So, I didn't commit to writing EVERY day, right? But to doing some project on the house everyday. To update on the projects:
On day one, I did paint that frame on the golden mirror. The pictures above show it before, during, and after in my room. Now it is gun metal gray. I'm not sure I love it, but I do like it better than the gold. It is now hung on the wall above my dresser rather than just sitting there as the picture shows.
The next day I hung a table runner and stained glass window on my bedroom wall. I know that may sound strange, but here's why: The window was all in these pale blue colors and if I hung it directly on the wall, which is gray/blue, it would just not pop. So, I had bought three beautiful shell table runners at Target a couple of years ago. Their original purpose was going to be to make a visual headboard above our king-size bed, but I liked two of them on my dresser too much. The third makes a great backdrop for my stained-glass window, which has beautiful sea shells on it.
Hanging these items was a cinch. I bought those Hercules Hooks that you see on TV. They were available at WalMart for under ten dollars. And, I didn't need to use tools because they just pop through sheetrock. The first try did seem to hit a stud, so I moved it over and pushed it in where there was no stud and covered the first hole with the hanging. No one will ever know. Unless they read this blog.
The mirror is hung by the same hooks. They are great! Speaking of the mirror, no project goes easy or without some minor hitch. (Such as that hole I am hiding behind the table runner.) The project took place in the basement since it's too cold and windy outside. When I was shaking up the spray paint, I thought I would be efficient and multi-task but putting some items to go up the stairs. So while placing the camera on the stairs, my right arm was flailing with the can of spray paint. Of course, the can hits the hand railing on the stairs and the nozzle flies off!
Our bodies really should be designed so we can kick ourselves. So, while spraying the mirror, I had to hold the nozzle on because it had broken off the tube. After the first minute or so, I realized the paint was leaking onto my finger as I sprayed, thanks to the crack in the tube. I stopped to get a work glove to keep from turning gray. During spraying I needed to switch hands, but didn't feel like looking for the other glove and three fingers on my left hand turned gray. It didn't wash off right away and was a bit sticky, so when typing on the keyboard later, the keys kept sticking to my fingers.
On day three I marked where I wanted to hang the guest toilet paper holder and towel rack. My husband was nice enough to help out. The math of hanging the towel rack centered over the toilet was in serious need of help, and he's a math wizard, being an engineer. The next time my mother-in-law stays, she is going to feel like it's a hotel room. Or at the very least, civilization, which it has not been up to this point. It looks so great!
I can't say the paint color is very photogenic, though. It looks like I used a bottle of mustard. But really, it is a bright yellow that comes off more cheerful than hotdog when it is in person. Also, it is Pittsburgh Paint's cheapest line of paint and I highly recommend it, since it goes on nice and think. Except for the main living areas, we used Pittsburgh Paints.
After going to a movie with friends on Saturday (Saw "The Help", by the way at Shippensburg University. Awesome movie!) I waited to "make water", as they would say in "The Help", until I got home just so I could use the newly hung TP and dry my hands on the towel. Such luxury!
Yesterday was Sunday, and I sort of took a day of rest. Three days of sticking with something is tiring! But my husband did replace some lightbulbs in the kitchen that have been burned out for about a year and he tacked up my under-cabinet light wires so they don't hang down any more. It is looking pretty.
That leads us to today. Another master suite project I have been ignoring is a magazine rack. My husband likes to do puzzles in the bathroom and I of course keep my Better Homes and Gardens or Martha Stewart Living magazines in there for extended sessions. Right now the books end up laying on the floor, so it is time to hang my Pocket Embossed Organizer that I bought from Ballard Designs over a year ago. I just might hang it with those Hercules Hooks so that I don't need my husband's tool skills again.
Off I go...
Today is a randomly chosen month, but the first day of that month. The day is chosen to be the first day of my beginning to change my house into a real home. My husband and I built our home from the ground up. You could even say from paper up, because we designed the floor plan, too.
So, we've been living here for over a year and a half, since April 2010. There are still so many projects to be done. While it pretty much feels like a "home", there are still those little details that make it seem just unfinished and like I can't ever just quite, relax into it, look at it as complete.
In the last couple of weeks, my husband got motivated to complete our back splash in the kitchen and that room is AMAZING! This is triggering my own need to get things everywhere else done. There are lots of little things I can finish up or set in motion by getting them ready for my husband to be the handy man. (I've tried some power tools and I suck at anything that requires tool skill. Unless the tool is a paintbrush or sewing machine.)
The big problem with me is that the days just seem to ooze away without me feeling accomplished or in control of my time. I have fibromyalgia and am taking medication. My moods and fatigue are definitely better when on meds, but I still wonder if I am slugging through life more slowly than I used to be. At the end of a day, I am almost always discouraged by the still to complete list.
Martha Stewart amazes me because she has always had the same hours in a day that I have. While she has a staff now, she didn't always, and I bet she always had perfect houses. Projects finished that added value to her home, but projects in process that she knew would be complete in a day or a week.
When I look at my mom or my mother-in-law, they always have those projects they will do "someday". They are in or close to their seventies. I don't want to have projects that drag on for decades, yet I know there are a few of those already, even though I'm approaching 39.
A Bible verse that always sticks in my head, that I have tried off and on to live by is Proverbs 6:6: Consider the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
Okay, so I take offense at the sluggard part, but in truth, I see what it's saying. The verses following it are in actuality talking to someone about storing up food, working to not die. Obviously, not finishing some home projects won't starve my family. The way I'm looking at the verses are that I need to just get to work. Grab the next thing at hand and get it done. When you look at all that an ant does, it really is amazing.
My road block is that I think and think about things, and if even one little thing seems out of place, I don't get started at all. Today I am pledging to "Be the Ant". I'm going to determine projects that need to be moved along and work on one everyday. Some days the project might only take that day, but there may be longer projects, I just have to keep doing one until completion.
There will always be new projects, but I would like to get all the old ones done, and make room for the new.
So, for the first day, I am going to work on a mirror who's frame I have been wanting to paint for about that full year and a half. The first thing I am going to do is name the roadblock that's been keeping me from doing it: Paint color and placement in the house.
The frame is gold. Old gold and very ornate. So, I'm thinking what in the world color will look good? I'm not afraid of bold, but I am thinking I want it in my bedroom. The room is painted a steel blue gray- it's so pretty. I have shell decorations and mercury glass lamps from Pottery Barn. So the theme is pretty much sophisticated beach. (I hope!) The spray paint I bought is molten gray. Now I worried that a mirror will look funny being silver with a silver frame. But, I need to get over it and tape up the mirror, spray it, and hang it. If it doesn't look good, I can spray it again. But I won't know until it gets sprayed! So, that's today's goal. Then to hit up the husband to hang it, since, as I said earlier, things like that are out of my realm! Okay, so tomorrow I'll update on the project and have before and after pictures.
My goal is to work on a project in the home every day for the next year. (I actually have some projects that I can take with me even on vacation, so no excuses!) Next December 1st should be really exciting to look back and see what I've accomplished!
