DecorBook Classic : Overcoming Procrastination

I gotta confess. I'm not the best at finishing up projects. Mostly, I just can't make up my mind. One time, we decided we needed new living room chairs. I spent weeks in almost every furniture store in the Bay Area but couldn't make up my mind. One Saturday morning, P said we were leaving buy chairs. "Today?" I thought, "Well, I guess we could go look." We drove over to Crate&Barrel in Palo Alto, sat on every chair in the store, easily came to a decision and placed the order. At lunch, I said I couldn't believe how easy that was. P just shook his head. A good lesson for me but sometimes I have a lapse. Two weeks ago, I wrote about removing floating shelves over the above cabinet. That decision had been looming for 3 years. There were just two things left to do to complete this area. Last week, I gave myself a short talk. "Just get it done." Let's see what happened next.

Project 1 - In what the blue prints called "the family room" and what we called a walk through to the bedrooms, there sits a pine table, the sister of the kitchen table. For years, it has been loosing its finish plus someone splattered something dark all over it a while back. Who, me? Refinishing the top was the first order of business. What made me think I could rub it out with a little light sandpaper and steel wool?

I left the table in place, shut all the doors and put tarps on the floor. It took a full sanding with two different grits of sandpaper. Then I waited for the dust to settle.

The next day, I wiped the surface multiple times with tack cloths and then applied three coats of Danish Oil. I would have loved for it to remain the natural color but I wanted it to match its twin in the kitchen.

I waited for the top to dry 4 to 6 hours between coats. Mission accomplished! That felt good.

Project 2 - Back in November, 2023, I noticed Freddie (my fiddle leaf) had one branch growing too tall. Thanks to Google, it turns out, it's easy to prune.

Here's Fred with his new haircut.

I enjoyed the branch sitting in Jayne's pitcher in my office. I changed the water monthly and liquid fertilized during the spring and summer.

This basket of fiddle leaf usually sits on the table I just refinished. Last week, I moved it and the branch into the kitchen for a closer look.

In 18 months, the branch had rooted and was ready to plant. My idea was to plant the branch in with this little fiddle leaf in the basket.

I bought a bigger pot and set up in my laundry room. (Do you have one of these little IKEA Marius stools? Lightweight and sturdy, it also seems to be waterproof in the shower. Good for gardening, too. Best of all, they're only $4.99).

I hope they'll be very happy together.

Sorting out what to put on the table.

Weekend projects completed! Very satisfying. Hope you find a little project to do this week. If you have time, please let me know what you do in the comments field below. By the way, your email or last name won't be posted. In the meantime, enjoy your Sunday!