Monday 3 November 2014

DIY projects and good intentions.......



A few months ago I got a what you'd call 'spring clean' bug. No, it was much more than that, it was more like a "I hate EVERYTHING, and it's all got to go!" bug.

Well we seem to have over the last 17 years collected a lot of stray bits of furniture. Old chairs, cupboards, rugs, mats, just things that at the time where much appreciated, but now are just old, and broken, and don't really match anything. Things like the boys wardrobe that was dropped while moving house, and despite several attempts at repairs, still had it's door fall off.

Another example of what I mean is things like  my sister is having a clean up, and my nieces old dining chairs in her shed collecting dust. We need a matching set, as ours have broken, and the seams are coming apart, and the cats have helped  accelerate the deterioration with their sharp claws. In short we have odd chairs. UGLY chairs.

So I say 'YES" why not, matching chairs, and free...............

BUT.....................

They were left behind in my sisters shed for a reason. They are nice, and not ripped, but fragile as hell, and one chair has a leg completely broken.

Not having the heart to say "I really  don't want them now" (seeing how she drove them to me, and I now have them in my kitchen), I took them, and gratefully, as they do, however impracticable they are, look better then my current status, but I still have ODD CHAIRS, and now more broken chairs. 

All good intentions of family members to fix said chair, and re-enforce the others have not become fruitful, so I have solved nothing, and gained more clutter.

Lesson finally learned...... I will be no ones dumping ground, unless I am sure, and have seen with my own eyes what is on offer, and if it just needs a little.....................NO!

Any way, back to my insane desire to home improvement.

After discussing with hubby about what I'd really like for my birthday..... "all the shit thrown out" he agreed, but did ask that we do only one room at a time. (He also did buy me a lovely hoody with the words "KEEP CALM AND LET CRISS HANDLE IT" printed on the front, for my birthday. Such faith in me. lol 




Seems like a fair enough request. Sensible, practical, and full of good reason and common sense. So do I take it?

NO!



Our daughter, now seeing that things might look good, decided that she too would like to sort out her room. The recent bust up with said boyfriend, still has her in a state of retail therapy. She is buying, so why not.

I realise that my 6 year dream to rid myself of all the odd, the ugly, and mismatched, the broken, is at my finger tips, and I am going to need a huge skip to clear this rubbish up. It is/was/is intoxicating.

I have been saving, and after a recent visit to the bank, to sort out the finances, I am now credit card debit free, and just one personal loan to deal with at a lower interest rate, and have spare cash to play with. PERFECT. All my Christmas/ Birthday's have come at once.....

So daughter and I start shopping............................we soon discover that furniture is expensive, and to buy all that we need we may need to shop smart. We also discovered that NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE seems to build the bloody things any more either!

I am not un-used to screwing things together, having made most of the bookshelves and small office type furniture myself in the past, my daughter too, we had a sudden 'GIRL POWER' moment, and we felt we could do anything.

After a lovely day out at IKEA, and a quick stop at Chip as Chips, we had pretty much bought EVERYTHING we needed, except the room hubby said we should start with, and that was the kitchen. ( Ran out of money)  

But in my defence, we did between us get  A LOT of stuff, and we only had 2 delivery costs, where as hubby's way would have incurred more expense. Well that is what I am telling myself to make it all OKAY.

Now here in lies the problem. 

Daughter has no room for her things, with her current things in her room, so she moves her things, to kitchen, and our room, and where ever else she can stash it. Her huge book case, is now ours, so all the hall way things, books, DVD's, Photo albums, and pictures need to be emptied from current living arrangements and stored in new home. We did that, and it looks good, but now all that stuff is also in my kitchen.

We also bought a new desk for hubby's computer. So all his things went into the kitchen too, as we built, hammered, screwed, for hours. Trying to read instructions, that do not always make sense, and slowly becoming sick of this girl power movement we started.

Hubby mean while is TUT TUTTING, saying we didn't listen and now there is chaos, and don't come crying to me................you get the picture........  he is right, but I wont say it out loud. Sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell him......................


At least the cat seems to like it............



It is slowly coming together, but our house is still a mess, and things are still in the process of structure, and although I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I still have a huge mess to deal with which is doing my head in.

Our Miss is now taking a break from construction, which is not good, as it is her room with the most crap to sort, and we need her stuff out the way to be able to finish the boys room.

I am seriously over it all..................I thought in 2 weeks we would have it all done, and be shopping around for a new table and chairs, with buffet maybe??? But I really don't think so.............

I forgot somewhere in this girl power duo collaboration, that I also have a job, and I am also a mother, and I also do not have the strongest back in the world, and have definite limitations.........I forgot that the rest of world would not stop and take a pause while I DIY my home, and that I would be shopping, cooking, working, washing, and cleaning, as well as going through 8 years of stuff.  It is amazing the amount of things you gather. Scary actually!

So I am EXHAUSTED. Staying up till 2 am, waking up at 7 am and doing this repeated day after day is now really taking it's toll.

Hubby is now helping. I think he is just sick of the mess too, or he is feeling sorry for my lack of self control, but he is a perfectionist, and so building a small boy, might have taken us 4 hours, but it has been a whole 24 hours now, and he is still yet to screw anything together. It will however be put together well, and of that I am sure. Not like the boys wardrobe where my daughter in her rush to get it done, angled the nail wrong and spilt the wood. Thankfully it is on the top and at the back, no one will see it, but I know it's there. 

So the plan is by the weekend to have the rest built and set up, and then the rubbish removal can start. I have a few weeks left before house inspection, so it has to be all cleaned up by then. It will look good, and eventually the dining room will too...........Rome wasn't built in a day you know! But the next shopping trip will be with hubby, so I don't get talked into anything else by Miss shop-a lot. She really is a bad influence...........well is it fun spending someone else's money. (Hers) 

Wish me luck......but I can honestly say that if I don't see another Allen Key for the rest of my life, it will be too soon. At least all the clutter is disappearing...............YEAH!




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