Just a wardrobe
I got up this morning intending to sort out my wardrobe. And I did - but not in the way I planned.
It's one of those obvious lockdown jobs: sift through the contents of an overstuffed wardrobe, decide what to keep, what to donate and what to biff. That was the plan. I got as far as hauling all the guff out and piling it on the bed before I was distracted by the state of the wardrobe itself.
Usually a wardrobe is overflowing with stuff, you don't even see the walls of it. But when you take it all out, you see the rough paintwork, scuffmarks and random gouges. My immediate thought was "that needs painting".
As I wiped and vacuumed out the interior, I tried to talk myself out of what is, after all, a fairly unnecessary job: "It's just a wardrobe!" "You won't see it once the clothes are back in" and "There are other things around here that need painting more than that does!" But really, once the idea had popped into my head there was no way I wasn't going to do it.
There were one or two holes and gouges that needed filling. Unfortunately I had at some stage not put the lid on the filler properly and it had dried up. Hmm. Obviously, I can't just go out and buy more at the moment. I scraped some into a jar and experimented with adding a little water and mixing it through.
After quite a lot of adding and mixing, I had a thick paste which looked like it might do the trick. Equally, it might not. I tried it out on a hole in a random bit of wood, and once dried, it appeared to have worked exactly as it should. So I went ahead and filled up a few spots in the wardrobe. Possibly the filler won't be great in the long term, it may be prone to shrinkage or whatever, but since it's in the wardrobe it really won't be likely to bother me.
Once the filler was dried and sanded, I got out the $15 pail of paint I bought at the Eco shop to paint my other wardrobe a while back. The colour is a bit creamier than in the outside rooms, but it's ok inside a cupboard. And hey, now the wardrobes will match!
One lesson my father has managed to instil in me is the necessity of stirring paint properly. You have to go on stirring long after it looks like it's probably ok. My go-to method is to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' under my breath while I'm stirring. You can bet that paint will be properly stirred by the time you've finished.
I did actually have to stir a little bit more once it was in the paint tray - the paint was quite thick so I watered it slightly. Better to have several thin coats than one thick one. See, Baz, I was listening!
The painting took pretty much the rest of the day. It's not a large area, but in places an awkward one. I did do several coats, and possibly some areas may need more. I'll have a look tomorrow and decide. On the whole, I think I'll probably leave it at that.
Having made the call to abandon paintbrush for the day, I packed up, rinsed the brushes on the lawn, and jumped in the shower to clean off all the smears and splatters. (I was only partially successful. I keep finding more paint in unexpected places).
Before sitting down to write this, I bunged some veges in the oven for what Mum and I have come to call 'Jamie pizza' (based on this handy recipe, which both of us use a lot). I went out to the garden for some tomatoes and some rosemary (can't recall if he uses rosemary; it's what I happen to have). Having cut the rosemary, I bunged the scissors in my back pocket to free up my hands for tomato picking.
That would have been fine, if I'd remembered I put them there. I didn't. But I was sharply reminded a short while later when I went to use the toilet and heard a heart-stopping clatter and splash. At first, I thought it was my phone. The best I can say of this scenario is at least it wasn't that.
The next little while was spent in scrubbing and boiling, though naturally I did take time for the all-important task of announcing the mishap on Facebook for the entertainment of others. There was also some time spent running my hand under cold water, after thoughtlessly reaching into the boiling pot with my bare hand. Smart.
So that was my day. It was quite a busy one, even if I still haven't done the actual task I had planned. That can be a job for tomorrow. The entire contents of my wardrobe are still piled on my bed, and beyond that, the bedroom smells of paint. Good thing I have a spare room, isn't it?
It's one of those obvious lockdown jobs: sift through the contents of an overstuffed wardrobe, decide what to keep, what to donate and what to biff. That was the plan. I got as far as hauling all the guff out and piling it on the bed before I was distracted by the state of the wardrobe itself.
Usually a wardrobe is overflowing with stuff, you don't even see the walls of it. But when you take it all out, you see the rough paintwork, scuffmarks and random gouges. My immediate thought was "that needs painting".
As I wiped and vacuumed out the interior, I tried to talk myself out of what is, after all, a fairly unnecessary job: "It's just a wardrobe!" "You won't see it once the clothes are back in" and "There are other things around here that need painting more than that does!" But really, once the idea had popped into my head there was no way I wasn't going to do it.There were one or two holes and gouges that needed filling. Unfortunately I had at some stage not put the lid on the filler properly and it had dried up. Hmm. Obviously, I can't just go out and buy more at the moment. I scraped some into a jar and experimented with adding a little water and mixing it through.
After quite a lot of adding and mixing, I had a thick paste which looked like it might do the trick. Equally, it might not. I tried it out on a hole in a random bit of wood, and once dried, it appeared to have worked exactly as it should. So I went ahead and filled up a few spots in the wardrobe. Possibly the filler won't be great in the long term, it may be prone to shrinkage or whatever, but since it's in the wardrobe it really won't be likely to bother me.
Once the filler was dried and sanded, I got out the $15 pail of paint I bought at the Eco shop to paint my other wardrobe a while back. The colour is a bit creamier than in the outside rooms, but it's ok inside a cupboard. And hey, now the wardrobes will match!
One lesson my father has managed to instil in me is the necessity of stirring paint properly. You have to go on stirring long after it looks like it's probably ok. My go-to method is to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' under my breath while I'm stirring. You can bet that paint will be properly stirred by the time you've finished.
I did actually have to stir a little bit more once it was in the paint tray - the paint was quite thick so I watered it slightly. Better to have several thin coats than one thick one. See, Baz, I was listening!
The painting took pretty much the rest of the day. It's not a large area, but in places an awkward one. I did do several coats, and possibly some areas may need more. I'll have a look tomorrow and decide. On the whole, I think I'll probably leave it at that.
Before sitting down to write this, I bunged some veges in the oven for what Mum and I have come to call 'Jamie pizza' (based on this handy recipe, which both of us use a lot). I went out to the garden for some tomatoes and some rosemary (can't recall if he uses rosemary; it's what I happen to have). Having cut the rosemary, I bunged the scissors in my back pocket to free up my hands for tomato picking.
That would have been fine, if I'd remembered I put them there. I didn't. But I was sharply reminded a short while later when I went to use the toilet and heard a heart-stopping clatter and splash. At first, I thought it was my phone. The best I can say of this scenario is at least it wasn't that.
The next little while was spent in scrubbing and boiling, though naturally I did take time for the all-important task of announcing the mishap on Facebook for the entertainment of others. There was also some time spent running my hand under cold water, after thoughtlessly reaching into the boiling pot with my bare hand. Smart.
So that was my day. It was quite a busy one, even if I still haven't done the actual task I had planned. That can be a job for tomorrow. The entire contents of my wardrobe are still piled on my bed, and beyond that, the bedroom smells of paint. Good thing I have a spare room, isn't it?
Comments
Post a Comment