Painting and Perfectionism

Until I get a real photo of the real door, look at that:

So, we're painting the front door today.  Black.  And it is looking great!  And I see every wave, piece of fuzz, little glob of paint, etc., etc. that is wrong with the job.  Plus, I will embarrassedly admit, I have been being mean and short-tempered with the benevolent Mr. V.

Sitting around in the evening, looking at designs and products and prices, and being pretty handy, I am certain that I can build, paint, and remodel cheaper than most and better than some (professionals, that is).  Waking up on the morning of a project day, and I start losing my mind immediately!  "It's not going to turn out right!"  "Why do I think I can do this?"  "We should hire professionals!"

I would love to tell you now that things always turn out beautifully and I worry for nothing, but they don't!  I mean, yes, I may get the DVD shelves just how I want them and for way less expense, but I make "bad" holes in the process, or realize that I need to install supports at the ends which is now awkward because the shelves are screwed into the brackets leaving little room for the drill, and on and on.  And so the whole process of doing a project has me irritable and anxious because at any stage I maybe don't exactly know what I'm doing, or if it will work, or, "What am I going to do now that I made that big hole and I'm not going to use that anchor after all?!!!!!!!!!!!"

And I am--I think!--pretty handy.

Of the two of us, I have more experience and confidence than my husband.  But he has more fortitude and acceptance of the process.  Still, if I am painting the door (lying on the table) and walking toward him I don't think I should have to ask him to move!  I mean, he's standing there "helping" me, looking at me, and as I move forward wouldn't he move back so that I can just keep going?  So all the worst, most impatient, most irrational, embarrassing traits of my perfectionist-not-knowing-what-I'm-doing persona rise up and flow out--all over the longsuffering Mr. V.

I just got turned on to design*dump where the talented autumn posted this:

this room reminds me of how much fun i have working with my husband. 

you always hear that if a marriage can survive remodeling or building a home, it can survive anything. the two homes we have built and three houses we have remodeled have only brought us closer together. we love the creative energy that it brings. we have a great time coming up with ideas and discussing options. we really trust each other, and respect each other's opinion, and have come to realize that we each have our strengths and areas of expertise.

i love you sweetie.

i can't wait for the next remodel!

 

To let myself off the hook a little, I'm not a designer and my husband's not a contractor, but I am a Christian with the Holy Spirit alive in me, helping me, so...well, imagine if I wasn't, I guess.

 

So anyway, I don't know how to get pictures off the camera, or I would have posted more by now.  My perfectionism is probably the biggest reason I procrastinate on all things--including this blog.  Since I can't make it look like Making it Lovely, I drag my heels doing it at all.

Learning

The blogs I read have pictures.  This I like.  I would like my blog to have pictures: befores, afters, ideas, swatches, family, whatever.

I also would like my blog to be organized and easily searchable and backtrackable.  So I am writing this to start to get the hang of photos and labels and whatever else presents itself.

Here is our red rug.  We got it from Home Decorators.  I know that it is a taboo store because no one, and I mean no one will acknowledge its existence on a design blog.  But Home Decorators has nice rugs and I got this one.  If I could remember off the top of my head I'd tell you what we paid, because I like when people share prices.  I've noticed that affordable can have quite a broad definition in interior decorating.

The rug is in our office/hangout room/spare bedroom.  Where I am now.  This room has come a long way, but it has a long way to go.  It has tons of storage space which I'd like to organize just so, and also make stylish.

I have a captain's bed in this room, which is really cool for storage.  I have extra linens in three of the drawers, Star Wars toys for my nephews in the fourth, and in the big center cabinet I have exercise equipment and winter quilt storage behind that.

I am thinking, thinking, thinking about a way to make it into a sometime alcove.  Here is my most promising inspiration photo:

The bed is in a corner of the room, therefore open on two sides, so I'd make the framework attached to the ceiling a full rectangle in order to give the appearance of it being one big unit of furniture, like those Asian wedding beds, especially this one:

And the framework will conceal the curtain rods that hold curtains which can be pulled around to enclose the front, or pushed back to the walls.  I also want to add backrests around three sides.  We'll see.

Hello Self

Uh, yeah, this is making me laugh. Because I have just gone from talking to myself to writing to myself.

Maybe someday someone will know I have a blog. Maybe blogger is going to out me right away. Is anybody there?

Anyways, I just clicked that button that said "Create a blog". Here it is.

I'll post stuff about doing the house, because that is what I like to think about and read about these days. Sometimes I'll write about bad grammar. Probably I'll mention my family at times.

So, there it is. Post #1.