Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Tiny Walk-In Closet, part III

You've seen this view before, though without the light.  You still aren't seeing it with the light, though...not really.  I can't turn it on.

But you haven't seen this view yet:
Ta-daa!

"Shelves in the closet...happy thought." - Elizabeth Bennett, Pride and Prejudice
I am SO happy with my shelves, but that is what runs through my head every time I look into the closet now.  That, and an Eeyore-ish "I'll probably never have nice, neat, cute bins for my shelves."

You know, this is like one of those Find the Hidden Treasure photos...can you see them?
Treasure #1: This photo looks almost EXACTLY like my dream for it
#2: Dave and I got to work together to make something tangible in our first home as a married couple
#3: We got this far in the project in just 2 days
#4: They didn't cost a dime!

But I'm what?  Disappointed?  About not buying boxes I like?  I can be so easily defeated and ungrateful sometimes.  But then I call myself all kinds of horrible names and beat myself up for feeling the way I do.  And then I hear in my head:
Self-knowledge is difficult but grand, self-pity is easy but mean, but self-mutilation is a travesty - both torturous and evil.
I made that up myself.  But I think God had something to do with it, though...He does talk to me, I just sometimes think I'm talking to myself when it's really Him.
Little roadblocks.  Ego.  Cute little selfishnesses, a "nice" sort of greed, and a touch of vanity followed by the "humility" of self-scorn and derision.  It doesn't take much, really, and I'm off the rails and tumbling through a wilderness I wasn't supposed to venture into...

*Sits lost in thought for a moment.  Oh dear, you're all/both still here? Oh, one of you got bored and left, but you're still here, anyway!  Well, then, let's move on, shall we?

This is my handsome new light, bought for an exorbitant sum off Etsy.  Free closet make-over, radically expensive light fixture.  But it is pretty, isn't it?  It has a wall plug-in and a pull chain.  You'd be surprised how hard those are to find.
But guess what?

It takes a weird, tiny-based bulb.
Which we don't have.
I was going to buy the 3-pack at Costco (they each last 15,000 hours or something like that)...but Dave intervened.  So I am being patient.

I did go on and run the cord down the back/side of the closet, behind the shelves on the left.
Say hello to the outlet-that-doesn't-work-but-is-otherwise-perfect.  I've got my non-functional light plugged into an extension cord instead.
So the extension cord runs by my feet and out the door, but at least the light cord isn't dangling by the door jamb.

BUT....
...or so I hear.

And I do believe it, I do.  And really, I don't want to just complain.  It is a beautiful closet now...functional, accessible...we did a good job on it.  Dave was a wonderful sport and a great partner on it, and it was good to work together on our first project (and my first time on the circular and jig saws).

So here's the result, after much waiting and anticipation:

Is it perfect? No.
Do I love it? Yes.
Am I grateful and therefore happy?  Yes, Yes, and Yes!!
Will there be additional projects in this part of the house? God willing.

Thanks for playing, you guys.  Hope your projects are just as wonderful as this one has been...and thank God for the imperfections, because even they are a gift (and probably a better one, too, because I didn't know I needed them so badly!  Mine teach me better than most sermons).

So what are your imperfections teaching you lately?
Or are you currently ignoring them?
Or angry at them?
...and why?

3 comments:

  1. Great post! I wonder--can you make the pictures bigger? It took me FOREVER to figure out how to do it on mine. I do love big photos.
    My imperfections... most recently I've been realizing how much I care about others' opinions of me. Seems obvious to me now, but for a long time it wasn't. I'm talking to God more now, especially when I feel the lack of others' approval.

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    Replies
    1. How's that, Kim? Thanks for the comment...I'm rereading Little Women right now, and it's amazing how simplistic and old-fashioned really CAN be encouraging. I loved your last post and thank you for your sweet honesty. Keep talking to God. I need to keep my promise to you about Skyping! When will be a good time? I am not busy at work right now...

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    2. I do realize that this post is from many moons ago, but I just was going back through the blog and saw that blank back wall of the closet and I had a thought...pegboard! You could hang belts and scarves and rather large necklaces right there where you would see them often. I think I probably saw that in some closet redo article somewhere.
      So good to see you yesterday!!! I miss you.
      Love,
      MOM

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