I don’t know if you remember, but back in March I was finishing up the studio bathroom renovation, and at that time my plan was to finish the bathroom and then jump right into the closet project. But the closer I got to the end of the bathroom renovation, the more I realized I needed a break from room makeovers.
These were pretty big projects that included refinishing the floors (twice!), building a room full of closets, sewing curtains and bedding, hanging grasscloth wallpaper, building and upholstering a bed, adding tons of trim, and on and on.
From this project I jumped straight into the studio bathroom renovation, and while I wouldn’t put this in the “major remodel” category, it went a little beyond a simple and quick renovation, especially when I decided to do a crazy painted wall design with about 30 different colors.
As I neared the end of this project, I thought that there was no way I could just remodel another room, no matter how small. I decided I needed a break. I needed to take some time and do something fun and easy. In the post I wrote back in March, I said that I wanted to take some time to do some “fun, crafty, artsy projects, just for fun…” I imagined myself sitting at my work tables in my cool, air-conditioned studio, doing one craft project after another for about a month, just to give myself a little break from the heavy lifting and power tools. And I also wanted to take some time to finish some smaller projects that I had been putting off. At that time, I remodeled the entryway (which you can see here) and added the mural that I had been wanting to do for over a year.
But instead of going to my studio to sit in the air-conditioned studio for a month and do small, fun, creative art and craft projects, I decided to go outside. And I’ve been doing the exact opposite of small, fun, creative arts and crafts projects while sitting at a table in my air-conditioned studio. Instead, I’ve spent the last almost three months doing some pretty significant projects that included heavy lifting, sweating profusely while working in direct sunlight in Central Texas, working in temperatures of 100 degrees and over 100 degrees (with “feels like” temperatures as high as 118 degrees), and projects that were unlike anything I’ve done before – projects that pushed me beyond my comfort zone.
My comfort zone is working on interiors, building things out of wood and decorating them. My comfort zone is sewing, painting interior walls, installing interior trim, and hanging wallpaper. But I haven’t done any of it for almost three months.
And I made my own faux concrete blocks…
And let me tell you, while there have been difficult moments in the last almost three months, this has been the case Exactly what I needed. I’m almost sad that it’s over (for now) and that I’ll be spending the rest of the summer indoors again. As it turned out, I didn’t need to sit at my desk in my air-conditioned studio for a month doing small, inconsequential craft projects. I had to get out. I had to sweat and lift heavy loads. I had to go beyond my existing skills. I had to learn new things. I had to go beyond what felt comfortable and safe. I had to remind myself that DIY is a continuous learning process and that the only limit is my willingness to try new things.
This was definitely not the “break” I had originally planned, but it was exactly the break I needed.
Yesterday I spent several hours outside cleaning up everything from my projects and I stood back and looked at all the progress I’ve made over the last few weeks. I can’t even tell you how proud and excited I am about what I’ve accomplished. I’m hoping to get brand new pictures of the front of our house today and I’ll share the before and “progress” pictures with you tomorrow or the day after. There’s still a long way to go with landscaping and other projects I have planned, but I’ve hit some pretty major milestones in the last few weeks and I can’t wait to share the big picture with you!
