So, I had a goal... Get my living room and my bedroom painted before Mother's Day. I still have half of my bedroom left to do. Fortunately, it's the easy half and it WILL be done by Wednesday, barring any unforeseen "emergencies". Why did I miss my goal? Because I always start a project and then come up with all of these inspired ideas to make it "my own". When I started on my living room, my plan was just to get it painted. As I was patching some cracks, I got this fabulous idea to sculpt a tree on one wall out of dry-wall mud to hang my family pictures on. It turned out fantastic and I just love it, but it took FOREVER to get it to look just right. Then, naturally, I was so happy with it, I ended up sculpting an abstract sunset on one wall in my bedroom. Again, it took FOREVER to get it to look just right. But, it looks pretty awesome, if I do say so myself...even if it took way too long!
So, my question...What sort of things do you do to your home to make it unique to your personality and tastes? And, do you have a tendency to under-estimate the time those fabulous ideas will take to finish?
Momma!!
TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR TREE!!! Use it as your profile picture!! That sounds GREAT!!!
Other than that? I haven't done much in way of decorating our home...I know...I know...I know...picking out colors was hard enough!! :)
Here's my snowball project. I got a free Avenger's poster offer when I bought the DVD for my kids. So I went ahead and claimed my "free poster". I had to pay for shipping, so I decided to go ahead and BUY the other three posters that coordinated with the free one. So then I decided that I needed to paint my sons' room a light blue to match with the posters. And then I decided to paint a red accent wall. And then I decided to paint their closet. But I couldn't paint their closet unless I bought a new shelving unit to organize things in there. I also bought some Avengers wall decals. And Avengers bedsheets. Oh, and I had to buy a ladder, a new paint roller, and painter's tape in addition to the paint.
So now the boys have a newly painted room, and newly painted and organized closet. I have yet to frame those posters and hang them on the walls. I will do it soon though! So much for my "free" poster :-)
My do it yourself friend and I have a saying, CALL IT DONE! We laugh when one or the other of us gets in a perfectionist mode and totally blows the time budget. Otherwise, it's perfectly normal for an artist to ignore time.
Time is a left brain function and the right side is the side you use to create.
The right side can't tell time!
I bet your project is a work of art to treasure much longer than the time it took to create!
That sounds really cool and I am sure that you are happy that you took that extra time!
I have gotten into using items from where we have lived as themes for different rooms. We J. moved into our new home, in a different state, so it's still a work in progress!
I went to college and graduate school in Southeast Virginia and have found beautifully framed artwork from local artists that I collected over that period of time. My daughter's room is a garden theme, so we have lovely paintings of the Maymont Gardens and the University of Richmond campus in her room. We have some in our family room as well. We lived in the Hudson Valley for a decade (my husband grew up there) and I found (at a clearance sale) original Harper's Weekly covers featuring the Hudson Valley from the early 1900's. I had those framed years ago for my husband and they now hang in the dining room. My SIL took a gorgeous picture of the old rail road bridge outside of our church as she was leaving our wedding and framed it for us. That hangs in the family room, along with original (signed) architect's rendering of my grandparents' home... designated a Historical Site b/c of the architect's famous name!
I love that our home is filled with where we have lived. We have put a lot of thought into what hangs on our walls and I love it!
I always underestimate how long home projects will take M.. Which is a good thing, because if I knew how long they would take beforehand, I might not take them on. Yes, I usually go overboard on home decorating projects. :)
OMG!!!
My son's room.
Is cursed.
Christmas 2011 he wanted to redo his room.
So I bought a bunch of stuff to do it (as a Xmas gift, but not everything, J. the fun stuff)
His dad assaulted M. (fracturing my skull amongst other fun stuff) 10 days before Christmas.
There was NO way I could paint/tear up carpet/etc in my condition.
So I hid the stuff in a closet
Christmas 2012 I put the stuff under the tree, he's excited as all get out
Jan 3 2013... The courts, instead of making him pay the YEAR of unpaid mortgage that he was court ordered to pay (out of plenty of $ in his savings), order him to "pay M. back" @ $500 a month.
So Im looking at the house foreclosing
And my son's "new" room breaking his heart, having to leave it
So we put it on hold, while I try & see if I can save the house
A lot of legal battles down the road... I still don't know if I can save the house... But my son decides he doesn't care... And in March we start ripping his room apart
And a series of very bad things happen (real flu x2, Ex calls power company & has my power shut off, which cancels my payment plan for both water & power... We stay at my mums for 3 weeks, etc.)
FINALLY get all that sorted &
So its freaking May of 2013
With a 2 day project set for Xmas 2011
Can I put my head through the drywall, now?
Please?
Pretty pretty please?
I don't think I've ever properly estimated the cost or time that it would take to complete a project. I blame it all on DH, as my original plan though laid out well always gets amended by him. Case in point - new kitchen countertops - $1000 budget and a 1 week time budget. Final cost and timeline? $5000 and 3 weeks (including new cabinets, flooring, and appliances. and i HATE the countertops.)
