A Strange Self-Imposed Challenge
We have a new friend hanging out in our kitchen. I found this guy at Hobby Lobby during one of their all-the-time 50% off sales for $12. You know me and faux animals. Faux sho they’re mine.
Then he sat in our playroom for a while (a while = 6+ months) and I recently walked in there and had this moment where I said to myself “Self: you have got to stop hoarding things in this room. Use them or lose them.” Which led to an initiative I like to call “Dude, Get On That Already.” The dude being me. Naturally. So I’ll probably revisit this initiative over the next few weeks and months (at least I hope I will) as I systematically pare down the hoarded playroom clutter and decide whether I’m going to keep things and actually use/hang/enjoy them or craigslist/donate/yard sale ‘em. A lot of things end up in there for one of two reasons:
- I’m not quite sure where to hang them (so I stick them there and say “I’ll get to it later” and later turns into never)
- I plan to somehow alter things by painting or staining them (so I stick them there and say “I’ll get to it later” and later turns into never)
Well not anymore, folks. I dug in and grabbed my horny little friend and marched his antlers all around the house, trying to find a spot to hang him up and actually enjoy him instead of hiding him away in The Room Of Chaos (yes, that’s its formal name these days, so it gets capital letters and everything). Anyway, after walking around for a while I decided it’d be fun in the kitchen next to the fridge, but the original black color (although very cool in its own right) wasn’t working there. So I dragged my buns outside with a piece of cardboard and some leftover white primer + spray paint.
You know my “thin thin thin and even coats” catchphrase when it comes to spray paint, so I snapped these three in-progress spraying shots to show you how each coat is a nice thin mist. You definitely don’t get full coverage with one thin coat of spray paint – which is a good thing. You’re doing it right if it takes about three of them to slowly accumulate. And always keep your hand moving and hold it 8-10″ away. No thank you drippies. Not on my watch.
Speaking of spray painting tips, this guy’s antlers were still looking dark on the underside, which I knew would be seen when we hung him up, so I waited a full day for his front to cure and then flipped him over to give him a nice deep tissue massage with spray paint on the back.
John and I actually considered a few crazier colors (plum, navy, yellow) but thought that the white would look nice on our grellow walls- especially with the gold mirror in the laundry room so close by (it’s on the other side of the doorway, so we didn’t want it to have to fight for attention). But I have big plans for some of the other things lurking in the playroom. Oh yes, plum, navy, and beyond…
Don’t mind the paint touch ups we have been meaning to do for over a month. I’ll get to it sometime. Unless I’m too busy spray painting various faux animals.
Work it, antlers. Work it.
As for how I hung it on our paneled walls, anchors are a gal’s best friend.
Here’s the box we’ve had… oh… maybe a year?
They seem to last, which is nice because it’s so annoying to run to the store for little hanging stuff. Boo to that. Anyway, for those who might not know how they work, this might sound like “health class” in 5th grade, but the anchor is the white thing and the screw is the silver thing you know what a screw looks like. So you drill a tiny pilot hole into the wall, hammer (or push) the anchor into the hole, and then screw the screw into the anchor.
A into B, baby. Oh but just leave a little bit of the screw sticking out for hanging whatever it is you’re hanging on it (the anchor should be flush with the wall, but the screw might stick out half an inch). Das it.
I gotta tell ya, it took less than an hour of actual time (drying time doesn’t count because you don’t have to stand there and watch it). And that not only includes my little spraying trips in and out for those thin coats but also the whole hanging shebang after he was fully dry. So I have high hopes for my little “Dude, Get On That Already” project. I might just keep this up! And if I ever want to pop it off the wall for a fabulous royal wedding, it makes for a great fascinator.
So are you guys with me on this weird little self-imposed challenge? Any items (or an entire room full of stuff) that you’ve been putting off? Wanna tackle it with me as I go? I’d love to get to at least one thing a week but with kitchen/kid/book stuff I’m not sure if I can stick to that, but it’s definitely the goal! Oh and what should I name this guy? Or is naming white faux animals weird when they don’t have faces? Malcolm? I keep getting Malcolm.
And speaking of projects… surprise!
My apologies for the crazy lighting (oh yeah and the ladders and the dropcloths) but we’re in the midst of getting new lighting! Hah. So there’s just one floor lamp illuminating the back corner of our windowless interior room. Which explains why it looks like a glowing Katy Perry alien is hiding back there or something. But as crazy as it looks… wahoo, it’s progress! More details about the whole process as soon as it’s a wrap (and it’s all cleaned up, photographed, and written out) on Monday!
