Walk-In Closet Progress, An Apology, and A Maniac
I want to start today’s post by issuing a public apology to my mom. 🤣 In Friday’s post, I mentioned that she had told me to paint stripes on the ends of my island, and I said that we didn’t talk about the details of the stripes, so I just went with the general idea of “stripes in colors from the wallpaper” and did this mockup and credited the idea to her.
After posting that, I met my mom and my friend who was in town for lunch, and to say that my mom was none too pleased that such an image had been credited to her imagination would be an understatement. 🤣 She said, “That’s not what I had in mind at all!” Oh my gosh, I was laughing so hard. We all had a good laugh about it. I mean, she said stripes in the colors of the wallpaper, and that’s what I thought she meant! Evidently, I got it very wrong. 😀
So I’d like to take this opportunity to offer a public apology to my mom for misrepresenting her creative idea and impugning her creative vision and artistic eye. And then yesterday after church, I realized that I had missed an email from my mom where she issued a public statement. Oh my gosh, y’all. I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face. But as per my mom’s wishes, I will post her public statement here…
Oh my goodness!!! Those stripes are definitely NOT what I had envisioned! They draw all attention away from the wallpaper. Talk about CLASH!!! My first choice was dark blue with a white top. I only suggested stripes because you were so determined to use pink. I thought large dark blue stripes with small and even tiny pink stripes. Your pictures and mockups don’t seem to show how very large that island is. If you paint it pink, it is going to scream “LOOK AT ME” when you walk in rather than directing the eye to the wallpaper. I think dark blue would make the wallpaper pop. But it is your house, and you have the right to be wrong. 😊
🤣🤣 So again, Mom, I issue this public apology to you. (She did want me to emphasize that this is all in good fun. We have a very fun relationship, and we joke around a lot about our creative differences and differing opinions.)
So with that behind us, I do have a solid plan. But I didn’t get as far with it as I had hoped this weekend because…well…I’ll get to that. But here’s what I did get done.
First, I got the feet on the island moved out. If you’ll remember, I had attached the feet before adding all of the trim. And I made the mistake of not accounting for the trim when I marked and measured the placement for the feet. So once the trim went on, the feet were barely noticeable.
So while my friend was still in town, I had her and my mom help me flip the island over on its top so that I could move the feet. Since I had glued them on with wood glue, I had to use my Dremel Multi-Max to get them off. Then I cut six pieces of 1/2-inch plywood to attach to the bottom so that the feet could be moved out enough since the trim stuck up 1/2-inch from the plywood base.
With those plywood pieces providing a level area with the trim, I was then able to measure, mark, and drill the new holes for the feet.
And then I re-attached them (again, using wood glue) about 1/4″ from the edge of the trim.
And with that, it looked so much better and more balanced. You can actually see the feet now.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison. It’s a small change that makes a big difference to my eye.
And now the feet can be clearly seen from all four sides of the island.
After that, I spent quite a bit of time on the top. I sanded it down completely to get that reddish pink paint off, and then sanded down to 220-grit to get it as smooth as possible. I also filled in that deep groove in the trim around the edge with wood filler all the way around and sanded it smooth. Since I’m going to paint it to look like a very light marble, I didn’t want that deep groove because that’s kind of a dead giveaway that it’s wood trim. Without that deep groove, it looks more like a real edge profile that you might see on real marble. And then I got it primed and sanded down to 220-grit so that it’s as smooth as possible.
Just with those two changes, it looks so much better. Even though the top is just primer right now, I love the brightness that the white adds to the room.
I’ll do a little bit more sanding to make sure the corners are as seamless as possible on that edge trim, and then I hope to get the top finished today.
I also got all ten drawer boxes painted. I hadn’t planned on painting them, but I very clearly bought the wrong plywood to make my drawer boxes. I mistakenly bought a 1/2-inch plywood that is primed on one side and veneer on the other. I didn’t realize I was buying a primed plywood. But the veneer side doesn’t look like veneer, either. It doesn’t have that natural warm brown color that plywood generally has. I mean, it did when I bought it, but as it sat in my workshop, it developed this antique (yellowed) white color, which is pretty ugly. So I decided to paint the inside of all of the boxes white. That was a time-consuming and unplanned step in this island project, but I didn’t want those yellowish drawer boxes.
And then, rather than using wallpaper on the ends of the drawer boxes, I decided to just paint them a fun color. I searched through my stash of paint and found this one that I thought would work. This is Behr Watermelon Punch, and it’s one of the 15 colors I used on the home gym walls. I think it’ll be a nice punch of color when the drawers are open. I only painted the ends because the backs won’t show, and the fronts will be covered with drawer fronts.
