Do you ever have those days when you don’t have anything planned or required of you that will divide your attention from your tasks at hand? You wake up that day and you think to yourself, “This is going to be such a productive day! I’m going to get so much done today!” And then at the end of the day, you’re wondering, “What the heck happened? How did I get so little accomplished today?“
Yeah. That was my day yesterday. I had what I thought was going to be a full, uninterrupted work day. I just knew I was going to get so much done on the closet yesterday, and then at the end of the day, I stood in that room, laughing at the absurdities of the day, and thinking to myself, “Seriously?! This is it? This is all I have to show for this day?“
I knew it was going to be a rough one when Matt was already awake at 6:00am when I got up. I generally wake up at 6:00 and start my day very quietly, sneak off to my desk, and have about an hour of complete quiet and solitude before I wake him up at 7:00. But yesterday morning, he was already awake, and he was having a horrible morning. Ugh. Not a great start to a Monday. So I had to spend a great deal more time than usual tending to him yesterday. (If you’re new around here, Matt is my husband, and he has M.S. He has good days, bad days, and a few very bad days scattered in. Yesterday was a very bad day.)
So I didn’t get started working until much later than usual. I was so excited about trying out the faux marble countertops for the washer and dryer cabinets, so that’s what I intended to spend my day doing. I wasted time going to Home Depot, purchasing the plywood and supplies needed, and then realized that I had gotten way ahead of myself. I really needed to install the trim on the wallpapered walls before forging ahead with the countertops. In my excitement about the countertops, I had forgotten that I have to kneel and stand on those countertops to install the crown molding in those areas.
So I put the countertop plan on hold and started cutting the crown molding. I got the long piece of crown molding cut for the long wall, tried to install it, and realized very quickly that there was no way to get that piece of crown molding (137 inches long) past the cabinets on the side walls. I tried everything I could think of, and every angle imaginable, to get that long piece of molding past the cabinets, and nothing worked. So I ended up having to cut that long, beautiful, full piece of crown molding into two pieces. I was so bummed to have to put a cut in that crown molding but there was no other way.
But I’ve been using my miter saw to cut a whole lot of metal items lately (like the metal closet rods), and the blade on my miter saw was shot. Cutting wood molding with that blade was about the equivalent of trying to hack away at it with a chain saw and get perfect cuts. So before putting that cut into my perfect piece of molding, I had to change the blade. And of course, I couldn’t get the screws off of the saw. Of course it couldn’t just be an easy change. Yesterday wasn’t the day for easy. It was like those screws were welded on. It took me about 45 minutes to do a task that should have taken about 5 minutes. But I finally got it done.
Then I went to nail the crown molding into place, and my air compressor stopped working. I’ve known for a couple of weeks that it was probably on its last leg. It had started making a metallic rattling sound when I turned it on, but I thought it could at least get me through this closet project. But it decided yesterday, as I was up on the ladder, holding the long piece of crown molding in place with one hand and my nail gun in the other hand, that that was the moment it was done.
So I had to make yet another trip to Home Depot to pick up this new little pancake Porter Cable air compressor. The timing wasn’t ideal, but I have to admit, I love any excuse to buy new tools. 😀 Just look how pretty and shiny it is! That won’t last long, though. 😀
I love this little pancake air compressor, and if you’re looking for one that’s small and portable, but powerful enough to do just about any job a DIYer would want to do, I highly recommend this one. That old one lasted me for many, many years, and got me through every project I’ve done on this house so far, from framing out windows and doorways to building furniture and everything in between.
So once I was back with my new air compressor, I was finally able to get the trim installed. I got the top (pieced) crown molding up, the window trim re-installed, and the baseboard in place.
I don’t know if you can see where I had to piece together the crown molding. It’s about 16 inches to the left of the corner.
When piecing trim together, I always cut at a 45-degree angle instead of cutting the two pieces with a straight cut. I think that 45-degree angle helps to hide the joint much better. And of course, I still need to do some wood filling and sanding on that joint. I think it’ll pretty much disappear when it’s finished, but it still frustrates me that I had to do that in the first place.
By the time I got all of those pieces cut and installed, it was already after 8:00. And I don’t like using my power tools outside after 8:00pm. So that’s it. I had to call it a day. I got all of the nail holes wood filled so that I can get them sanded today. I still need to cut and install the crown molding for the side walls and the ends of the cabinets. Then I’ll have to do a bit of caulking, and then I can paint.
All of the trim on that wall will be painted the same color as the cabinets. This will be the only room in the house that doesn’t have white trim, but I think the blue will be much better. Seeing that white (primed) trim on that wall just looks out of place.
Anyway, I share all of that with you not to complain about my day, but mostly to bring a bit of the reality of the world of DIY. Some days are so productive. Others are a comedy of error from beginning to end. And last night, all I could do was stand back, look at my tiny bit of progress, laugh at the absurdities of the day, and hope for a better day today. So far, so good. Matt woke up feeling great this morning, so we’re off to a much better start!
On another topic, last night when I stood back to admire my tiny bit of progress 😀 , I got to thinking about that window.
I had originally planned to put the window shade back up, and I still might do that. I obviously need privacy since this is a closet, and I’ll be getting dressed in here. That window faces the street, and I don’t really want to be putting on a show for my neighbors and passersby each day. So my original plan was to put the shade back up, lower it so that the top portion of the window is covered by the shade, and then put privacy window film on the lower part. That way, some natural light can still come into the room.
But the shade I have is dark, and it really doesn’t go in the room anymore. Or does it? Here’s a reminder of the color…
I spent a lot of money on that shade (it’s lined and sized to fit the window perfectly), so I really don’t want to purchase another lined shade for the window. I had considered trying to bleach it with wood bleach. That might be an interesting experiment. I really don’t think it needs to match the floor, but I would like it to be a bit lighter than it is now.
But also, when I stood back and looked at that wall last night with the trim, I thought it might be nice to leave it off completely and use window film on the whole window. So I’m not sure. Y’all can tell me what you think. Should I use the shade? Try to bleach it? Leave it off completely? I guess I could go ahead and add the window film to the bottom half, try bleaching the shade, put it back up, and see how that looks. If the bleach doesn’t work out, I can go ahead and leave it off and add the window film to the top.
I don’t know why but having the window film just on the bottom portion of the window and the shade on top feels safe to me. As in, I don’t worry about people being able to see in. But having no shade on the window at all, and using the window film on the entire window makes me feel less confident that people can see in. I know that makes no sense whatsoever. 😀 If it’ll work on the bottom half, it’ll work on the top half as well. But there’s just something about having a window with no shade on it at all that makes me feel more vulnerable. But I also think it would look really pretty to leave the shade off of the window completely and just let the blue trim and wallpaper be front-and-center. What are your thoughts on the matter?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
