SURROUNDED BY SAHARA SAND

When you live on your own, there are certain jobs which take on such unnecessary proportions in terms of size and difficulty that procrastination sets in so I’ve retreated to write this instead of facing the monster. I’m in the middle of redecorating, well not really redecorating, just painting walls, covering the bland dull whatever with a warm shade of ‘Sahara Sand.’

It’s in these moments it would be very handy having a bloke around with a bit more expertise than me. Not that I’m useless, have painted plenty of walls in my time, but this house is fifty years old, and one wall, of course the one staring you in the face as you walk in the front door, is the dodgiest one and not looking that great. Did the right thing, scraped out the cracks, sanded all the rough edges, spakfilled with great abandon, sanded again, and that’s when the problem became apparent. What I thought would result in a lovely smooth surface definitely wasn’t so, and bits of filler started to crumble off. Repeated whole process in bad spots to no avail, doesn’t look much better.

Too bad I thought, I’ll put the first coat of paint on and see what it looks like. Did that last night, and in the light of day, decided I’ll probably buy some wallpaper and make a feature of it to hide the disaster!!

Have watched many a Better Homes and Gardens over the years, and am always perplexed how a whole house can be transformed in a weekend or a backyard paved and landscaped in an afternoon, all with smiling faces and seeming ease. I think the DIY shows have a lot to answer for in terms of people’s frustration, for what looks so simple on TV can turn into the most monumental disaster lasting a lot longer than a weekend. I have to remind myself they are Tradies and have been doing this stuff for years, have exactly the right tool for the job which never seems to be in my shed, and are paid to make it look easy so we’ll all go running off to Bunnings to recreate what they inspired us to do.

Funny how the picture we have in our head, whether it be a renovation or a relationship, new career or job, holiday, fancy gadget, whatever it is, doesn’t always materialize. The promise of what was to come somehow takes on a different shape, and the initial enthusiasm and enchantment can quickly lose its gloss and we wonder why we staked so much on this new thing dangling in front of us.

So what do we do with the disappointment? I guess we could wallow in it, doesn’t achieve anything apart from state the obvious, and doesn’t move us forward. Somewhere in there we have to do a reality check and reassess what is achievable, adjust our expectations, acknowledge that sometimes the dream we first envisaged may not be so bad even if it does receive some adjustments here and there.

My friend Jen has a quote on her blog “Oh Happy Day” which I reckon is very sound advice at such times.

The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B – James Yorke

Oh well, second coat, here I come!