And that’s all of the progress I made this weekend after my out-of-town friend left on Friday because I had to spend the rest of my weekend dealing with a crazy situation.
I won’t
go
into
details
right now or
name
any
names,
but I
will leave
twelve
clues
as to what I may be talking about. Let’s just say that a certain unhinged maniac, who has been harassing me via comments on my Facebook page, comments on my blog, and via email, escalated on Saturday night to sending me insults and threats to my personal phone number via text.
MAJOR. RED. LINE. CROSSED. Before he did that, I had already talked to my friend who works for a local sheriff’s department to get his advice. He gave me the name of an attorney to talk to today and told me to file a complaint with the FBI’s IC3 office. But when I told him of this escalation, he told me NOW is the time to file a police report. He crossed a major red line by sending his threats directly to my personal phone number via text.
So I had to spend yesterday going back through a month’s worth of Facebook posts, documenting every single comment, documenting every blog comment, documenting every email, and documenting the texts sent to my phone so that I can head to the police department today to file my report. And then I’ll meet with an attorney either later today or tomorrow (as soon as he can fit me in) to do what needs to be done to protect myself from this unhinged lunatic.
All that to say that I had to spend my Sunday in a totally unexpected way, and didn’t get nearly as much done on my island as I wanted to. And now, a large portion of today will be wasted with filing a police report, filing an FBI IC3 report, and probably meeting with an attorney. In my entire 17 years of blogging, this is a first for me.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
So glad you are protecting yourself from him…he definitely is unhinged like so many these days, and yes I think he crossed a line a long time ago…but this is ridiculous. He better settle down and make himself scarce from now on. No one needs this harassment, ever. No one understands it’s OK to disagree, but stay in your own lane for God’s sake! We have neighbors that have been bad ever since the election…I guess that too is normal these days. Everyone needs to chill! I had to laugh about your mom…I cringed when I saw those stripes, and I bet she did too. Her idea sounds more like what I would like…but I’m looking forward to seeing what you do either way.
Everything Joan just said. Ditto.
Oh my goodness Kristi I am so sorry you are going through this!
I enjoyed reading about the miscommunication you had with your mother. I’m glad you both have such a good sense of humor! I’m also glad you won’t be painting the multi-color stripes on your island! I’m sorry you need to deal with this crazy person. Hopefully, once law enforcement speaks with him, he will stop. I cannot understand why anyone would do such a thing.
Not sure, because I think he’s mentally deranged and nothing like that will scare him. I’m not sure what it will take but I’m glad KL is getting legal and law enforcement back up. There is where the safety net comes in, along with the very public “outing” of him. Previously, it was my thought someone hacked his account but that’s not what I’m thinking now.
No one hacked his account. I have verifiable proof of that. He posted the very same legal threat in a comment from that account on one of my Facebook posts that he sent to my email (presumably, because I didn’t open it), and that he posted in a comment on that post.
The funny thing is that until he did that, I could have been persuaded that I had made a mistake, and had fallen for the actions of someone acting from a cloned account. But HE is the one, via his many postings of that legal threat through several avenues, who alleviated all doubts. It’s him. There’s no question.
And he’s been all over my Facebook page TODAY making more comments. He’s left about 15 comments just on this post (on Facebook) alone. He clearly has no business. No successful business owner has time to sit on Facebook for hours on a Monday morning trolling a DIY blogger’s Facebook page.
Hence my comment that he is mentally deranged. I’m spooked, personally, and am adding you and yours to my prayers and requesting that God cover you in the light of His love and protection.
Praying too!
Oh my goodness! I sure hope this nut is all talk and no action! So scary! Hope you have home security all around your house. If he found your phone number, surely he can find your address! As for the island – deal with the nut case, and the island can wait!
OK, I thought GOMI was bad.
Best of luck dealing with this.
Okay, Kristi, I accept your apology. Thanks for clearing my name! 🙂 And thanks for the laughs. It was fun!
🤣🤣❤️
❤️
🤣🤣🤣🤣 Love your Mom! I did see a really pretty striped pattern that would look great on your dresser. Here – let me text it to you. JUST KIDDING! Here’s something to consider, since this is likely how this nutcase got your information: https://www.wired.com/story/delete-yourself-from-internet/
I did kind of wonder when I saw the mock-up. 😄😄😄
You’re the best!
