My Dirty Lil' Secret...

I have been working on a painting project for weeks now. My husband and I picked up a china cabinet from Craig's List and I whined and moaned for three weeks before my husband was finally able to get help to move it up the stairs to our apartment. Within 15 minutes of it sitting in our dining room I had a coat of paint on it and was starting the doors. I was SO excited! Well, here it is almost another 3 weeks later and I am still not finished painting it and have grown tired of walking around with white paint in my hair- resembling a cross between Kitty Bartholomew and Cruela Deville. I have been working on this thing every spare moment I can steal. Being that we live in an apartment I have to do all of the painting in the apartment- which means: while the kids are sleeping. I keep saying "One more coat and it will be done." But being the anal retentive perfectionist that I am, that one more coat just never looks good enough. Plus, I am now working on painting the inside of the cabinet- not easy. Here is a sneak peek at my progress.......


Yesterday I sat and stared at the cabinet, knowing what had to be done but dreading opening up that gallon of white paint again to add "just one more coat", So I decided I needed inspiration. I thought if I could go look at my beautiful tea pots and antique china that will go into my cabinet that maybe that would motivate me to get the painting finished. Well, my teapots and china are being stored (with what seems like everything else) in our den. A.K.A. "The danger zone" One drawback of living in an apartment is that we don't have a basement to store things. So, our den is currently being used to store my china and collectibles, baby clothes, all decorations for the baby room, fabric that I am going to use to decorate and make bedding and curtains for the baby room etc. Plus, I am using it for a work room of sorts to paint the doors for the china cabinet and keep them away from little fingers.

So behind these closed doors..................

Is my Dirty Little Secret......................

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!! I know! Isn't it terrible? YUK-EEEEE!!!!!!! Needless to say I walked into this danger zone yesterday, and didn't even attempt to look at my china. Seeing this mess again was inspiration and motivation enough to run back out, open up the paint and slap another coat on the cabinet. You see, I am not a messy person. This site makes my skin itch- literally. If I am in a messy environment too long I literally break out in a rash similar to hives. In my home I believe in the "A place for everything and everything in it's place" philosophy. It's comforting to me to have myself surrounded by organization.

This bugs me....

This is typical me.................

All cabinets, closets, dressers, nooks and crannies are organized, aligned, and labeled.............

Yes, those are labels. Sad I know. I label everything. At first it started out as a joke because my husband was always telling me he didn't put things away because he wasn't sure he knew where to put them. Well, everything being clearly marked now, that is no longer an issue. Occasionally the pink silicone bake ware still gets mixed in with the large casseroles but it is better. At one point the labeling got so bad that I was coming down the hall with my label maker just looking around and heard my husband say "It's OK kids! I'll protect you from mommy and her label making machine of terror!" As he stretched his arms out to shield the children I proceeded to print off a label that said "goof" and stuck it to his forehead.

Needless to say the office mess is leaving me very itchy and feeling like this........

Unfortunately I have a series of projects to do and they have to be done in a certain order. In order to put my china away the cabinet has to be finished. In order to put baby clothes away the dressers have to be painted, in order to paint the dressers the den has to be cleared out of stuff and the walls have to be painted first, etc etc etc. I am sure you get the point. It all comes down to this obnoxious china cabinet that I was so excited about. Until it is done- nothing else will get done. So... I guess I better go get busy. Wish me luck............. I think I am going to need it.

Wishing you all the motivation you need...

~Heather :)