Right now, progress looks like….
An empty bathroom prepped for tile.
An assembled vanity in the living room.
Three ceiling light boxes installed waiting for lights.
Two bedrooms mostly painted.
Painted den windows.. with excessive tape residue leftover.
A makeshift worktable in the dining room.
Can we just have an honest moment here? Sometimes looking at all the projects we’ve started causes a slight tightening of the throat reaction inside me. Like, are we ever going to finish anything? It feels like we’re knee deep in a gazillion projects and just about every room in the house is covered in fine spackle dust.
Though I’m pining to have the satisfaction of one room being finished, this process is teaching me the importance of patience and contentment. Each time we work on one of the many projects that are currently happening around the house, I have to remind myself to breathe and just enjoy the process.
I know different people find joy in different parts of a process; some in the planning, some in the doing, and others in the finished product. It’s most natural for me to dwell in the planning stage, and sometimes I struggle executing, and I always struggle finishing! Right now though, we are in the ‘doing’ phase in most projects. That means no more planning until the projects at hand are completed.
But, at the end of the day, amiss all the dust and tools and random toilets in our dining room…. I’m working on projects with Jake, and that’s fun. They may almost always go wrong at some point, but we figure them out together. And through this process we’re learning to work better together and enjoy ourselves along the way.
As we were driving home from church on Sunday, we spotted an entire dining set curbside in our neighborhood. We picked it up and it turned out to be an incredibly solid set! Although we have no dining room to put it in at the moment (our is currently acting as flooring storage and acting workstation) it brought a break from the more ‘structural’ house projects at hand. It’s always a thrill to find something neat for free!!
I really like the clean lines and sturdiness of the wood. I’m thinking of refinishing the top in a lighter color that emphasizes the grain and maybe painting the chairs navy and reupholstering. The only thing I’m not sold on is the base.. so maybe we can make some simple legs for it, we will see 🙂
So thanks to this curbside find I got a little dose of creative planning in between all the project ‘doing’ this weekend. Do you find you have similar struggles enjoying every part of the process? Any tips on savoring it all are appreciated 🙂
I had a great time painting with you. It is going to look awesome!
Thanks so much for your help! We never would have been able to do it without you 🙂