The DIY List Goes On!

What happens when two women with ADHD who love projects, painting, all things antique buy an old house? If a mental picture doesn’t already come to mind, I’ll do my best to paint you the scene this morning as I type. I am currently sitting in my finished bedroom office; the room is painted, vintage chandelier is hung, all my favorite vintage art adorns the walls, and my collected nick-nacks are strewn about. Peace is known here. Now if I were to get up and walk out of my room I’d be greeted by the catch-all space in need of drywall, paint, ceiling tiles, other project stacks, tools, and only a few pieces of furniture that are patiently waiting to go elsewhere. Next, the downstairs living room was finally cleared of all the remaining boxes just last week due to an early morning burst of can-do energy! (Okay, I’ll admit that there are some boxes but they’re only in one corner and we choose to not make eye contact with them for our own sanity.) The living room and the kitchen only wait for paint and finishing touches. Our main bathroom has a half taken apart drop ceiling, a couple of wall patches along with a new light needed, and some paint before we’re done with it. Folks, we are only on the first floor, and I feel this is a good station to disembark the imagination train.

Woodwork, paint, and drywall, oh my!

We could have taken it room by room and maybe saved ourselves, but our sweet brains would rather have chaos! So, when the mood strikes, we start projects! The previous owners used this house as a rental for the better part of the last 35 years which leaves a lengthy list of areas for us to restore back to something close to its original state. Most unfortunate of all, they did repeatedly give the “landlord special” to all the beautiful original solid wood trim and doors. (Please take a moment with us to hold space for painted wood trim everywhere.) Which has left us with what will be our longest DIY for the coming years– slowly stripping layers and layers of paint and praying we can restore them to their glory! Before that happens though we are patching holes in the walls, removing dropped ceilings, changing out lighting fixtures, putting gallons of paint onto the walls and ceiling, restoring the entryway, freeing the original front doors, and refinishing some floors. Wish us luck!

Can a Rhyme or Reason be Found?

Short answer? No, not usually. Ha! But we do usually get our projects done and with minimal extra work. Sarah and I want to open up and share our process of DIY because I think it’s intimidating for so many who want to start projects of their own but fear they’ll mess it up, make too many mistakes, that they don’t know enough to start. My advice? Pick something reasonable for the skills you currently have and complete one project. Then once you complete that project, find another that might stretch you into learning a new tool or task and research it (YouTube is a good friend of mine!). Do your best on the newly learned skill and try to have fun while implementing it into your project. You’ll be surprised at how much you can do. There are some processes which do have to be done according to procedure like removing a wall or electrical. Mess with those steps and you could be more than regretting it. Work your way up and do your research and don’t be afraid to call a professional for these types of home projects.

All of this to say- I’m glad you’re on this journey with us! Enjoy the pictures of projects in various stages of completion and join in next week for more! Stay safe and have fun with any and all projects of your own.