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As I was painting the trim around the bathroom doorways yesterday—a job, mind you, that I had begun with some amount of excitement—my attitude changed. By the time I said goodbye to that task on my ‘To Do’ list, the following things happened:

• I became aware that my quick job would be not so quick. The original trim is a sage green color and the white wasn’t going to conquer it without attacking twice. OH, JOY!

  

• Sadly, I realized that I was going to have to actually CLEAN the area first. Dust bunnies on the top ledges and around the sides wouldn’t run away when a brush approached; instead they were going for a ride! With both embarrassment at the amount of bunnies I hadn’t notices and irritation that I couldn’t just jump in to paint, I put aside the painting tools and got out the cleaning tools. RATS! (I will NOT show you a picture of the dust bunnies!)
• I’m not a professional painter (duh) and although I THOUGHT surely I could paint some freaking trim without botching it, my paintbrush seemed to have a mind of its own. It dripped, left streaks, too often visited the wall around its target, and generally failed me miserably.

 

No, I had not invested in a ‘quality’ brush. Those know-it-alls online giving tips about painting sent me the strong message: “First, do-it-yourselfer, use a QUALITY brush! You’ll be sorry if you don’t.” OK, OK, DON”T BE SO OBNOXIOUS ABOUT IT!

 

 

 

 

 

• My cat Simba occasionally meowed from other rooms. Since he’s currently having behavioral issues and seems intent on marking spots with foul smelling pee spray. I had to stop painting from time to time and follow my nose to the likely area of his latest gift. Once there I used my trusty UV light to find the spot and then zapped it with  my super-duper odor remover. After doing that twice, I decided to have a beer.  YAY!      

By now you probably understand why I cut this DIY project short, deciding instead to move on to DIY project #2 on my list—purge the upstairs hall closet (after a break to enjoy my beer, of course). That seemed to be something I could accomplish without making a mess, right?

I began putting away the paint supplies and immediately dropped the can of white paint because the paint I’d let drip on the sides was slippery. Luckily I had a plastic sheet on the floor, but the paint still splattered on some other DIY supplies nearby as well as on the shoes I’d taken off so that I wouldn’t get paint on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• My sweatpants and tee shirt and hair were targets too. The clothes already had spots on them, and come to think of it my hair already had white streaks in it, too. 😉  I tried to recover as much of the giant paint puddle on the plastic as I could and return it to the bucket. I rolled up the plastic for disposal. I scrubbed paint off my hands and arms and left the bathroom in a worse state than it had been in before I started.

I decided to chill out and ‘ohmmmmmm’ a bit first before tackling the next job—maybe rewatch some of the awesome 4th quarter of the last Warriors game to make me feel better.

But before I completely left that bathroom, I turned to take in the disaster behind me and I flipped it the bird.

And THAT definitely made me feel better.

HEH.

 

Unlike my major bathroom renovation three years ago which I attacked with my full attention until it was finished, I’ve been puttering around with this project and that one this year, not really focusing on any one at a time.

The results are predictable: 

• Currently there is a large bathroom vanity sitting in my living room. I’ve been waiting to find some superheroes to get it upstairs and installed. Such heroes are hard to find these days.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Also in the living room are two boxes, each containing a new light fixture for bathroom walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• There is a missing vanity in the master bathroom. In the missing vanity’s spot are tools from my vinyl floor tile and white baseboard installations some time ago.

 

 

 

 

• In the upstairs hall there is a ladder for helping me paint the upper part of the walls of said bathroom—when I get to that particular project. I only painted the walls high enough for the new vanity; since I need to change out the light fixture, I figured I’d wait to finish the painting after the new light has been installed,

• I’ve gotten one quote for removal of the rest of the popcorn ceilings in the house, along with the repainting of said ceilings, as well as installation of some recessed lights downstairs. That quote knocked my low-rise socks off, so I hope to find more reasonable offers. 
• Meanwhile there is a notebook on my desk logging all my calls to various handymen, recommended workers, and the ongoing expenditures. I seem to add something in that notebook daily.
• I’ve begun a kitchen remodel, too, although my actual sweat equity in this project will be minimal. I’m working with IKEA for cabinets and their contractors for installation. Nope, not gonna DIY on that colossal endeavor. 

Get the picture? Lots of multitasking going on with no one task completed.

This all started with the upstairs master bath remodel, but as is often true, that project led to a different project that required tools and other folks’ help.

This multitasking AND dependence on other people’s response times and schedules are harshing my DIY chill, y’all! My MO for a long time has been solo DIY projects, and I find myself getting impatient with the delays and dependency on others’ timetables. The trade off of that frustration, I suppose, is having others do the really heavy-lifting work for me instead of doing everything myself the way I did with previous popcorn ceiling removal and bathroom renovation a few years ago. (In the words of Scarlett O’Hara, “As God is my witness…Ah’ll NEVAH do popcorn ceilings AGAIN!)

So…..More frustration, less sweat. More waiting, fewer blisters and sore muscles. More calls and text messages, fewer visits to the hardware store to browse the aisles for the tools to do it myself…

I’m still on the unfinished fence about which way I prefer.

Oh, and this DIY blog topic isn’t finished either 😉 Watch for progress reports as I tackle this different approach to getting my home improvement projects done!