Comment
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
424 Comments
This comment section is currently closed.
I just finished my challenge. Back in October I decided to go through the house and pull anything that had not been used recently. I had a HUGE garage sale and priced it all to sell. What didn’t sell I just donated to another cause. It felt so nice to get rid of so much stuff. It was a LOT of stuff too. I think it took us nearly an hour just to drag it all into the driveway from the garage. It makes you wonder how so much stuff fit in your house in the first place. I finally don’t have a “collection” room any more. yay!!!
I love the “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge idea. I’ve been doing this already to help my husband move his buttsky on our house without even knowing it was going to be a thing! I’ve given him a challenge every weekend this year – Weekend 1 was a do-or-die pick-the-last-light-fixture-for-over-the-kitchen-sink, Weekend 2 was to select/procure all the wood hangers we told people we were using their Christmas money for (haven’t gotten clothes on them yet, but at least we bought them!), Weekend 3 we found homes for the nice kitchenware we got for Christmas and get rid of the icky stuff it replaced. This weekend’s challenge will be to select decorative/privacy film for the window over the door – right now it’s got clear contact paper on it which lets in more light than the wood blinds did, but is all bubbly and not very nice looking. I wish we could accomplish more stuff faster! But amazingly this one-baby-step-per-weekend pace is actually much faster progress than we have made in 2 years living in this house.
Love the challenge to use the items in the playroom. I’m so over these antler things that everyone is putting up in their homes, though. :-\
It’s a good think Malcolm doesn’t have ears so he couldn’t hear that. Haha, it’s definitely one of those personal preference things though!
xo,
s
How do you spray paint in January? Isn’t it too cold?
We’re having the most awesomely mild winter. It was 65 and sunny when I sprayed Malcolm!
xo,
s
I was wondering the same thing! I live about 2.5 hrs west of u guys and we have been having good weather as well…but how do you guys spray paint in the cold months? Do you just hold off on those projects till the spring?
Yeah, I usually wait for a day above 50 degrees like the can says (which isn’t too hard here in VA, thank goodness – we usually have one of those a week even in the winter).
xo,
s
That’s it, I’m moving! One day a week above 50? Our high here is 10. TEN. This does not make things like, oh, getting gas or walking to your car fun at all.
I am so glad to see that oh so ugly brown ceiling fan gone! I couldn’t live without my bedroom ceiling fan here in Arizona, but at least it is white and blends with the white ceiling (I try and pretend it is a gorgeous chandelier!)
And the “Olivia side table” you have over at the right side of the page under “We’re Digging”, well I bought that table a while back from Ballard Designs on sale for $99 and just love it!! It definitelyl has the look of a much more expensive table.
I am usually not a fan of the antler rage currently haunting the blogoshpere, but I can totally see a fabulous apron hanging from it so I approve. Carry on…
Haha thanks Jessica!
xo,
s
don’t you just love not having a garage? we don’t have one either, so the large bonus room on the back of our house has been turned into our workshop/storage area/dumping ground. it’s like trying to make it through an obstacle course every morning when i go through there to leave for work.
on another note… can’t wait to see your new lighting all finished! that’s one of the projects that i think can make the most difference in a space! we were so thrilled when we upgraded the lights in our kitchen (http://alanna-wendt-to-tennessee.blogspot.com/2011/05/let-there-be-light.html and http://alanna-wendt-to-tennessee.blogspot.com/2011/08/let-there-be-light-again.html)
Wow- such a difference!
xo,
s
I’m so in on this – I’ve vowed to do 52 projects this year – one for each week of the year. Most of them are little things that we’ve been meaning to do forever – example: fill the empty picture frames that have been hanging on the living room wall since we moved in… a year and a half ago. So far, so good. Most are pretty small projects in the scheme of things, but the sense of accomplishment fuels a can-do-it attitude for the next project.
p.s. I am SOOOOOO envious of the deer antlers. I have been drooling over the paper mache animal heads that keep popping up all over the place, but can’t do the price of them. Wish I’d stumble on something like this!
