My husband works a very labor intensive job and spent the last year and a half working so hard in order to be able to build and provide a better home for our family. We moved into our beautiful new house in October, 2011. My husband is so proud of his new garage. It is a 3-stall and he had an extra 4 feet added to the length. Before he set up the dining room table or the couch, he built a workbench in the garage. He spends an incredible amount of time now sorting different screws and nuts and bolts and nails out there. He set up a television, heater, and stereo to keep him company while he "works on building stuff".
I am not afraid of my husband, not even a little bit. He loves me and he treats me like a queen. But when I started dragging tables, stools, the china hutch, and every other piece of wooden furniture we own out to his workbench he started acting crazy ~ like a little girl protecting her precious dolls. It did not even cross my mind that working in 'his garage' would be invading 'his space'. I was staining furniture in the garage. It was too light. The trim in our new home is dark and the homebuilder left a half-gallon of the stain, so I decided to take advantage of it. Sounds easy enough, right? I had so much fun with this project! I did tend to become a little over-zealous because I really liked the idea of thinking of myself as an 'artist'. I love that I have been able to transform something 'blah' to 'beautiful'! I learned so much from this project I feel like a wealth of knowledge! I learned I need to cover the floor BEFORE I stain. I learned that stain will soak right through newspaper and and 2 sets of old sheets. I learned several days too late that most people do not apply stain with a paint brush.
Did you know that stain will fly approximately 12 feet through the air from the workbench to the garage door? It also travels 6 feet in the other direction to the back door. The inside of our garage is freckled now. Soap and water will not remove stain. You cannot use a magic eraser. While I was attempting to PRAY the stains away I am positive I heard the Holy Spirit giggling!
I went through every single cleaning supply we own. I tried everything. Some of the freckles are lighter, some are smeared, and some are the size of my head. None of them are gone. That moment when you realize you have done something really really dumb and now you must suffer the consequences. The circumstances differ from person to person, but everyone has experienced 'that moment'.
I had to tell on myself. It would have been much worse for him to discover the freckles on his own. I didnt have to pretend to cry - I was sobbing! He nearly knocked me over to get to his precious motorcycle- which was parked immediately behind my project. I had forgotten about the Harley. Oh my it did not look good for me.
My husband stood absolutely speechless for at least 5 or 10 minutes looking around at the floor, ceiling, walls, and doors. Then slowly he turned to me, shook his head, and told me I may just be the death of him. Then he told me he loves me and that I did a great job staining. Then he went into the house and took another blood pressure pill.
Right now I am giving my husband the silent treatment. I am upset because he made a comment tonight about me being too "spacey" sometimes. It hurt my feelings.
garage door
back garage door
Freckles!
I have been spending alot of time on Pinterest lately.. Its the most incredible online "womans magazine" and when I click on the site, I feel a little bit giddy - like I am opening the door to 'Pink & Pretty' land! The most amazing thing about this site is that it not only shows you some of the most creative and awesome DIY projects, the pictures come with instructions for people like me! I never dreamed I could be so crafty! The 1st creative project I decided to conquer was to makeover my bathroom. At the advice of a clever craftsman on Pinterest I went to the Dollar Store and purchased 7 picture frames - all of them black. Then I searched for really really neat pictures that would look great on the walls. I wanted them to be entertaining and thought provoking - since my husband spends an awful lot of time in the bathroom. My 1st challenge came when I realized my Dollar store picture frames did not have hanging hooks. I searched and searched but could not find anything on Pinterest that explains how to attach hooks to picture frames. Being a new and improved 'Jack of all Trades' I creativly designed my own hooks with thumb tacks, wire, and a hammer. Thats where I lost 2 of the frames. It does not matter how hard you hammer, thumb tacks will not penetrate through the glass that holds the picture in the frame. Being the well-grounded and sensible woman I am, I see no need for silly tools such as measuring tape or levels. Women have a very keen sense of 'centering'. This is where I ran into my 2nd hurtle. I finally figured a way to get the hooks on the backs of the frames with my idea using thumb tacks and wire (just dont hit the glass) but I did not pay very close attention at all where I placed my hooks on the backs of the pictures. I carefully nailed 5 holes in the walls, making sure each was level and evenly spaced. My creative hooks were not. Most pictures now cover 4 or 5 holes each in the wall behind them. My husband said he loved the pictures but when he went to rearrange them a little (they never did end up quite centered) I had to make myself faint to take his attention from the walls. It worked at the time, but later I felt so guilty that I tearfully confessed. My wonderful husband wrapped his arms around me and told me he loves our new improved bathroom with crooked pictures. Since my husband was being so understanding, I also showed him the multiple strips of wallpaper I accidently removed when I was trying to place a creative Pinterest 3D border. I painted wooden circles black and red and silver, then attached permanent mounting tape to the backs of them. I learned from this project that the word permanent means 'do not remove or try to reposition once it is placed on the wall'. My bathroom DIY project cost $11, took 2 weeks to complete, 23 nail holes, and 17 strips of wallpaper. Next, I have decided to stain every single piece of wooded furniture in our house. I will let you know how it turns out!
