DIY? Do I?

I would like to consider myself a crafty person, but truth be told, when it comes to crafting, my eyes are bigger than my stomach (erm, figuratively speaking; stomachs have nothing to do with crafting. unless you're crafting cookies. oh god, this is turning out to be an awful introduction).

Let me start over.  When it comes to crafting (and all things DIY), I have big ideas.  I have tons of projects I'd love to do, from scrapbooking to artfully hanging photographs I've taken, to refinishing or staining furniture, to building a raised bed/planter out of recycled redwood...you get the picture.

"So many ideas, so little time" is a phrase I utter more frequently than I'd like to admit, because if I am being completely honest (and isn't that what a blog is for?), I totally have time.  I just choose to spend it doing other things, like walking around the apartment looking at things I want to do. Or watching HGTV.  Or bookmarking recipes I'll probably never make. Or reading blogs written by people who are not only DOING these things, but meticulously photographing and blogging them.  Who are these people (I know not all of them can be full-time-DIY-bloggers)? And why am I not more like them?

My wonderful friend Patricia has been blogging the progress she and her husband have been making on turning their new rental apartment into a personalized, cozy, wonderful space.  I can admit to sometimes feeling inadequate; when I look at the amount of change their place has seen in just a few months, I become angry with myself for not doing more.  It's easy to get down on myself when I realize that we've lived here since August, and our walls are still mostly barren.  I felt such accomplishment when I first hung a picture here, a mirror there...but now it's time to really settle in and take care of the big, blank walls in a deliberate, artistic sort of way (I want to do this in our dining room) and make it look like we didn't just move in.  Says I, anyway.  Will doesn't care too much.  He's a dude.

The current state of things...

(click photos to enlarge)

Living room: facing the couch/tv area from the dining "room" and facing the dining "room" from the couch. 

We still have a ways to go...

Oh, and bonus! A picture of the last 6 boxes in the bedroom!

But this kind of stuff takes work.  It takes more effort than the tidying-up, putting things away, just trying to find a place for stuff kind of housestuff that I say I barely have time/energy/effort to do. I sometimes feel like I need a spring break...an extended weekend...a "staycation," where I can just take a few days to fully unpack, organize, and put everything away so that I can focus on the fun stuff.  The fun stuff that is a little overwhelming to me because it requires so much work.

I am planning to do a little bit of this in August, when Will is gone on his 2-week-ish backpacking trip and my awesome friend Reed comes to visit (fingers crossed!).  Reed is one of those people who knows how to motivate me - or perhaps I just like doing crafty things with her - whether it's making my first knit-in-the-round hat, baking bread, or doing a mad rush of cleaning before a last minute party (ok, that last thing is not so crafty). Perhaps it's because she's known me for oh, about 24 years, and can get inside my head, perhaps I want to be as crafty as she is, perhaps it's just fun to do things together, but I always feel a surge of Can Do Attitude when we're hanging out. Yes, we will go to the spa and perhaps a winery and watch chick flicks and eat junk food...but I love that she also has a thing for crafting and nesting and doesn't mind helping me move boxes and such.  Side note: I need to invite my crafty friends over more often - I like doing stuff, but I also like having help when it comes to actually getting going. Especially when Will is out of town. Side note part two: Hey Tricia, want to come let your craftiness rub off on me visit for a few days in early August?

The point is that I'm good at making excuses.  That I say I don't have time, when really I don't make time.  That it's easier to say "but I'm not like those DIY gods and goddesses" and watch them on TV/read their blogs than it is to pick up the paintbrush or the measuring tape and just do it already. And yeah, ok, maybe I shouldn't rely on the motivation of friends to light the fuse.

What our apartment looked like the morning after we moved in.
Ok, so we've made considerable progress since August 2010.
Perspective.

I'm going to try to be better about this.  Try to dedicate time (an hour? 30 minutes? some amount of time, no matter how little?) every day to making our apartment closer to the way I want it to be. We have spent about an hour for the last two nights straightening things up, cleaning and sorting and all that, and it truly does make me feel better.  I feel a sense of accomplishment, even if it's just emptying the shredder so we can shred some more papers or consolidating boxes of magazines. Every thing I do, no matter how tiny, takes me one step closer to Total Nesting Happiness (and yes, I do know that it's always a work in progress, there will always be things I want to do/change, yadda yadda yadda).

I look at beautiful houses (oh god, can I please just have this one and not have to do any of the work - no seriously, look at it) and I wish they were mine, but I think I'm finally tired of whining about my lack of DIY-ness while I watch other people do it.  I may not be as skilled or experienced, but I can sure as hell clean my apartment and hang pictures.  And I think it's time to start taking action.

But first...a few dream house pics.  It's my reward for the straightening up (and extension cord setup) we did tonight.

I mean, hello?

When I look at this tile, I literally have
a physical reaction. My heart beats
faster, and I think "oh, that is so lovely".
I'm a woman in love.

Wait, they installed a pot filler?
I honestly had no idea that existed.
I had to look it up.
Now I want one.

For more dream houses, click here. But I warn you, you might start to drool. Expect more home-updates around here in the coming months. I vow to be more active, and to do my best when it comes to blogging about my progress. Because as much as I don't want to hold myself to any superhigh blogging timeline standards, it's fun to share, and I'm sure I'll be needing some advice. And ok, maybe a little encouragement.  :)