Well bless your Mom, I almost spit out some coffee reading her email “clarification” I thought you were joking about the stripes and when the JK didn’t come I was left shaking my head and thinking the same as your mom “well it’s your house”.
I really enjoy reading your blog in the morning and watching the progress-before I start doom scrolling- and your FB Troll is out of control and needs to be stopped, good luck.
I hope this will be a last for you too. You have such interesting projects, I love to see what you’ll do next!
Here’s hoping that you can get to that full time and leave all this harassment behind you
My heart aches for you. This is bizarre! Our world is crazy right now. Protect yourself totally! You have loyal friends who appreciate your talent and honesty. He’s a loser just wishing, so he has to put you down to bring himself up in his mind. You just keep trekking, we appreciate you.
Cute as your mom’s idea sounds, it still sounds too busy but I love the hilarious “public statement.”
The feet do look so much better out where you can see them. I’m looking forward to seeing what you finally do with the island.
I can’t believe unhinged guy has escalated. I’m so sorry you are being put through this and hope everything works out well in the end.
Yikes! I’m glad you have good friends in key places. Please take care of yourself (as if you wouldn’t 😜).
I think your misunderstanding with Mom is hilarious.
Good progress on the island
So I’m on an HOA board… there was neighbor being a bully, the other party asked for us to get involved on their behalf vs police. Our lawyer advised we couldn’t enforce anything just ask in letters, until a report (the bullied party refused to do so, at first). Eventually there was enough they filed a report. Police reports create a legal record. A lawyer can help and navigate you in the process, but is not the step to actually get protective or restrictive anything or anything in place. You don’t have to press charges, but a report establishes a record of what, if it escalates. Do ask a million questions at the station to clarify your local jurisdiction’s needs to get anything in place.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you! It sounds like you have some good advice. Good luck!
And I love the story about your mom.
Your mom is a hoot…..you have the right to be wrong. I loved that comment. So what have you decided about the ends of the dresser? Lots of opinions on here suggesting what you should do. I’d say navy all around with a white top. That will look nice and clean and expensive, even classy. Forget strips and forget pink. You can create something small and pink to sit on top of the dresser.
Let us know what the attorney says about your unnamed crazy person. Isn’t that slander? That is all you need to rock your boat so don’t let it.
Your closet is looking more and more beautiful. Love the painted draws. What do you mean when you say the fronts will be covered with front covers? Have a great week in spite of the craziness.
Didn’t you block the “maniac” early on?
Heck no, I’m not going to block him. He has threatened legal action against me. I want him to keep leaving all the comments he wants to leave. I’ll just add those screenshots to my already very thick file of screenshots to show that the harassment is ongoing. If I block him, all of his comments are deleted. I won’t do him the favor of deleting the evidence of his online behavior.
Oh my gosh! What a lunatic! I hope the police and an attorney can end this quickly.
Regarding the stripes, I have to say, I was shocked when you said your mom suggested that. Based on your mock-up, I couldn’t imagine your artistic mom suggested something so off and weird looking. I know she usually has great ideas. I’m relieved to know she didn’t mean that at all! Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Wow. It’s home decor . . . WTF? Prayers for peace of mind, protection and recovery from this ridiculousness. I’m so sorry you have had to deal with this.
OMG Dear Kristi, I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this “idiot”, and I really wished I lived right next door, first I could help in lifting and moving things, being a woman who is 6 feet tall has to come in handy for something. And next I can intimidate most men by just standing up straight. Really Big Sigh. My husband and I think of you and Matt, your mom and the critters as “family”, we get invited into your home every day and as a guest we would never, and I mean NEVER take that for granted or do anything to misplace that trust. I keep praying that social media is still more of a blessing than a curse, but it seems that when it is a curse, it is the damn plague. Please stay safe, I hope and pray that this “idiot” starts to understand that if he does something any more than what he has, that the amount of hell that will rain down on him…well, let’s just say he’ll be a very unlucky guy. We all love you and your family and friends so much, all of us out here in the ether.
Big Hugs to you and Matt, and especially your mom,
Kristi, from this point forward, I suggest you avoid ever again posting anywhere about this person/bot/comment troll. Why would you telegraph your game plan where he can read it? Let him discover any legal, law enforcement, or other actions or solutions you implement when they happen. Don’t give him advance notice about anything! Let him be the one who adjusts, not you.
The main reason I did is because his direct texts to me scared me. They didn’t scare me from a legal standpoint. The guy has no case against me, and he’s so stupid that he thinks he can file a “class action” lawsuit against me AND EVERYONE who comments on my blog. 🤣🤣🤣 I laughed so hard at that. How stupid do you have to be to claim you’re taking legal action, but then not even know what a class action lawsuit is? I laughed so hard I cried at that.
