Voice of Reason

I need a voice of reason in my life.

I sometimes end up creating more work than I need to because I want every little detail to be perfect. I spend a lot of time and sometimes money on things that might not really make that much of an impact on the “Big Picture”.

For instance, 2 houses ago, I retextured the entire house because I hated the orange peel that was on the walls. I hand troweled 3800 sq. ft. (a good part of that was 18′ in the air) of walls. Then I sanded and primed and painted the whole thing. I gave my elbow bursitis! After weeks of work, I had new texture and color. It looked good! But, was it worth the work? Was it a good “Bang for your Buck” project.  In this case, “Bang for your Bursitis”? Was it worth the time it took away from doing other projects that definitely would make a big impact? In hind site, I can answer that with a resounding,  “Nope”! My time would have been better spent on other things.

It’s not that I’m addicted to Doing Everything Myself! It’s just … I want what I want, and doing it myself is usually the only way to go about getting it.

So, here I am, trying to get past the couple “minor” things that drive me crazy and just make this house work! I’m trying hard to overlook that 6 feet of wasted wall space in my Master bathroom because the door to the closet swings in instead of out. I’m trying not to notice that pocket doors in a few choice places  would abate the annoying completely useless pockets of space all over the house.

I’m trying hard to ignore my burning desire to “think about” moving doors, putting in pocket doors, ripping out the kitchen wall, replacing all the flooring, completely redoing the Master bathroom and the kitchen! Because I’m just not sure that would be the best use of my time and resources. But I have a problem with wanting everything “just so”!

I know perfection is impossible — but I still want it! Is that so wrong?