Five Hundred Words

That’s the limit for this post.  That first sentence sucked up six of them.  Damn!  There went another eight! 

Procrastination.  I’m so good at it.  Back in July I started the remodel on our dining room.  Here’s what it looked like as the demolition progressed:

It wasn’t long before I had removed all of the old panelling, drywall, the decades old beadboard, the original plaster, the lath, and the wooden ceiling, which could not be saved despite my great desire to preserve it.  I removed the cheap vinyl floor tiles too.  I did some rewiring, added a few more outlets and installed the dimmer switch for the new chandelier.  My partner installed the insulation on the outside wall.  There was no insulation originally.  By the end of July, or early August, the room was a blank slate.  We turned out the lights and walked away. 

Last week, we decided it was time to  get back to work on this space.  We purchased drywall, panelling, a chair rail moulding, and drywall screws.  We cleaned up the room and got to work last night.  We got off to a slow start, placing only two sheets of drywall before calling it quits.  Tonight was much better, and soon the room will be ready for the taping and mudding.  I’m thinking I’ll be able to paint on my day off next week. 

This is rewarding.  Just seeing the new walls go into place is brightening the room.  Why did we put this off for so long?  California Polytechnic State University  offers some reasons for procrastination, as well as some tips to help their students overcome this habit.  I think I’ve found two reasons for delaying the remodelling of our dining room since I gutted it last summer:  fear and perfectionism.  There is the fear that I don’t know what I’m doing, fear that I will screw it up and everyone who visits us will see that I didn’t have the skills to do a decent job on this remodel.  Perfectionism is the other reason because I do like things to be done perfectly.  That’s why the room was gutted; I didn’t want to leave any evidence of the “improvements” made by previous owners.  I even considered removing the sub-flooring.  I needed to feel that I had stripped the room to its bare bones and created our new room from scratch.  Fear and Perfectionism held me paralyzed in their grip until my partner suddenly announced that we were going to purchase the necessary materials to complete the room.  Scott’s little push has done wonders for my morale as well as the condition of the dining room.  Soon we will be enjoying dinners in the renovated space.  I can’t wait to invite friends over for dinner.  If I work really hard, we’ll be able to use the room for our Thanksgiving celebration.  By Christmas, I should have the details of the room completed.

And this sentence brings the total word count to exactly four-hundred-ninety-nine, and not one more.