A Project...

Goodbye Pedicure 

So there is a long running joke in my family about "projects." When I was little I relished going over to my Aunt's house (here after referred to as Aunt Artsy) in addition to her three kids who I grew up with and regarded as quasi siblings, I loved it when she took care of me because she put together the best art projects. Muffin tin crayons: check, magazine collages: check, egg carton caterpillar: double check. I loved them, I loved her big box of art supplies and the fact that she always sat down and worked with us (to my four year old self the fact that she as a grownup was actually an artist was the most amazing thing i could think of.) The first thing I would ask when I got in her house would be "Aunt Artsy can we do an art project."  Now while I loved the projects even at four I was already goal oriented and task focused so it was typical of me that I would sit down and within ten minutes be done. This meant I would get up holding my completed artwork and stand looking up at her and ask "Aunt Artsy can we do another art project?"
When I grew out of this and got to be a bit older it was a favorite story to retell. How in preparation for my visit my Aunt would spend hours coming up with an idea, collecting supplies, laying stuff out and then I would be through it and ready for a new one in a matter of moments. to this day when I ask for a favor my uncle will frequently say "Aunt Artsy can we do an art project."
Now for my immediate family a project has an entirely different connotation. A project is what happens when my mom decides the house is too settled and something needs to change. Depending on when this mood strikes this could be rearranging furniture (something that happens so frequently that it is a running joke in our family) contact papering drawers, framing things in my sister or my bed room or what my father truly dreads a painting or wall paper "project."

I really can't describe how
ugly these were 

But hopefully you get the idea
(I forgot to take a pre-primer photo)

Growing up it wasn't uncommon to come home from sears with a gallon of paint and plans for a desk, wall or bath room. In high school being involved with set dressing for the theater meant that i got even more experience. And know I say "oh I'll just throw a coat of paint on it and it will be as good as new" with as much ease as my mom does. As a result when my roommate found a set of free bookshelves a couple blocks away I said "sure lets grab them." Even though they were terribly ugly and in really bad shape, it was just a matter of throwing a coat of paint on them.
I wanted to paint one of the walls in my room, it would be easy enough to pain them as well right? Well as was the case with many of the projects of my youth, it wasn't as cheap or easy as I expected, but the results I can be reasonably proud of.
Now getting the bookshelves in the house wasn't easy, we couldn't easily carry them so we ended up propping them up on my roommate Miata and only barely getting them up the steps into the house. And then the week of painting started, of course it was the hottest and most humid we had. And of course it didn't want to stick,and the color was more "brown black" than the "black brown" it claimed to be and matches our furniture but after days and coats and patience we have a completed living room.  

Only two more coats to go...