Sunday, February 19, 2012

Home Projects 2; Revenge of the Home Project

Okay, the curtains are finally hung. And I was only really colorful with the ones in the Boy's room. I had to take down the stupid valance rods (and after almost 5 years, I hardly remembered how I put them up, never mind take them down. Damn things.) But by the time I got to the Girl's room, I was cruisin' along. All four windows now have treatments and - more importantly - I got the curtain rods up straight. Can I get an Amen there?

So the curtain are up, but then I realized I needed tiebacks. Otherwise the Boy's room will look like a cave, since the curtains I hung are navy and heavy, so they keep out the light fairly well. His room gets all afternoon sun, which is hot enough in the summer to fry eggs on his carpet (this is just a theory, mind you. I haven't actually tried it) so I have to close them in the afternoon. The Girl's curtains are a sheerer fabric, and pale pink (with a sparkly flower pattern on them. She's such a girl sometimes and I swear, I don't know where she gets that from. As I type this, I'm in jeans and a tee shirt, over which I am wearing a flannel shirt that I thing my brother gave me for Christmas, circa 1992) so her room isn't quite so cavelike, but they need tiebacks, too.

And so this morning, off I go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (what exactly is the Beyond part? And where do I find it?) and come home all proud of myself. Tiebacks. Hooks. I'm so ready to finish this project. Okay, so my left side hurts a little. I think I pulled a muscle when I had to move the Boy's dresser when I dropped one of the screws behind it. Or maybe it was when I moved the Boy's toy box when I dropped one of the screws behind it. Or it could've happened when I moved the Boy's bed any one of the dozen times I dropped one of the screws - and I swear to God, I stopped counting at 12. I really did drop these damn screws that many times. Many colorful obscenities were uttered in the Boy's room. Or my side could be sore from pushing the furniture all back into place. Don't know. Don't care. It's a minor nagging ache. I can live with it.

So, I get the hooks ready to go. I should've rethought the whole thing when it took me 15 minutes to get the screws out of the first package. Stupid plastic. But I finally freed them and was ready to go.

The screws did not want to go into the wall. At all. I finally convinced them that it was okay, that they really did want to go in and they caved, but by then my thumbs were sore. I thought about using pliers, but since I had to apply pressure to the screws and didn't want to destroy the hooks, I figured it probably was not a good idea. Besides, with my luck, I'd have slipped and put the damn things through the wall.

I get all four hooks up. Get the tiebacks done on the first window, go to put the other two up when it hits me.

I bought four tiebacks.

I needed eight.

There are two windows in each room. Two panels per window. Duh. That's four ties per room. My math fu, it failed me.

Damn

It.

So I trekked back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (still don't know what the Beyond part is), bought four more ties, and trekked back home.

However, the good thing is, by the time, I got to the Girl's room, I was totally kicking ass with these screws. Only one gave me a hard time in her room, but I eventually won that battle. The ties are up, they are straight, and I am happy. Sore (my legs now hurt from all the up and down on the latter. Forget the gym, I'll just hang freakin' curtains all over my house. I'll have killer legs in no time) but happy.

Then I came to the realization that the curtains in my daughter's room just don't look quite right. I think I need to go and get the sparkly pink valances and hang those to finish the windows. Somewhere, Bob Vila is probably laughing at me.

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