When we first shifted in to our house I was under some crazy impression that I would just do all the things with a snap of the fingers. In my mind, the house and garden would be finished in 6 months, thank you very much. Although people tried to remind me that Rome wasn’t built in a day, I still set about achieving my ridiculous goal. You see, when we shifted into our house in August, 2015 I had never painted a wall before, not one, yet I wanted to paint every single one in the house. I painted one room in the first week we were in our house and then you know what? I burnt out. I had no will to continue painting and basically called it quits then and there. Aaron and I did a little bit of the ‘garden’ and I managed to paint the laundry but I really didn’t do much for a very long time.
Roll out Boxing Day, December 2016 (a year and a half later!) and I’m on holidays from work for three weeks. I take a tour around our house and yard and write a list of every single thing I wanted to tackle. Oh what a terrible choice that was. I started making a new piece of garden. It’s still not finished. I started painting the kitchen. The ceiling still isn’t finished. And I probably started a few other things as well, thinking that I’ll just do a little bit of each job until they’re all done. The three weeks ended and I had finished none of my projects. I felt defeated so left the renos for another few months.
Fast forward to April and I had three full days at home with no plans at all. I decided that with this spare time before our Australia holiday, that I would paint our ‘junk room’ and convert it to a guest room. I painted the walls, ceilings and skirting within a day and a half. I was impressed with myself! I gave myself a huge pat on the back. Good work Brittney! When we got back from holiday we bought a bed and curtains and decorated the room as a guest room. I hung shelves on the wall, made the bed and arranged some art. I was completely in awe. I had made over a room, top to bottom within weeks. A WHOLE ROOM. Up to this point I had only ever done bits and pieces so the feeling of completion was A-MAZING.
That’s when I had this new idea about doing one thing at a time until it’s finished. I don’t know why it took me almost two years to figure out that I should do this but maybe it just took the transformation of our guest room to cue the light bulb moment. When I finished up as a preschool teacher to work on the farm, I decided I would focus on one thing at a time. I would work on one area, and work on it until it was completely finished. So this is what I’ve been doing. Not only have I been achieving way more but another plus side is that only one area of the house is in a state of disarray at any given time. Another huge advantage! I started with something small, the toilet. I then moved to something big, our bedroom, and have just finished our walk in wardrobe. I’ve been so impressed with the fast progress and feeling of completing something gives me to go to start the next thing. I have no doubt that all the rest of the areas in our house that need attention will be made over within the next few months. And why? Because I decided to stop trying to do everything and just try doing one thing.
Anyway, I thought I would give you a quick house walk through and show you the transformations so far. How do you think I’ve been going?
Our guest room before…
Our guest room after!
Our master room before…
Our master room after!
Our hallway before…
Our hallway after!
Our laundry before…
Our laundry after!
My craft room before…
My craft room after!
Our garden before…
Our garden currently (we’re still working on it).
So we’ve come a long way! We still have a bit of a journey to go, but slowly, one thing at a time, we’re getting there! I only have one full room and a hallway left to paint, and then some touch ups of ceilings, doors and skirtings. I don’t even know how I’ll spend my time without walls to paint but I do look forward to those days. And then on to the OUTDOORS.
Wish me luck.
Great job! I like all every particular change of your home. Thanks for sharing!