Happy Valentine’s Day! We’re celebrating with Burger, Clara, each other, and a photography crew in our house for the third week running. There’s a twist today: we’re trying not to be sick. Clara was ill all evening Saturday into Sunday morning, and now John and I seem to have picked up the bug too, but the show must go on. The good news: all of our secret projects are finished, so we only need to wrap up the last 20 shots by Friday and we’ll be done. We’re also supposed to shoot some cover shots tomorrow (eep), but for now we’ll focus on today. From our slightly green household to yours—Happy Valentine’s Day! Now let’s have some fun.
I’ve realized my self-imposed “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge is basically “So I’ve Been Hoarding Little Animal Friends And Now I Get To Spray Paint Them.” Exhibit A and Exhibit B are proof. In my defense I’ve been hoarding other things too—coat hooks and old light fixtures—so it’s not like I have an entire spare room full of ceramic animals. Yet. But I did find these little orange-and-black sponge-painted horse heads during a thrift-store spree in Delaware about a year ago; we paid $2.50 each. They then sat in our playroom for twelve months. Poor guys.
From the start I had big plans for those sponge-painted horse heads. First step: a few thin, even coats of primer. Slippery ceramic pieces often need a good spray primer before paint will adhere properly.
Once they were primed and steely gray, it was time for spring color. I chose a cheerful yellow spray paint that felt like the right mood for warmer days ahead.
The yellow required about five very thin coats—more misting than full coverage. Hold the can roughly 12 inches away and keep your arm moving to avoid drips. After a few days curing outside in the carport, I brought them in and put them to work as bookends:
Yeehaw.
Who’s ready for warm weather, cherry blossoms, and birds singing? This girl (pointing to self, thumbs now yellow from spray paint).
So that’s the tale of two $2.50 thrift-store bookends that collected dust in the playroom for a year. One more item checked off the list and out of that room—hurrah! At this rate the room will be ready for a big makeover in a few years. Kidding. I do still have a lot to tackle, which is why I love forcing myself to complete one small thing each week. It’s manageable, not overwhelming, and those small wins add up—four or five little accomplishments each month alongside larger projects like the book and the kitchen. Sometimes the small projects are the ones that make me happiest. It’s the little things.
What have you been working on? Any other “Dude Get On That Already” challengers out there tackling things that need cleaning, organizing, or painting? Anyone else trying not to lose their lunch on Valentine’s Day? Tell me what you’ve been up to.