My pile is so big I get un-motivated just thinking about it! I have about 50 black frames that I keep collecting (good will, IKEA, Target, painting old ones) to make a gallery wall up our stairwell…I keeping buying and not doing and my hubs is like, “Um, sweetie when are we actually DOING the gallery wall??” and I just look at the growing pile of frames and think…later! LOL. Plus the pile of stuff to spray paint. And the artwork to hang. and the kitchen to reno…i’ll have a great, put-together, stylish house…someday! Maybe I’ll turn it into SOON if I do this challenge!
This post was like the last episode of this season of Dexter. Total cliffhanger!! haha Excited to see what happens with the lighting (And with Dexter!)
$herdog, you totally got your mojo back on this post….not that it left really, I just have a feeling the book and holidays and being a mom and wife and genius had you super tired for a while. Wow this is not coming off well, ok, um, what i’m TRYING to say is, this post sounds like you. Funny, inappropriate, and awesome. Like I want to sit next to you in class and get in trouble. I feel like we need a Petersik state of the union post…like, are you guys still exhausted? Did you get some rest? I’m not doing a very good job of saying, “I hope you’re doing really really well.” :) K…kloveyoukbye.
Haha thanks Emily! I’m giddy and weird as ever! Still not sleeping very much (book stuff isn’t over until the end of May so we laugh and say we’ll sleep in June). Maybe we’re just on that hyper-happy thing that you get on when you’re tired yet wired and everything is hilarious? It’s all worth it though. We’re so excited about all of the secret book projects and the kitchen stuff and the book shoots coming up! Life is crazy but we wouldn’t have it any other way!
xo,
s
do you know of a way to get the anchors out of dry wall? Have some in places where I don’t want to hang things and I don’t want to tear up the wall.
This might not be the only answer, but I have found that hammering them into the wall (not so they’re flush, but so they’re banged in) and then spackling around it to flatten things out is easiest. Digging them out can often make a bigger hole that’s harder to spackle. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Another tip is to use a razor blade to remove the ring of the anchor. Simply slide the razor blade back and forth between the ring and the wall until the ring is completely removed then simply push the anchor into the wall cavity using a screwdriver. Spackle and paint as normal. ‘Course this only works on plastic wall anchors.
Oh that’s smart!
xo,
s
I can’t wait to see what your kitchen looks like once it’s lit all pretty! It’ll be a show stopper.
My mother bought me two gorgeous pieces of photography for Christmas (my first pieces of real art!) and even though it’s windy and snowy today (in Toronto) I’ve made it my resolution to finally go to the hardware store and buy the proper hardware to hang them so I can get them out of my closet already and enjoy them.
What have you guys been doing for cooking while the kitchen has been renovated? like–how do you make food? or do you just eat out all the time?
We really really try to have the majority of things working within 24 hours. We never were without a working fridge or stove (just moved it across the room and plugged it in with an extension cord until the electrician came and added a plug) but were without a sink for about three weeks (which stinks, but when you have a stove and a fridge you can still cool). Oh kitchen looks crazy in the pics, but by the end of the day the drop cloths will come down and we’ll be able to cook dinner in there believe it or not! And we’re cereal for breakfast and peanut butter and jelly folks for lunch, so we don’t need to cook stuff until dinner on days like this! Hope it helps.
xo
s
This is a RANDOM question, before you found out you were pregnant with Clara did you slow your roll on painting/spraypainting because you knew there was a possibility you could be pregnant? Would the fumes harm a baby that early in the pregnancy? Like I said, totally random but you’re my go to gal!
Yes! I’m a freak about that stuff. I actually spray paint now with a mask on. Not a paper mask, an industrial gas mask that contractors wear. We got one from Home Depot years ago and it’s not too bad to wear so I definitely recommend one. They’re around $35 and can come in handy for painting and staining and spray painting and even using fumey glue and markers (you know I’m the paranoid person who wants to wear it when I crack a sharpie).
xo,
s
Have been a silent reader of YHL for a long time but it really needs to be said again….You really like white animals huh, Sherry!? Another wonderful quick-fix and your kitchen is coming along really nicely. (I must admit when the penny tiles were up without grout I cringed at the colour of the walls in comparison – but now it looks fantastic!) OH! Two more things a)I had a dream I was a guest in your house (random I know, thank you) and you were very hospitable hosts! and b) Random fact! In the UK Anchors are called Rawl Plugs! – I prefer anchors but doubt I’ll get away with calling them that! (Alu-min-um or Alu-min-ee-um?)
