Has this happened to you? There’s something you’d like to do, but before you can do it, something else has to happen. So you start that, only to discover that something else has to happen first.
This occurred to me this week. I found a lovely antique rocking chair (for my future writer’s retreat/tiny house) that needed a facelift. So I took off the old upholstery, glued a crack on one of the arms, and brushed on a couple coats of odor-blocking primer. But then, before I could paint on the final color and add new fabric and foam, I had to use up the rest of the primer that was in the tray.
So, I decided to put the leftover primer on our old picnic table… But first, it needed to be sanded.
As I was sanding the top, my husband suggested that I take it apart to be able to sand the edges. So I track down a screwdriver and remove the top and benches. But then my husband says I should probably take the top boards apart also so I can paint on all six sides of each board. So I take apart the top. Now I’m left with a stack of boards and jar full of metal connectors.
Once again, I pull out the sander and sand all the bits, then get the saw horses out so I can start priming (with that leftover stuff from the rocker, remember?) I set the saw horses up on the grass and am about to start painting when my husband suggests that a roller would be more efficient. So we dig through the shop to find a roller and paint tray. I finally start to apply the primer and things are moving along nicely when my husband tells me that I shouldn’t be painting in direct sunlight because it will make the paint dry too fast. So I get another set of saw horses from the shop, set them up in the shade, and move the boards over.
But then… I run out of primer when only half of the boards are coated, so I have to pour more from the gallon paint can, making sure not to pour too much because that’s what got me into this project in the first place.
So, a million and a half steps later, I finally finished putting a coat of primer on the picnic table boards. I rinsed out my roller and paint tray and… now I get to move on to painting the rocking chair that I started a week ago.
This whole process reminds me of my husband’s favorite (and my least favorite) saying: “These things take time.”
~ Phoebe DeCook
Phoebe DeCook 