April 2017 Update: From the comments, there have been TONS of issues with the whiteboard calendar bubbling. Since I don’t have this piece, I haven’t experienced it myself. If any of you readers would like to submit a photo so I can post it here, please send it in. I can be reached at shoppingismyworkout @ gmail dot com.  Thanks 🙂

Ok so in my last post, I detailed how I fell in love with the Pottery Barn Daily System and how it took a month for it to all arrive at my doorstep!

Pottery Barn Daily System Review
Pottery Barn Daily System

Now onto a review of the daily system itself!

First off, I love how there are so many components for various purposes.  I love that you can build something totally custom to what your needs are.

Second, I think it is generally well made.  The pieces feel solid and the paint is well done.  I’m happy with how it looks on the wall, but getting it mounted was another saga.

I had my husband help me with the whole process and we both got really frustrated with how difficult it was to mount and with how long it ended up taking.

First, we pasted the paper template to the wall where we wanted the display rod to go.  I love that Pottery Barn includes mounting templates!  (They also include them with the Gallery Wall frames which were IMMENSELY helpful!)

We made sure that the template was level, then we figured out whether or not we need to use the drywall anchors or not.  It turns out we were not going to be able to use any studs so we had to screw in the anchors first.  Next we screwed in the screws for the display rod.

Pottery Barn Daily System Mounting Bar
Pottery Barn Daily System 24″ Display Rod

We slid the linen pinboard into the rod to check it out and we came upon problem #1: the pinboard was not even CLOSE to being flush with the wall.  The display bar was ever so slightly angled and this was causing the pinboard to “kick out” about a 1/2″.  We loosened the display bar slightly and got the pinboard to hang a bit better.  You can see below, we never actually got it fully 100% flush with the wall, but its close enough.

Pottery Barn Daily System
Pottery Barn Daily System – not 100% flush with the wall

The next problem I noticed was that the pinboard was crooked–really, really crooked.  We were so confused because we had made sure that the anchors were all going into the wall in a straight line.  We checked and rechecked and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the mounting bar.  I had a mini level (like this one) that came with a photo frame so we used that to check that the display bar was perfect.  Then we started checking the pinboard for clues.  Turns out that the pinboard’s hooks were problematic.

Pottery Barn Daily System - Pinboard
Pottery Barn Daily System – Pinboard

As you can see, the pinboard hangs on the display bar via those two hooks.  The hooks slide into the cylindrical space on the display bar.

Pottery Barn Daily System - Hinge
Pottery Barn Daily System – Display Hook

Unfortunately, pinboard’s hooks were not mounted evenly.  Fortunately though, they were screwed in and not hammered in, so they were relatively easy to adjust.  My husband made a few adjustments and we were able to make it so that the pinboard was less crooked.  Ultimately, there wasn’t enough “give” in the positioning to make it perfect but it is fairly close now.

Once we got the pinboard up, the lower letter bin and organizer were much easier.  I made the mistake of ordering 2 separate 12″ bars. I really should have ordered a single 24″ bar, but oh well, it is fine. I couldn’t figure out how to snap the “joining” piece onto the 2 half sized bars so we left that out.

Pottery Barn Daily System
Pottery Barn Daily System – Hurray! We finished!

Ultimately, the daily system ended up being ever so slightly crooked.  The pinboard hangs slightly to the left due to the unbalanced hooks.  It was a 1/4″ difference before we adjusted everything and now its closer to 1/8″.

Because the pinboard is not straight, the lower level did not align with the bottom of the pinboard.  We ended up “cheating” everything over slightly so it aligned.  If you look really closely, the components are not 100% lined up with the display bars.  We tried to make it look as straight as possible because just outside of the photo above is the end of the wall, making it really obvious that it ever so slightly crooked.

Overall, I’m fairly happy with the purchase, but I don’t know if I’d risk the marital strife and stress again!  I am a bit OCD about having everything line up and be square and it bugs me a little that it isn’t.  Hopefully once we use it for awhile I won’t notice anymore 🙂

Let me know if you have any questions about the Pottery Barn Daily System.  I’d be happy to answer!  Btw – I noticed that the daily system is on sale for 20% off and free shipping now!  Woohoo!