Week Two, the week that almost wasn’t.
(take a look at the plan and where it all started on week one
I was so excited for this week. It took some time and many pep talks to myself to get here, but I had a plan of attack and I was ready to get some paint on these walls. I prepped the day before… even puttied up the nail holes and cleaned the walls and was up and going early last Wednesday. I was through a gallon of paint and had a coat on the entire thing by 10am. I was felling pretty good. Tired, but good.
You know how a first coat of any paint is, especially a light on over a dark one. It looked rough, but it was such a great start and so much progress. I knew the second coat would be magic.
But then we had some stuff pop up that was unexpected and threw all the plans and schedules out the window. Because of the timing of things, I was able to come back and get the second coat on the ceiling and one wall, but that is how it stayed until this weekend.
I have zero regrets for stopping everything. You just know when that is what you should do and that is fine. But if we’re being 100% honest, just because I was where I should be, didn’t make the unfinished state of the one room… and the overflow into the rest of the house… an easy one to deal with. I can handle messes. I can deal with things out out place for a bit, but all of this was just too much for me.
So Saturday morning, I decided to cut my losses and try to put things a little bit back together. I moved nightstands and lamps back in and even rehung the TV. Did it look good? Nope. It looked like a bad primer job but it was still a step in the right direction. We could live like this until I could get another day to paint. It was not what it wanted, but plans don’t always work out and you have to make the best of it. So I took a shower and tried to put my mental paint brush down and move on for now.
But you know all brilliant ideas happen in the shower. I started thinking. I still had paint in my tray and a wet roller. It should be enough to finish the bed wall, then I could actually move that back to the wall and that would be the hardest part. So I got out of the shower and got to work painting again.
I finished that one wall, then I kept going.
And I kept going some more.
And something happened. In no time at all, it was done.
I had done what I always do and made something a much bigger deal that it really was. Pretty sure we had this same talk about our memory very work for homeschool. Lesson learned, once again.
So here we are. This week is not a big dramatic reveal, but more of a few lessons learned from the week that almost wasn’t…
1. Start where you can: I’ve said this repeatedly but we’ve been ruined by HGTV. Home projects seem to be all or nothing, big transformations that take every skill and budget to the limit but that’s not real life most of the time. Y’all, this is my job and I’m doing good to get paint on the wall. But I picked up the roller and I did it.
2. Find pockets of time: Not many people I know have unlimited days or resources to devote to projects of any kind. I tend to think I need an entire day to accomplish anything but I get more done when I divide it into chunks and look for those pockets of time to move closer to the finish line. It’s not perfect or ideal but it moves the needle and the progress… and gives us something to celebrate every little step.
3. Perfectionism is overrated: I am not a perfectionist but let me tell you a little something about perfection... no mater how hard you try, you cannot create it. Paint lines will blur a little, paint will drip, that one thing will be just a hair off. Do your best and keep moving. A goal of perfection will never be achieved so do your best and embrace the results and the progress.
4. Give yourself grace: Life happens. No matter how much we want progress and how important some home projects may be, it’s never life or death. Give yourself grace for the things you don’t get done, the things you do wrong, the bad decision you made or whatever all those things are that hold us down and back.
5. People always over progress: I can get in a zone with a task or project and just go. In this case, my baby was sick so stopping was a no brainer, but there are many other things that I would never have stopped for. We have to continually remind ourselves what is really important and adjust along the way.
Life and DIY are messy, but we can do both. Don’t get discouraged, just inch your way forward and celebrate that you made the progress!
What’s up next:
- I will actually show you the paint transformation in more detail and share some paint tips for those of us who are not pros
- We’ll add some layers and maybe even let you weigh in on a few choices