Yesterday I took on what in my mind seemed like a monumental task. I cleaned up my work tables in my studio so I could start sewing the curtains for the French doors in the back entrance today. Have you ever had one of those tasks that you needed to do, but you kept putting it off because it seemed so challenging and overwhelming, and the more you put it off and dreaded the task, the bigger and more monumental it became in your mind? ?
That’s exactly what I did when cleaning my work tables. Of course, these started out a lot messier and dirtier than probably anything any of you have in your house (unless you’re on a similar DIY home remodeling path to the one I’m following) because, on top of all the clutter On these tables, everything was also covered with about 1/8 of an inch of dust that was still left over from when I sanded the studio floors so I could paint them. So tackling the clutter and dust seemed overwhelming.
I tackled some of this cleaning task in November. Before we started, the tables looked like this…
They were so loaded with things that you could barely see the tables!
So even though I cleaned and put most of it away last November, I still had quite a bit left over, plus all that dust. And since the next project I need to tackle to finish the back entrance is sewing my curtains, I couldn’t go any further until I finished this task. So I buckled down, set a timer (I had an hour and a half while Matt was on his Theracycle) and got to work! This is what I had to deal with, but the pictures don’t show all that dust which made me dread this task much more than a simple standard.”save things”type of cleaning.
I made it about a third before having to help Matt after he finished using his Theracycle. And then after I located it, I went back and worked until it was finished. I can’t even express how nice it was to walk into my studio this morning and see these clear, clean tables!
They are completely tidy and dust-free, and ready to be used for sewing curtains this afternoon. It’s been a long time since these tables were completely clear and available for use, and now the room feels much lighter!
They are no longer in perfect condition. I’ve had them for a while (I built the first one in August 2019) and they’ve definitely been used for a lot of fun projects in the past. But they are work tables in a studio, so I never had any expectations that they would be perfect.
But do you know what I realized? One of the reasons I’ve delayed finishing the painting in this room (as you can see, the walls and ceiling are not finished yet) is because of these tables. With them so cluttered and covered in dust, not only could I not move forward with my sewing project, but I also found it overwhelming having to work around and move them to finish the rest of the painting on the walls and ceiling in the studio. .
Now that they are clean, I can easily move them as needed and finish the rest of the painting.
So I’m here to encourage you. If you have that annoying task that you’ve been putting off for weeks, months, or even years, and it’s the only thing stopping you from making progress on other things, just go ahead and do it. Once you start, you’ll probably realize that it’s not as monumental, overwhelming, or difficult as you made it out to be in your head. And you’ll feel so much better when it’s done!
Those pesky unfinished tasks really weigh on us more than I think we realize, and doing them really feels like lifting a weight we’ve been carrying. So jump in, do them and take that weight off your shoulders! I love sitting here at my desk this morning and looking at those huge, clear, clean work tables. What a difference it made to the room, to my mind, and to my level of motivation to finish this room now!
I have one more task in the studio that seems monumental to me: cleaning and organizing the storage closet. But after tackling those tables, I even feel excited to be able to do it.
On the other hand, I have been thinking about what color I want to paint the bases of the tables. I don’t think the current color is right, although it’s not terrible either.
So I’m pretty sure I’ll keep them green, but from now on I plan to repaint them the same color I have on the walls in the back entrance.
I think it would be nice to bring that color into the main part of the studio. It will bring a cohesive look to the room. So unless I come up with a better idea from now on, I’m almost 100% sure that’s the direction I’ll go.
But for today I plan to sew! And although sewing is probably my least favorite type of project to do, I’m actually looking forward to it. Other than hemming pants, I haven’t sewn in a while and I’m excited to see some lined curtain panels back here instead of fabric draped over a curtain rod.
It’s been years since I sewed pleated and lined curtains, so I anticipate I’ll be slow at doing it, and may even have to check out my own tutorial on how to do it. 😀 I hope to finish them this week, so we’ll see how it goes.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 upper that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and can’t do physical work, so I do most of the I work at home alone. You can learn more about me here.
