I change my perspective on this front hall project every five minutes, I swear. One moment it’s the most significant and symbolic thing in my life and needs to get done PRONTO and the next it’s no big deal. It’s just a hallway.
Of course, now that Chris has done his (big) part to help me out, and it’s my turn to get to work, it’s suddenly not such a pressing issue! I’m terrible, I admit it!
But I am grateful.
The moldings are up! Yippee skippee!
Having them up just means so much to me. It means, in my head at least, that I live in that house.
You know, that house that exists in your head as The House. The one you’re supposed to live in. So my hall is that first step.
Some people would probably just throw the moldings up, paint the room, shine the floors, and get on with it. I sometimes think I’m one of those people. Or I think I should be. But I’m just not right now. This project is taking months when it doesn’t have to. But I’m just loving this little thing called balance right now. And working within my means – with my money and with my time.
So even if it takes me all year to get this done, it will still be meaningful and significant for me. And other things will get done too. And life will go on.
This week in life, Chris brought home two little furball puppies for me to babysit for someone at work who’s away on training. So that’s pretty much what I’m doing. It’s a wonder I’m writing this right now. I think one of them might be in the kitchen eating the cat’s food actually.
So I may have another week where balance in life means not working on this hall again, but finished or not, isn’t it lovely?
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.