Summer project accomplished? check. Accomplished solo mio? check and check.

I had been having these feelings, these feelings that told me that I needed to be able to do things around my house by myself. I needed to have the motivation and confidence in my own abilities to do something in my house without John or my Mom. I am 30 years old and it seems like something I should be able to do.

I think my problem is that everyone I know is so talented. My sister is truly creative and uses that spark to create something just for the sake of creating it. My dad built his entire career around being able to make electricity do what he wants. My mom can take fabric and turn it into anything. Then I marry into the Brysons, where the male population can fix anything, rebuild a car, do plumbing/electric/yard work with ease and the female population can put on parties, cook and keep the house perfect again, with ease.

Then there's me. I have lots of ideas and style, but lack the motivation to carry them out. I think I have learned to use the talents of those around me, and I end up assisting them. I need my mom to tell me "Yes, that's a good idea, here's how you do it." I will have an idea for some cute paper products and will email my sister to carry them out. I can cook, but am too afraid that others won't like it, so I stand behind Mom T when she cooks. I know how I want to redesign my closet, but I can't set foot into Home Depot without John can I?

So, like I said. I decided "I CAN DO IT!" I was reading my favorite design website (pay no mind to the fact that a lot of the stuff on there is for kids. I have no ulterior motives in reading it, I just like looking at the pictures) and read about parents turning walls or cabinets into chalkboards with a special kind of paint. Then I read that you can put magnetic primer underneath the chalkboard paint and your regular average wall will become a magnetic chalkboard. The primer and the chalkboard paint were cheap. The wall I wanted to paint was small. I decided this would be my perfect beginner project.

I read a few tips online, and made sure that I started when John was at work. My mom was out of town and I didn't even tell her about it. I needed to be able to say that I did the whole process by myself.

The wall before:



The supplies (I knew that no one would approve of my preparation methods. I did wipe down the wall with soap and water, but I did not have a paint mixer, hence the wooden spoon below. I also didn't think until way too late that I should have put something on the floor and on the counter.):

Proof that I did it all on my own (John came home in the middle of the second coat, and I resisted the urge to ask him to take over. It was right about the time he got home that I was really discouraged and ready to give up. I had gotten black paint everywhere-- I didn't know it would be so runny or come out so dark. Also, it just kept getting thicker and thicker and I was sure I had made a mistake. I wanted to let John fix my mistake, but even he encouraged me to keep going and to realize that I needed to learn from my mistakes):
The finished product:
The finished product, up close: The wall really is magnetic! Even though I was nervous about how thick it was going on, it dried mostly smooth. I have had fun printing out some of my favorite pictures and collecting magnetic frames to hang them. I haven't yet done the chalkboard paint (it was REALLY hard to clean up after this project, so I am hesitant to start the next) and I think I want to do something creative with it. (Like only painting chalkboard on the bottom half of the wall and then painting an ornate gold frame around it.)

I feel proud that I accomplished this goal, but kind of bummed that a lot of my thoughts have been "I am going to let my mom/Aunt Judy/John do this next time." I guess I need to keep at this whole working on my own thing...