Picking back up

Now that graduation has passed (thanks all for a fantastic time!) we’re turning our eyes once again back to the house. With our party/open house we were moved to get a number of things done that had been hanging over our head, so we at least now have a fully functioning living room (although admittedly there are countless little things still demanding our attention). In classic Reno fashion however rather than buckle down and get it completely finished, we’re instead moving on to something more fun than cutting, staining and installing quarterround. Since we’ve been out of practice for awhile we figured we’d start small and with something relatively easy- the coat closet. We already have the shelving system set to be installed there, so the idea was to spackle, throw a coat of paint up, figure out something with the floor (we’re thinking flor tiles), hang the coat rack and shelves, and poof we’re done.

Ha! A mark of our forgetfulness.

Instead I headed in, armed with the tub of patching plaster and really looked at the walls. I’m not sure how I could explain it except in some areas it looks like maybe a monkey went in with the same idea but rather than fill holes with a scraper chose to use the classic primate hand smearing technique. I, in my eagerness to just get something done, filled a couple of the small nail holes and figured it was fine. After all, (a) it’s a coat closet, (b) once full we really won’t notice the walls, and (c) not only would I not know where to begin, but fixing it almost certainly means it won’t be done next week which is what I had optimistically assumed. I made the mistake of pointing it out to Clint who had other ideas entirely. Only problem is, we still don’t really know how we would go about smoothing the walls. I’m sure we’ll land somewhere in the middle, filling in what we can and doing our best to let the rest go. After all, it’s only a closet- one which undoubtedly noone else will ever notice, but alas we continue to struggle with this ridiculous pursuit of renovation perfectionism (an oxymoron if I ever heard one).

The Unerring Logic of a Procrastinator

So some of you may have noticed I’ve been completely derelict in my blog updating responsibilities, but in my defense the amount I have blogged is in direct proportion to the amount of work we have done, which is to say none. As I was recuperating from the neck injury I got in a bad habit of naps after work, dinner, then losing myself in the tv or internet for hours. I’m hoping all that will turn around this weekend especially as we have visitors in about a week. I think once we realized we weren’t going to be able to get both rooms exactly where we wanted by graduation our motivation fell off sharply. On the upside most of those who are coming have seen the house before and having a living room that is not sealed off by plastic and full of caustic chemicals is a huge step forward so I feel proud enough of that accomplishment that I’m not worried about the filthy walls in the dining room or the outlines of where all the trim once was. Besides we can’t do too much at one time or the wow factor diminishes, this way we get the requisite oohs and ahhs for each individual accomplishment. (The logic is flawless.) My to do list is long and probably impossible but even checking one thing off will be more than we’ve done in a month, and one more step to getting back on the renovation wagon.