I am looking forward to seeing your room finished. I love following along with your house projects.

    • It’s pretty much toast…it tore chunks out of every piece when it fell. I’m not tossing it out though until the new one comes, just in case I need a hinge or something off of one of the pieces.
      Thanks so much, Lin! It’s getting close now. The painter started today and may be able to finish by Friday. He got almost all the baseboard and quarter round installed today so it already looks so much better!

  13. Tina W Reynolds says

    Happy that you escaped injury! I just wanted you to know that I do appreciate and understand how much work all of this really is! A few years ago, due to water damage from a roof leak, I completely repaired, re-imagined and re-organized a big closet. Shelves, bins, labels…whew! After it was finished, I felt it was MY lovely place and christened it “Her Ladyship’s Closet”. But many times I had to pause, take a break, make a treat and ponder my previous successes. You should ,too!

    • Thanks, Tina! That sounds so much the way I feel. When I feel a bit overwhelmed because I still have so many projects to do, I go look at the garage since it is finished and just try to enjoy seeing that it’s done. The basement has come a long, long way so I try to celebrate every little improvement and remind myself how far it has come. You’re so right about taking time to pause, rest up a bit, and just enjoy the successes! Love that!

  14. Have you considered putting wheels on them? I lucked out one year and on the clearance table at Ace Hardware they had really nice casters with the plate for 13 cents.

    • I don’t know if I could do that with these, but honestly, I’m not planning on moving them once they are in the storage room. I’m sure the painter who is starting tomorrow, will help me. Actually without the doors and nothing inside, I can probably move them by myself.

      • Okay, at least put a soft rug under the edge ( like an upside down bathroom rug) so they slid across the new floor. LOL I have this cheap thin aluminum cookie sheet with one edge that I have worn out moving furniture on carpet.

        • If I end up having to move them by myself, I will definitely take precautions like that. Good idea! I’ve been known to stick a dish towel under each end of furniture to slide it. Lol

  15. Yikes, I’m glad it fell away from you and not toward you, don’t think you should have been “catching” it! Such a shame, I hope the replacement one goes together easy for you like all the other did, except this one. Can’t wait to see the final reveal! Hugs, Brenda

    • Me, too…and it happened so fast! I will be extra careful this time to make sure everything is super secure before I stand it up. Thanks, Brenda! Shouldn’t be too much longer now since the painter started today.

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