Wednesday, August 15, 2012

PAINTING IS JUST NOT MY CUPPA TEA

The project I've been putting off - well, one of them anyway - was calling to me today. I've been making the smaller of two rooms off-limits to the cats while I pondered how to go about re-doing it. I'm not attempting a major makeover, but a few things needed to be cleaned again and some cabinets needed to be painted. The cats love to sleep in and jump on top of what had served as kitchen cupboards in this house. They have shelves in them and were used in the barn, apparently for storage. I don't know what was kept on them but whatever it was leaked, rusted, and generally made a nasty mess. I thoroughly scrubbed them before I moved my cats into the barn, and scrubbed them a second time soon afterward, but they still looked grungy. I was tired of looking at them, though the cats didn't seem to care at all. For my own peace of mind, I needed to just get out there and paint them, so paint them I did. Glenn carried the cabinets outside tonight and after I splished and splashed paint around, he took pity on me and helped. I dripped paint on my clothes, my "barn" shoes, my socks, and had it all over the place. I even dripped paint on the sawhorses we used to hold the cabinets as we painted. I apologized for doing that but he said "It's not a problem at all".  It's a wonder I didn't have more paint on me than on the cabinets, but we managed to get them painted and put back inside the cat barn. When I took the photos, the paint was still a bit wet on them so there are some splotchy areas, but I wasn't going for perfection. I just wanted them to look a little better, and they do. They now sit atop another set of shelves that looks like a giant bookcase which is also in need of an overhaul. I'll tackle that another day.
BETSY GUARDING HER BASKET 
HOLLY CLAIMED THE LITTLE RED WAGON
   
 CASEY, BAXTER, AND RUSTY
CAT SHELVES LOOK MUCH BETTER

                              BAILEY AND CASEY                                
Even though I helped paint rooms in this house before we moved into it, I knew it wasn't something at which I excelled or which I the least bit enjoyed. I was mentally patting myself on the back after finishing the master bedroom but that turned out to be premature, if not completely misguided. The morning after I painted that room, the sunlight beaming in the windows revealed ALL my mistakes, and there were many - so many, that I spent the entire day re-painting every wall and the interior of the walk-in closet. To say I felt like a failure would be an understatement. Now....I can do a lot of things. I can carry a tune, write stories and song lyrics, sew fabric items to sell, bake a mean chocolate chip cookie, and nurture cats 'till the cows come home, but I cannot, for the life of me, do a decent job of painting. I think I should leave that to those who have the passion for it. 

4 comments:

nancy huggins said...

Cabinets look awesome and I Love the picture of the kitty in the little red wagon. I wish I could have a Barn full of kitties and have it look half as nice as yours :)
Nancy

Kady said...

Nancy, thank you for your very sweet comments. The cat areas still need work, but I have to keep reminding myself the cat rooms are in a BARN and barns don't have to be pristine to be perfectly good areas for cats.

Cat Haven Craft House said...

Kady love your post today! Someday I wish I can have a cat barn. Looking forward to your pics of what you do with the painted cabintes.

Kady said...

Thank you. Maybe you will have one in the future. It took us a long time to find just the right place for the cats and for us.