But it scared me from the standpoint of realizing that this guy is a real lunatic. In his text to me, he said, “I will not relent.” That’s a threat.
So in the event that anything nefarious happens to me, to Matt, to my animals, to my house, or to anyone close to me in my life, I want literally thousands of people to know where the finger needs to be pointed. That’s why I’m making it public, and I’m not waiting.
I’m so impressed by the difference filling in the groove on the trim encircling the island top made! And moving the feet made a huge difference too. Thanks for reminding me that details matter and it’s worth taking the time to get them right. Good luck squelching that troll!
Kristi so very sorry for what you are going through. Hope this jerk stops.
Praying for you and Matt.
🙏🙏
I’m so sorry to hear this for you Kristi. Sending love and light.
Wow – this is beyond the pale. Please protect yourself and keep your doors locked. I hope the sheriff’s department and the attorney will be able to provide protection and assistance.
Reading through that – my jaw was hitting the floor. Such a vitriolic, poisonous person. Unhinged indeed.
I wonder if you should get a restraining order too. He knows you live in Waco, has your phone number and everything is public nowadays if you know where to look. So he could also have your address. Just a thought.
Reporting back to say that I was heartened to find reviews on the Yelp page for the maniacs business calling him out for his comments on your posts. https://www.yelp.com/biz/gregory-jordan-interiors-chicago-2
Your community has your back!
It won’t come up….maybe it’s been taken down?
Covering you in prayer Kristi 🙏🏻The GOD of angel armies surrounds you. HE goes before you and HE is your rear guard. Thank you for updating us so we know exactly how to pray. Much love from NC 💕
You are taking the right steps to involve law enforcement. I hope it is resolved soon for the safety of you and Matt.
Perhaps put a bar on the end of your island and hang some colorful scarfs from it? Then paint your island any color you want-preferably navy blue 🙂
Oh my goodness, I actually LOVE that idea!!!!
Oh my gracious. First of all, your mom is hilarious. Secondly, that nut job is scary. You never know about people anymore. But why did he start on you? Thats the part that makes no sense! Then to start texting……that’s the last straw. I’m so happy you’re going to the police and fbi today to file complaints. This has to stop. Somehow, someway! I’m so sorry you’re going thru this. Be safe and take care!
So sorry for the scary harassment. Praying for a fast peaceful resolution for you! Happy for your mom’s redemption, too. What about putting felt pads on the bottom of the island feet to protect the floor and in case you have to move it at all?
I did that right before we flipped it back over. 🙂
Should have known!👍
It may be time to install a hardwired security system for the outside of your home for your safety. It is possible that unnamed person is more unhinged than is easily imagined and comes from an area where the crazies are more common and dedicated. I am glad you have a large dog that would alert to outside activity. Please plan to be safe even if it seems overkill. Having video of any activity, easily reviewed live on your cell phone, is priceless when needed.
I second this. Having worked in law for decades, both civil and criminal, this guy is downright scary. The safety of you, Matt, your animals, and your home is paramount.
Sorry you’ve got such a creep harassing you. What’s wild about this to me is that he’s a big fake. I was curious, so I peeked at his website and started to Google Lens the photos from his portfolio – many were from other designers, and at least a couple were stock photos.
Compare the slide show of photos on his website to the ones in these links…
https://www.harrods.com/en-pe/p/sferra-white-giza-45-super-king-duvet-cover-260cm-x-220cm-000000000006438091
https://cotedetexas.blogspot.com/2015/08/before-after-ashley-goforth-design.html
https://www.spitzmillerandnorris.com/colonial-revival-cottage-renovation?lightbox=dataItem-j1thht7s
https://www.hollyhunt.com/product/angelika-bed
https://atlantahomesmag.com/article/jewel-box-beauty/#jp-carousel-52911
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/living-room-interior-gray-brown-colors-557515885
https://rachelblindauer.com/favorite-sources/
https://www.veronicasolomon.com/
https://pendingtoparadise.com/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/gray-wooden-ladder-on-white-painted-wall-1125136/
https://www.birkesbuilders.com/services/service/kitchen-remodel
Yes! I literally went through his entire portfolio today and did the same thing!! 😀 Big..Fat..Fraud. Unbelievable. So after 26 years in the industry (allegedly) and decorating for famous people (as per his claims), he literally has nothing to show for it, and has to steal other people’s pictures to fill his portfolio.