I was out with Tyler in the yard one day a couple months ago, and an elderly gentleman happened by on his morning walk. We'd run into him once before and stopped to chat, so he stopped to chat again. I remember he told me his name was Frank, well it was really Francesco, but he goes by Frank. Very nice old gent. And I remember we were talking about houses, and how much work they could be. While of course this was a great house, well maintained, there were all kinds of things we personally wanted to do to change it, and things needed updated.
He said he was going to tell me the same thing he'd told his son, when he bought a house - just focus on one thing at a time, and don't move on until you get that one thing done.
Well, it's kind of common sense, and in fact I'd said when we bought the house that's what I was going to do ... but somewhere along the way I'd lost sight of that goal, and had gotten overwhelmed with all the things that I wanted or needed to do, to the point of near paralysis and getting nothing done at all.
Frank's reminder got me thinking again, and I re-focused on that way of looking at things. I decided that's exactly what I was going to do. The dining room was bugging me the worst, and I decided that I wasn't going to think about any other room in the house until I got the dining room done - with a goal of having it done in time for Thanksgiving dinner.
It's worked out well, as I've made steady progress on this room (okay, maybe not quite as fast as I'd like, but ... all things considered, as well as can be expected). And what makes me happier is that I'm sticking to the plan - focusing on this and nothing else till I get it done, and being relentless in getting it done - rather than just letting it languish, as I had begun to do for too long. This serves the dual purpose of (a) actually getting something accomplished, and (b) no longer feeling so overwhelmed about the rest of the house, as when some other room starts to bug me, I just remind myself, "I'm working on the dining room now. Later I'll get to you, then you will be my sole focus."
This weekend and last night we finished up getting the supplies needed to complete the top molding (or moulding, as Home Despot spells it, but Dictionary.com approved my way as well, so I'm going with it - moulding looks funny to me). We'd decided to take advantage of some little tricks to avoid mitering anything, as while it's not impossible, it's kind of a pain in the arse I'd prefer to avoid, at least in this room (and I can't currently locate my dad's miter box, anyway). They sell little corner pieces that leave you straight edges to butt the molding up against.
But we discovered the strips of molding were 11' long, and our wall is - of course - 11' 3". I didn't want to buy extra or do a lot of math, much less patch pieces together any more than necessary, so we got clever. Greg found some square decorative bits that we'll use in the center of each wall, so again, only have to butt the molding up against a flat surface (and one 11' strip was sufficient for each wall).
As a bonus, they're cool looking, and it's something unusual and unique - always a plus with me. So I'm psyched. I'm going to do some special painting on these, but that'll remain a surprise till they're done. (Unfortunately that'll make it take longer, but it'll be a lot of fun, so I'm kind of excited about it).
I'm hoping to work on this during the week, not just weekends. Only having Saturdays for house projects has been another thing that has slowed me down more than I like, so I'm going to start trying to find time during the week to get a little done as well. The molding needs cut, primered and painted before it can be put up - the painting at least I can work on during the week. And of course the decorative little project mentioned above.
That'll be a major step in giving this room a more finished look. Next is baseboard, and painting the rest of the trim, fixing up the coat-hanging and shoe-storing area, and figuring out what to do with that stupid window thing into the spare room ... this.
To the left of that, between it and the door, I'm installing coat hooks, and underneath it I'm going to arrange an area for wet shoes and boots during the winter. But that thing ... I considered trying to patch it up to just make it a big solid wall, but it would be very tricky, and would never look quite right anyway - it would always look 'patched' - so I'm not sure I want to do that. Instead I'm trying to figure out a way to make use of it creatively. One idea I had was to line it with shelves and put little bins or baskets in it for gloves and hats during the winter - but it won't serve much purpose during the summer, so I'm unsure about that one.
And we need to get busy on the door issue if we're going to get anything done before winter, but I'm torn on that.
Of course, the banquette (booth seating thing I have in mind) is a major undertaking, and I'm not ready to tackle that yet. And it may well be that part doesn't get done by Thanksgiving - but that's okay, as we have other tables and chairs we can use, as long as the room overall looks decent. I have plans in mind for how to build my own banquette, instead of buying one (money's starting to get to be a bit of an issue, and they are ungodly expensive pre-made), but I need to sit down and do more work on that plan.
Anyway - progress ensues. And I'm already looking forward to the next area ... I'm still only focused on the dining room, but I'm starting to brainstorm ideas. I've decided to just move around the house in order, so my next stop is the hallway - currently a long, boring dark tunnel. At first I despaired of thinking of anything unique to do with that, but then inspiration struck. For starters, it's getting a two-toned paint job, dark color on the bottom, lighter on top, with a small decorative strip of molding (kind of like a chair rail, but not) along the dividing line. Better lighting. A few steampunk touches (why not? it's a great place to add that sort of thing in small doses). Shouldn't actually be too difficult at all ... except maybe stripping the wallpaper. Though I'm kind of encouraged, as the wallpaper all through the hallway and living room is starting to fall down on its own, which thrills me no end. I'm probably the only person on earth who smiles happily every time I see the peeling wallpaper. Because that means it's coming loose on it's own, which hopefully means it won't be such a bear to remove.
I know I'm probably dreaming - it'll come loose easily for another foot or so, then stick like hell everywhere else. Well, whatever - it's coming down, easy or difficult.
Technically the kitchen might be considered the next adjacent area, and there is a TON of stuff I want to do in there, but for some reason, I'm avoiding it. I think it's because most of what I want to do is going to be expensive, and it's the room that needs the least amount of stuff done to it, so it's not bugging me as bad as some of the other areas.
So, I'm psyched, the dining room's moving along, and here in about a month or so ought to be quite pleasant.
Before I go - Rhys, if you're reading this (or still awake after that boring blather), thanks for the reminder about the online meds - I'd actually forgotten about that. That might very well be a good option under the circumstances. You're like Wodehouse's Jeeves - always the perfect idea at the perfect time. :o)
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