30- Day Challenge Challenged

6

July 15, 2014 by Decorum DIYer

Okay, so maybe thinking that I could finish my eldest son’s room in 30 days when I couldn’t finish it in six months was a mistake.  However, I did try. Really I did. In May, a fellow Maryland lass, Serena of Thrift Diving, posted a 30-day room challenge for the month of June.  I was excited, as I thought it was possible that Roman’s room could actually get finished.  After all, the room only needed a couple of shelves, another mattress, bedding, something to disguise the closet, and a rug.  How hard could that be?

 

EXTREMELY HARD!

 

I had a few things working against me.  Some are just ‘par for the course’ in our household, but others were just bad timing.

1. Home alone with three kids to feed, bath, and entertain, etc….  Oh, summer….
2. My husband started working 7 days a week with overtime.  (I guess he wouldn’t be getting to those shelves.  We’re lucky if he finds time to cut the grass at this point.)
3. I started teaching a summer dance class one night a week.
4. I took on my first custom furniture paint project for a friend.  (I am beyond happy about this distraction.)  And then the real chaos started….
5. Our 6 year-old refrigerator/freezer decided to stop working, so we lived out of coolers and our back-up freezer in the basement (thank goodness for that) for a week until we could have a technician make repairs.  My in-laws lent us a mini-fridge later in the week and that help tremendously.  So we pretended to be Brits with an under-counter fridge for a spell.
6. Our dryer stopped drying.  With the presence of constant thunder storms, line-drying was not a viable option. Thankfully, my husband ordered a part on-line and was able to make the repair.
7. Thanks to some wicked storms, we were without power on and off during the month of June as well.

Needless to say, it was an adventurous month, but we managed to accomplish a lot, just not in my son’s room. I’d like to share my progress with you, even though it is far from finished….. Here is what we started with at the beginning of this year:

My eldest son’s room in the awkward before state.

    I wrote a bit about the evolution of my son’s room here, and here. So, during a large snowstorm this winter, I took on the endless painting of every surface in my son’s room.  The preparation was killer, but worth it. I settled on a two-tone look again, with a wide, white shelf around the room.  I received a $25 gift card directly from Sherwin Williams for my birthday and I put it to good use.  I decided upon Sherwin Williams’ ‘Escape Gray’ for the walls and ‘Cyberspace’ for the upper walls and ceiling.     It was a bit overwhelming and scary, but it started to come together with the addition of the shelving’s base. Sorry, folks, I am the queen of blurry photos.  You are lucky I have photos at this point. 😉

 

What is probably the least obvious in the photos, but the part that took the most time and patience, is that ALL of the gaudy, wood trim has been painstakingly sanded, primed, caulked, and painted (3x).  It was a labor of love, much like when I painted the trim in my master bedroom.  A labor that must now continue to the rest of the house… (sigh).  Trust me, painting the trim is my least favorite, but most rewarding, chore.

So, you see why I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. I’m now just hoping to finish this room before school starts again at the end of August.  With more overtime for my husband, and two vacations (no complaints here) in our future, it will be a miracle if we finish.

 

On a related note, does the room’s color scheme remind you of this sleeveless, light-weight sweater I wore to the HFSfestival many moons ago?

 

(My apologies to my friends for the embarrassment. Especially you, Dave. That hat choice, really?)

 

Huh?  Maybe it is just me?

 

P.S. My apologies for all of the grammatical and spelling errors, as I assume there are many. This was a sincere brain and photo dump. 😀

 

 

 

Advertisement