I like to think that at some point I was sort of a do it yourself kind of girl. When we were in college, my roommate and I painstakingly turned out little 14x14 room into a Christmas miracle, complete with a snow village and a light up reindeer bobbing his head. The next year, also at Christmas, I spent a weekend carefully crafting Tiffany Box Christmas ornaments with my little glue gun, some paint, and lots of patience to make them perfect. My Tiffany themed tree stayed up for almost five months.
I continued on my DIY journey for a few more years, making a centerpiece here, or a christmas bow there. And then last summer, DIY was taken to a whole new level. Hello Pinterest. Suddenly my little DIY projects seemed so inadequate once I searched for what I was thinking of doing in Pinterest. While I think it is an amazing resource, at the same time it makes me feel overwhelmed.
As Pinterest has become my gauge of all things DIY, I didn't think Rowen's nursery was quite up to snuff. Thus I was determined that little brother's nursery would be a DIY dream. Every little thing in there would be hand crafted in some way by me, including the crib that I carved out of the tree that I cut out of the front yard yesterday morning. Ha. I also decided that Rowen's big boy room needed a few DIY touches as well to seal my status as DIY god.
Two weeks ago was going to be the culmination of all of the DIY projects. In my bubble gum world, while Rowen was at daycare and Rudy was at work, I was going to craft up each piece of the boys' rooms, clean my entire house, run all my errands, and have a fabulous meal on the table when they came home. By day two I realized this wasn't a likely goal, but I still thought I was playing the part well.
And then I wanted to make a bookshelf. Two days prior Rudy had told me I was banned from going to that 'Jillian Moore' (aka AC Moore) store anymore until I had completed some of my projects. But my wannabe DIY heart couldn't resist running in there and getting an unfinished bookshelf for Rowen's room. By the time my boys got home, I was sitting my plump pregnant butt out on the concrete in the back yard, sweating from all possible sources, putting the last coat of paint on my DIY miracle.
When I saw Rudy's face, I knew something wasn't right. The questioning 'you like that color' may have set off the waterworks. But he was right. The color did nothing for Rowen's room, added no contrast, and meant my eight hours of work had really been for nothing, except for maybe a good sweat. I kept looking out the back windows hoping that some magical DIY Godmother would come paint it green instead of gray, but when I brought it into the garage a few hours later no such luck.
Two weeks later, the bookshelf of shame is still standing in the garage. In fact I get reminded of my DIY failure at least twice a day when I go out to get the dog food. In reality, I can't really be upset about my bookcase because it made me realize an important fact. I am not a Do It Yourself kind of girl.
I'm a Buy It Right Now kind of girl. Sort of like the never a bride always a bridesmaid scenario, those who can't make, buy. There are still smatterings of my DIY projects around the house, like the nursery nightstand not painted white yet sitting in my living room, but I am slowly transitioning most of my 'ideas' or creations found on Pinterest to purchases from Etsy and Amazon. I may even claim I made one or two of the the items for good measure. And in the long run I have convinced myself this tactic will save me some money since I tend to over purchase supplies for my projects and now I am cutting out all of those middle costs. Now I just have to convince Rudy of this for the rest of his life.
Dear Pinterest, my best friend that I love to talk trash about, you have won again. But only until the UPS man shows up tomorrow.
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