I love decorating. One might even say that I’m “addicted” to it. 😀 And the reason I love it is because no matter what the process looks like, no matter how horrible the mid-point of the project gets, I can look forward to having a pretty (to me) outcome. So when it comes to those projects that I know are necessary and needed, but won’t end with a pretty outcome, it is so hard for me to motivate myself to start, to keep working on it, and to finish it.
And that’s where I find myself right now. I’ve had a bit of a detour from studio projects over the last three weeks while I turned my attention to other more pressing things. But at the end of last week, I turned my attention back to the studio, and specifically, to getting the storage closet finished. And I’ll just be really honest. I’m so bored out of my mind with this, and I feel so completely unmotivated. I want to do the fun stuff — the stuff that will actually make a difference when people walk into my studio. I want to finish the trim, paint the doors, and reupholster my desk chair.
But instead, I’m stuck in a boring storage closet that was ugly before I started, is still ugly even though I’m halfway finished, and will be ugly when it’s finished. It’ll just be an ugly closet where I can hopefully store things in an organized manner. And there’s nothing about that that motivates me.
The two thoughts that keep me going are (1) it just needs to be done and not doing it isn’t an option, and (2) I can’t move forward in the studio until this closet is finished so that I can move things out of my way in the studio and into this closet. So I press on, slowly but surely.
But just to show you that I am, in fact, making progress, let me remind you of how this closet started out. It was just piled full of boxes, some of which hadn’t been opened in many years. And then there’s the HVAC unit, which has been a real source of frustration for me since the day it was installed, and I came home to find that the installer had built this ridiculous plywood base that looked like it was a third grader’s first time ever to cut and nail pieces of wood together.
So in order to cover up that eyesore of an HVAC unit and the plywood box it’s sitting on, I attached a tall piece of plywood to the side of the box, notching the top part around the ducts, and adding a cutout for the intake vent at the bottom. At least this way, the HVAC unit and that awful plywood platform are hidden so that they’re not front-and-center when the closet door is open.
I really wanted to paint the closet white, but I was out of white paint. I had a full gallon of the same green paint that I had used in the back entry, so that’s what I used. I just didn’t want to spend money on paint for this closet if I didn’t have to.
So now I have this little area to the right just inside the door where I can install some shelves. They’ll need to be high enough to clear the vents, but I think I can get at least three or four shelves in that area.
It’s still a mess behind that plywood, but there’s just nothing I can do about it.
I did finally install a light in here. I just need to attach it in the ceiling. I was waiting for paint to dry.
And I still need to trim out the door and the vent in the wall, paint the floor, install some baseboards, and move the shelving units in and call it good. I may not even paint the back of the door.
One thing I did that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now is label our breaker box. When I went to turn off the breaker so that I could install the light in this closet, I was flipping breakers and having a heck of a time finding the right one. None of our breakers have ever been labeled. So this was a welcome break from the most boring project ever. It took me about two hours to track down all of the breakers and get them all labeled. I should have done this years ago!
And interestingly, I found out that we have six breakers that aren’t even being used. I have no idea why they’re in there. There are actually wires going to them, but they don’t actually do anything.
Anyway, I’m really hoping I can get this closet done today so I can move on to more interesting things that I actually want to do. It’s challenging forcing myself to do a project that I just don’t care about, don’t want to do, and find so incredibly unmotivating and boring. But that’s part of homeownership, right? We don’t always get to stick to the fun and exciting things we want to do. We have to do the boring stuff, too.
I know that once this closet is finished, I’ll be so thankful that it’s done, and I’ll enjoy having the extra storage space. It was unusable for so long, so it’ll be nice to have a big closet available for storage. I just need to stay focused for a little bit longer.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.