Anyway, randomness over and I shall shy away back into my browsing corner – but lastly thank you both for being such an inspiring couple. X
Haha, never heard of rawl plugs! So funny!
xo,
s
My get on with it wasn’t an object, but a post. My husband informed me that I apparently don’t follow up with projects well since I’m all over the place haha (he is entirely accurate). I *thought* I had posted about planting our trees in The Orchard (it sounds so grand for something so small), but I hadn’t. So, I did the other night.
http://www.likeacupoftea.com/untimely-orchard-update/
Haha, I totally do that too! All Over The Place is my middle name.
xo,
s
That’s one hell of a perceptive middle name from your parents. High Five to Team Sherry. Hahahaha. Mine is “stop talking.”
Bwahahahahaha.
xo,
s
I think everyone has a secret stash of ‘I’ll do it later’ stuff. I have an unused bedroom that’s my shameful junk room too. It’s full of things I want to salvage or spray paint when it gets warm again. I think a one thing a week goal is genius – totally achievable and maybe even a change for you to sneak away from everyday life for some relaxation and creativity time. Now that I can (sort of) use my sewing machine (the tale of my rocky, emotional start is identical to Sherry’s plus some blood) I have a whole bin of clothes I want to alter or mend or repurpose. I set a goal to do three things a weekend. Nothing says Saturday fun like losing 35 pounds and turning your old dresses into throw pillows.
When I declutter I pretend I’m getting ready to move and ask myself “if I was moving into my dream house, would I pack this and take it with me?” It makes it way easier to part with things. I also once heard a freakishly organized mom on Wife Swap chant “do you love it? do you need it? does it make you money?” If you couldn’t say yes it had to go. She was a little scary, but I liked her motto.
Who remembers Clean Sweep? I loved that show. Like Hoarders, but more light hearted and without all the dead kittens and mold.
This comment is all over the place like Sherry on that Radon interview :)
Wahoo! 35 lbs?! That’s awesome! And I love the question you ask yourself when you declutter. So smart. And yes, Clean Sweep was totally the lighter version of Hoarders without all the scary stuff!
xo,
s
Yeah, I’m only 5’2″ (ok, 5’1 1/2″) and I developed a really bad thryoid problem right out of college during that ‘no health insurance phase’. I got REEEALLLY sick. Then I got a job and insurance and a great doctor. I’m totally fine now, but I gained 30 lbs in the process. It took me about 3 years to get myself back – I got really interested/informed about healthy natural foods and proper portions, and have a Biggest Loser DVD that I do at home. That’s it. It was a slow and steady and (so far) permanent change. Now I’m way more fit than before I got sick, so I don’t really mind having to give up all my clothes, and it gives me something to hone my sewing machine skills on. I joke that I’m like Maria in the Sound of Music making clothes out of curtains, but I’ve been making pillows out of clothes.
That’s amazing Sayward! Congratulations!
xo,
s
Love this challenge! Maybe it will motivate me…maybe.
Name vote: Winthrop
Oooh. Winthrop is very refined indeed!
xo,
s
i’m just glad all that plastic in your kitchen has to do with lighting and not Dexter! :) love the antlers & i’m seriously looking forward to seeing some plum/navy madness!
Haha, I TOTALLY have a hoard room – the basement, and my husband HATES it, he always says he’s gonna enter me to be on the Hoarders show! I’ll reassure him that I’m working on it by showing him your post :) Let’s do this!
Ooooh, lighting! I can’t wait to see the finished product. I mos def have a bonus room full of random stuff that desperately needs to be cleaned out and organized. The most shameful part is that the room is half painted. I woke up today with a mind to finish it, as well as the various projects laying on the floor in said room, so here goes nothing!
jealousy! we don’t have any room for knickknacks in the house, so i don’t every buy stuff that doesn’t have an immediate purpose. which kind of drains the fun out of the house– there’s not a whole lot of frivolity going on in our place.
that’s one epic fascinator.
*GASP!* You sneak!!! :-) That lighting is going to be amazing!
And it’s incredible you did this post, we’re working on our office/library and have adopted this VERY SAME philosophy! It feels great to be doing something, doesn’t it?
It is probably just me, but when I look at your site on my iPad the background is the adorable picture of the four of you at the back tiled over and over and I can’t read any of the content. This hasn’t always been the case…it’s something that just started yesterday. I am super bummed, and I have no idea how to fix it :(
Oh yes, that’s just a smart phone glitch. If you clear your browser’s cache or cookies or data (whatever they call it) it should be solved. Wish it was something we could fix on our end!
xo,
s