DIY Disaster Zone

I have hated the color of my kitchen cabinets since I moved in, and since I'm home for an extended period with nothing major to do, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and repaint them. I mean it's just painting right? Even I should be able to do that.

And then it snowballed into a massive project and sent me into a tailspin. I had to take apart my whole kitchen creating a huge mess all over my house. Messes seriously stress me out.

This is not a fast project. First I had to wash all the cabinets with a highly toxic cleaner, and then wipe them all down with water. Then I removed all the hardware and cabinet doors (thank god for power tools). Next step was sanding, and then vacuuming and tack clothing to get rid of the dust. Then primer time. Then re-sanding and cleaning for the doors that I decided to paint on top newspaper. The newspaper stuck to the edges and made them lumpy and ugly. I hate things that move slowly. I am the put my head down and work non-stop until I finish kind of person.

So for 2 days I was waking up early to work on the project, working during lunch, and then staying up super late plugging away. On top of that I was eating a lot of crap, partially because I couldn't cook real meals, partially out of stress, and partially because I found all the candy and treats I'd hidden from myself when I took the kitchen apart. My body from bending and squatting and reaching and doing no stretching or yoga.

And then yesterday morning as I dragged my tired self through a spinning class, feeling sick from exhaustion and all the junk food I ate the night before, I realized that I was being stupid. This project is not a 5k, it's a marathon. So after spinning I stayed for Piyo instead of rushing home. I took the time to reconnect my mind and body and do something good for myself.

Now I have a new mindset. Okay, this won't be fast. Fine, I'm not a fast runner either and I've come to accept that. I'm working at a pace I can sustain and trying to enjoy the process. Now that I'm in the painting stage, it's pretty neat. I love the way the color came out.

All I have left now is a second coat of paint on everything, and then reassembling the cabinets. Hopefully this should be painless because I labeled all the cabinets and hardware.  I won't get to work on it at all this weekend, because I'm going up to the island for Mother's Day. And while I hate leaving my house in disarray and mid-project, I know that my Mom is more important.