Unexpected Crisis Averted

In light of a previously busy week, I was looking forward to an uneventful day off today, and for the most part I had that. At least, until I started to “redecorate.”One of my many favorite items is a lava lamp; I think every apartment should have one, it just seems like it “fits” and any decor can accommodate it. Trendy, chic, minimalist; a lava lamp would just work in any of those. Try it if you’re curious.Anyways, I decided I wanted to move my lava lamp to a better location; one nearer to a plug, and in a more prominent spot. Somehow, I can’t recall what brought this on, but the power cord had caught on something, which caused the lava lamp to fall from my hands, and I just so happened to be standing right above my entertainment center, which contains two glass shelves.The lamp hit the bottom shelf which shattered into at least 500 million pieces which were strewn about over, under, behind, and on either side of my entertainment center. I couldn’t believe it…Rather than obsess over the travesty befallen upon me, I grabbed the dustpan, a few garbage bags, and my vacuum, and went to town. About two hours later, the glass had been picked up and I was now left with a new dilemma. I need a shelf, and I have a few options.New glass? That’d be great, get it to match, it’ll be like nothing ever happened. Sure, but to the tune of almost $200 for black glass, or just south of $100 for clear. Yeah, no. The entire stand was just over $200. Not worth it.Option B: Wood. The whole thing is made of wood, what’s another piece of wood? Oh, but what KIND of wood, and how in the world do I make it “fit in” with the rest of the darn thing?I went to Home Depot and chatted with some of the gents working, who proved to be somewhat helpful. I say somewhat because it took them three tries to get my board cut to the correct dimensions. Maybe they were having an off day, but two associates and three tries is a bit more questionable than one person’s “off day,” but I digress. We got it done. Now on to the whole “making it match” thing. One suggestion was spray paint, but the board would need a primer coat first and I didn’t have time to do that. Then came the option of contact paper… Just unroll and stick this black stuff on the wood, and barring any other issues, mishaps, or self-adhesion (the paper sticking to itself), it could be done rather quickly.In the interest of time, I left with a roll of the sticky stuff and my (finally) cut piece of wood. I applied the paper with some difficulty, and am satisfied with the result. I call it “one notch above ghetto fabulous.” It serves its purpose. It’s a black shelf for A/V gear to replace the old one, originally black glass, that I broke with a lava lamp.Crisis averted.