pinterest fail: don't put all your lotion in one basket.

:: This post contains affiliate links.

I'm not really sure if Pinterest fail is the right term for what just happened, or if it's just common sense fail. Let's just pretend it's Pinterest's fault, okay? Because I feel like kind of a dumb ass.

I mentioned at the end of my last post that I'd be back "tomorrow" (which was, ahem, yesterday) to talk about "another easy project." Lol. Lololololol! So much for that. My Amazon Prime delivery did come yesterday, right on time, and I tore open the box to find six of these beauties:

Ahh. Cast-iron butterfly drawer pulls (which are no longer available, but here's a reasonable facsimile.) So pretty, and perfect to repurpose as hangers for these:

Twenty-four crisp but inexpensive Instagram prints from Social Print Studio (formerly Printstagram). It was $12 + shipping for all of these square prints, and I ordered them easily through their app on my phone. (And no, I'm not getting paid for mentioning them or anything...just loved using them.) Meanwhile, I was browsing different methods of displaying Instagram photos, and I settled on using them to decorate our stairwell.

Our stairwell is skinny and steep, so I don't think it could handle a visually-heavy display of framed photos, but Instagram prints? Could be perfect. I had found some fun display ideas on Pinterest...


Driftwood Hanger

from here

Because it's been seven stupid degrees here since January, I didn't feel like traipsing through the woods to hunt down the perfect stick - but I did love this idea. Also, it's probably not the best choice for a stairwell, since people are bound to periodically brush up against anything on the walls, and I didn't want to be like, "Hey, come on upstairs, just don't poke your eye out on the tree branch jutting out of the wall."


Simple & Streamlined

from here

I loved this tidy, streamlined arrangement, and does it get any easier than just taping your pictures to the wall? But that number of photos could be overwhelming in my stairwell, and (this may be the only time I ever say this) it was maybe too minimalist for my taste.


Wooden Knobs

from here

Eventually, I stumbled on - and loved - this idea. She used wooden stumps and string, according to the website, but I am currently fresh out of wooden stumps...and any kind of pretty string...so I decided to see if I could find something else. I ran across a few pictures of doorknobs and drawer pulls being used for display (of jewelry, for example), and thought that could look really cool. Drawer pulls! Yes. I remember seeing a bunch of beautiful ones when I was looking for pulls for Rowan's dresser.

I found the butterfly pulls on Amazon after perusing other websites - from Lowe's to Anthropologie - and finding that most pulls, while totally gorgeous and drool-inducing, ring up at, like, $10 a pop. I needed six, and my budget for the project was $0 (with a little wiggle room), so I nixed those knobs and went with the butterfly ones for $15. Still pretty, and much more affordable. The plan was to spend naptime yesterday stringing the photos and marking spots for the pulls, then installing everything after J.J. came home and could supervise Rowan while I power-tooled away.

Yeahhh.

SO. To start, the stringing of the photos was a pain in my ass. I used fishing line (probably a mistake), and it was unruly and curly and annoying. Also? Not heavy enough to weigh the finished product down, which means the pictures would've fluttered everywhere and turned backwards when people walked by them, which would have driven me cuckoo. So far, not so good.

This method got the job done, though, and I even tested it multiple times by tying the fishing wire to a butterfly knob and holding it up against the wall. It looked so good. Exactly what I was going for, and I fixed the fluttering-backwards issue by taping the bottom picture on the string directly to the wall. (In case you're wondering, yes, at that point I did consider just taping all of them directly to the wall.) I wasn't finished stringing them all by the time naptime was over, so I figured I'd work on it that night. Buuuut J.J. and I went out, and by the time we got back, I wasn't in a crafting kind of mood. Okay! Fine. I'd work on it this morning, after breakfast, when Rowan is usually able to entertain herself for a little while.

And in the light of a new day, my error became apparent.

Did you know (you're going to need a hard hat for this piece of DIY knowledge I'm about to drop on you) that YOU CAN'T JUST SCREW A DRAWER PULL INTO THE WALL?

Because they ARE DESIGNED TO SCREW IN FROM BEHIND.

That's what she said.

Duhhhh.

Like, SERIOUSLY duhhhh.

Also? ALSO? The pulls, while beautiful, have an unnerving Silence of the Lambs vibe...right?

"It puts the lotion in the basket..." (image from here)

So I'm kind of back at square one. The photos are already strung, but now that the pulls aren't an option, I'm back to ALL the other options. Ribbon? String? Yarn? Fancy tape? Attach them directly to the wall, or hang them from something? Hang them from WHAT? I'm open to suggestions.

I have six strands of pictures, and I hung the first and last columns this morning to map out the screw holes before realizing my mistake. So you can kind of see where I'm going (or was going) with this. Oh, well. Time to figure out a different solution - and return the Silence of the Lambs pulls, which sucks, because I am the worst returner in the world. I procrastinate until it's past the return date, and then I have to beg for sympathy so I can actually return the item, and then I STILL don't return it, and then I finally do and end up with a (rightfully) annoyed salesperson and only a teeny-tiny fraction of the cost being recouped. Usually in store credit. But not enough store credit to actually buy anything.

Anyway. File this one in the Pinterest Fail folder! Lesson learned: Don't put all your lotion in one basket...i.e., don't hang your entire project on one half-thought-through concept. Or on anything that can't actually be installed on a wall. I'll be searching for new options tomorrow. 

(On Pinterest, probably, even though that's how I got into this mess.)

(Definitely on Pinterest.)