The Snowball Effect

You know how in the winter you roll a snowball for the head of your snowman but you sometimes start too far away? Then by the time you get to your snowman, his head is now 4 feet in diameter and weighs 125 pounds and you know that there is NO WAY you are hefting that thing up there! You never intended for it to get that big and out of control, it just ended up that way.

Yeah, that’s what happened to my two-day painting project!

Before painting even started, (I had done the prep work) I realized I just couldn’t stand the thought of painting our ugly banister railing behind the couch! I just couldn’t! Plus I still had a bit of birthday money and a Lowe’s gift card from my sister burning a hole in my pocket. So while everyone else was gone for the day, Will and I went to do a bit of investigating at the home improvement store.

Now, keep in mind I didn’t go with the intention of buying anything. I was just looking and pricing…

I priced all the most economical supplies I could find and discovered that my ingenious plan was within my budget. And reason told me that it would be easiest to do while everything was already prepped for painting. The timing made perfect sense! So Will grabbed a lumber cart, we filled it up, had a gallon of black paint mixed and headed home…

While construction is very rewarding and satisfying, there is just something about destruction. It is not only empowering but it has just that hint of danger and thrill knowing that you are doing something that you probably really shouldn’t be doing. And it’s just plain fun!!!

First thing, get rid of the rail… Will and I made quick work of it with a hammer and cat claw! Will is very good at destruction!!!

Do you see why it had to go???

Going…

  

going…

still going…

GONE! (that last post was really a bugger!)

Just about the time we finished cleaning up the mess from the now absent railing, the rest of the family came home…

They probably would have been less shocked if they had known what I was contemplating before they left. But, hey, I didn’t even know I was going to rip out the railing when they left!!!

My sweet, patient and supportive husband didn’t freak out or get angry at all! I love that guy!

I set right to work building my new stylish and attractive wall feature! I even got some of the boys to help…

   Building projects sure do take a whole lot of measuring and stuff… But it looked just like I wanted it to!

Again, my sweet and supportive and patient husband, gently pointed out to me that my wall had a couple of slight defects. For one, it was a bit of a safety hazard… Too much space between the bars! Secondly, it just wasn’t very stable.

This meant another trip to Lowe’s for more beams and more  screws…

But the finished project was MUCH better! My hubby is such a smart fella!!!

Now that I had this fantastic new wall, I just HAD to get rid of our completely unattractive chandelier! The problem was that I had already gone over budget with the extra wood and my favorite fixture was $160!!! I had to do something, even if it was temporary…

Again, my handy and talented husband came to my rescue. He took down the ugly chandelier, let me take it apart and then rewired it and put it back together…

I added a little bit of texture, a few coats of shiny black spray paint and viola… a whole new entryway light!

I think it looks quite snazzy with the new black “wall”…

I didn’t use the highest quality lumber money could buy. Remember, I was on a pretty tight budget. Thankfully, black is a very forgiving color and does a pretty slick job of covering up flaws from a distance. Maybe that’s why I like my little black dress so much???

I wish I could say that our entryway was all put back in order, but the snowball was at the top of a hill and it was starting to pick up speed…