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(Mentally) Tough Reno Day

Frustration. That would sum up today. I probably shouldn't even post today, but I think the realities of renovation should be shared as well as the good moments.

When we are doing a big renovation project, I don't buy all of the paint at once because I can't use it all at the same time because I am just one person (and in this case, it really is just me because Sam is not permitted to paint because he is one of the messiest painters ever and doesn't keep the paint where it needs to be and it drives me crazy). Being just me, I can only paint so much at one time, so I generally just buy one room at a time. So, when we started, I bought just the ceiling/trim/wall paint for the first room, not considering that we are in the midst of a pandemic and that nearly everything is difficult to find. 

Yesterday, I decided to order a couple of gallons of trim/ceiling paint for the next room because I was almost out. Generally, the paint store can turn the paint around in less than a couple of hours, but I never heard from them, so late morning today, I stopped by to see what had happened. The clerk looked up my order and said, "Yeah, so we are out of that paint right now." 

Ugh. 

I responded, "It would've been nice to know that yesterday. Was no one going to let me know?" Yes, I was a bit curt with him, but I was super irritated. I realize that the staff can't control the paint supply, but they could have called me to let me know so I could try to make other arrangements. After calling four additional paint stores in the area that sell the same brand, no one had what I needed though, so now we have to wait for paint that may or may not show up sometime next week because they don't know what will come in their deliveries each week. 

I realize this doesn't seem like a big deal, but when living in a mess that we can't really live in, it's incredibly frustrating to run into delays like this. Additionally, we have furniture being delivered next week for the room we're working on, so now we may have to postpone delivery if the paint gets delayed beyond mid-week. Again, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but we have nowhere to sit in the house, so it would be nice to have one area that has furniture and feels a little more finished. 

For some reason, I feel a lot of pressure right now to get things done. I think in part because we haven't had home for a few months, but I also don't want to make bad or rushed decisions because of the self-imposed pressure. 

Beyond paint issues, I ordered about two dozen tile samples and didn't like any of them in person -- well, I liked several of them, but not for this particular project. I don't know if I'm being overly particular or if I am worried about making a wrong decision. I know that I tend to be drawn to a more eclectic mix of colors/styles, but I can get so caught up in trying to make it right that I forget to just do what feels right because it generally works out well in the end.

On the up side, we got our hands on some free dining chairs this evening, and because we had to leave behind the chairs to our dining table, it will be nice to have a place to sit once the table can be brought inside. They need some work (to be expected with free stuff), so that will be another project, but it's nice to actually get our hands on something and not have to wait weeks/months for it. 

Hoping that tomorrow will be a better working day and that I'll be able to sort through all of my mental hang ups. 

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