Pinterest is ruling my life. Or is that ruining? The number of projects currently underway in my house is well out of hand. No matter how much progress I make, the construction zone keeps growing instead of shrinking.
It always starts so innocently too. Mama was pinning around and found a picture of someone's living room. They had put up big bookshelves floor to ceiling on either side of a big window and built in a window seat between them. Our house just so happens to have a very similar spot in our front room. She asked if I could make such a thing, and because I'm not very bright, I said sure. It was painted white, which means the wood is a bit cheaper and any mistakes would be hidden much better than if it was meant to be stained. I could do that.
I bought the wood, because if it was going to be easy and not terribly expensive, I didn't have any excuse not to. Of course, it was only once I had a garage full of wood that I looked more carefully at where these things were going to have to go. There are two electrical outlets and a furnace duct that would be covered if I just slapped the cabinets into place. That seems a waste, so now I have to move them. I am not an electrician. I have built houses and furniture before, but the most I do with electricity is swap out the occasional switch, and even then, I have to be prepared to be Tasered by my own house.
To install the cabinets properly, I now need to finish building them, paint, move the electrical wiring, decide if those wires will power lights in or on the cabinets and work that out, cut out the flooring and baseboards where everything will sit, and then move the units into the house from the garage. They should fit.
We had been talking about putting a new gas fireplace in our family room to replace the old ugly thing that consumes loads of fuel and produces precious little heat. This spring, shortly after I assembled the bones of the cabinets for around the window, a pipe in the wall beside the fireplace developed a small leak, only noticeable because of the mold it produced in the carpet. So, the carpet has a big piece cut out. The pipe and wall were simple enough to repair and repaint, but it created a cascading effect. Might as well do the fireplace now, before we replace the carpet. Since we're apparently doing that room now, the patio door needed to go too. More carpet was cut, more drywall was repaired. A new fireplace is easy. I just call a man and promise him riches, virgins, possibly my firstborn, and he will come install a new, efficient fireplace that should actually heat the room. You don't want to know what I'll need to do for the additional trim package.
Actually, even that easy part isn't that easy. Before the man comes to put in a new fireplace, I have to hang drywall in the closet that houses the unit. That little spot that no one ever sees has to have gyproc covering all three sides, floor to ceiling. Then once the man is gone with all my money and most of my dignity, I still have a wall that clearly used to have tiles, a hearth, and a mantle stuck to it. Those things have clearly been torn off. Mama is pinning again, so I'll be learning masonry very soon. And how to sob quietly so as to not disturb anyone. I keep having nightmares I'll come home one day and the doors will be torn off the kitchen cupboards to force a kitchen renovation.
No comments:
Post a Comment