Duct Tape's Useful Cousin

The single most wanted piece of furniture in our home is a shelf or shelving unit. Even when we get a new one, it seems like some other room immediately needs another one. We never seem to have enough of the things.

Maybe it's our constantly shifting version of organization. I don't know. I just know that there is always room for a new shelf in our house.

So imagine how pleased I was to find a cube type shelf unit awaiting me in the thrift store. The Chick and I had just finished discussing one of these the day before and how she would love to have baskets to go in it for her stuff when she goes to college. And it still had the majority of the packaging around it too.

Hubby and I happily carried it to the front with our other purchases. But upon taking it from the package, we found the previous owner had forgotten to include the connector pieces. So basically we had huge package of black metal grates.

I ran to a home improvement store and checked another store hoping they might sell those individually (in case they break -- they are just plastic after all) but neither carried them or even units like ours.

It was pretty frustrating until I thought of something that might work. Black electrical tape.

I held each piece together and connected it by wrapping longish pieces of electrical tape around the two bars at the corners. It was surprising strong as long as I made more than one rotation with the tape. Slowly, cube by cube, it became a shelf unit. A very stable shelf. In fact, I've decided that it is probably more sturdy than it would have been with the plastic snap on connector pieces. Doesn't it look that way?

And the connector pieces were big, bulky, kind of ugly things from the look of the picture on the box.

The little black dot like things on the side are to hold one grate in to act as a divider if we so choose but I kind of like it like this. And my laundry room seems to like it too. I haven't stubbed my toe on anything since I put it in there.

I have no illusions that it will last three more years for the Chick to take to college with her but if it does, I won't complain. And I figure it will give me money's worth if it just lasts a year.

Thanks to a 57 cent roll of black electrical tape.