Thankful For Delays, Disappointments, And Frustrations
Last night, I was standing at the sink in the hallway bathroom (turning on the faucet for my cat to drink water, which she demands about five times a day š¤£ ), and as I turned to leave the room, I just stopped and stared at my almost-finished walk-in closet. Honestly, I never dreamed that I’d have a closet like that, and to see it in its almost-finished state, with just a couple of projects left before I can actually call it finished, and to see how much that room reflects me — my love of flowers, my love of bold wallpaper, my love of color, and filled with my clothes, shoes, handbags, and jewelry — I suddenly became so thankful for all of the delays, all of the wrestling with floor plans, and even the setback and disappointment of our ruined home gym hardwood floor that led to our change of plans for our house.
I started to think back about our original plans for the house and the original addition we had planned to build onto the back of our house. That addition would have included a brand-new master bedroom, family room, and laundry room. But what about the closet? I didn’t really have room for an actual closet, so my original plan was to add IKEA wardrobes along one wall of the bedroom.
I mean, that’s it. In that new addition, that would have been my closet — about 15 feet of IKEA Pax wardrobes lined up on one wall. Looking at what I have now, and what I had originally planned, I can’t imagine this being my closet.
I eventually realized that it wasn’t a good idea to build a brand-new addition and not include an actual closet for the bedroom, so I tried to fit one in. But the only thing I could come up with was something like this, which would have resulted in two different closets, one smaller and one much larger, that were about seven feet wide and created a kind of hallway leading from the bedroom into the bathroom.
It wasn’t terrible, but I didn’t love it. And I especially didn’t like the idea of having two separate closets. Presumably, I would use one for shoes, handbags, and other accessories, and the bigger one for clothes.
I even tried this strange idea of building a closet off to the side, but it still would have been only seven feet wide.
When our home gym flooring disaster struck, I remember feeling so defeated. My attitude was horrible for a while, and I knew that my plans and dreams for our addition would be pushed back yet again. And then, in frustration and defeat, I decided that we needed to just change our plans so that we could have a proper bedroom sooner than later. And that’s when we decided to turn what was our home gym into our bedroom. The disappointment didn’t last long. It was pretty quickly replaced with excitement, but then I had to figure out the closet situation again. And that’s when I decided to turn the guest bedroom into a closet. But originally, I had planned on it being a home gym/closet combination.
And even after I decided to make it a laundry room/closet combination instead, I went through months of frustrating planning, changing of plans, etc. I had originally planned on using half of the room as a laundry room and the other half as a closet.
And then at some point, I changed the way I wanted the room divided, and planned to put up a wall with a door to separate the front part of the room, which would be the closet, from the back part of the room, which would be the laundry room.
But what I have ended up with is the absolute perfect plan for us, even though it originally felt like defeat and compromise. It took so long to get here, and it took a lot of planning, tweaking, changing plans, getting input from others, and finally, jumping in with both feet to make my vision come to life. The process wasn’t always fun, and it was filled with disappointments along the way, and at times, I thought I was being forced to abandon my dreams and plans. But last night, as I stood there looking at my closet/laundry room combo and thinking about the years-long journey that brought me to this moment of having what is truly a dream closet for me, I became so thankful for that journey, filled with delays, disappointments, and frustrations. Things worked out perfectly, and much better than I had originally planned.
With that said, I have high hopes that I’ll have a finished chandelier to share with y’all tomorrow. I ended up putting my clay flowers in the oven last night for about an hour last night before I went to bed. I turned the oven off before I went to sleep, but kept them in there all night, and then turned it back on this morning. It seems to be working to dry the flowers faster, so I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to get the last of the flowers primed and painted today, and get the chandelier finished. And then I’ll have one more project left — framing out the doorway to the closet.
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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I loved your original addition floor plans. The wall of IKEA closets would have been plenty for me but I only own 4 purses and maybe 10 pairs of shoes. I do understand that the addition would have been a big expense and the need to live within oneās budget. Iām happy that you are so excited to have the closet of your dreams.
The struggle was real, but in the end, the talent and desire for what you wanted and needed prevailed. You are amazing, and I hope that in the not-too-distant future, you will be able to sit back and enjoy your beautiful, comfortable home.
Am I the only one who worries about future Kristi, once all the reno is done???
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There’s still the landscaping!
LOL! The reno is NEVER done!
š¤£ No need to worry! Future Kristi will ALWAYS find projects to work on! I’m not much of one for sitting still for too long. š
A home is never finished!
I can’t help but recognize the philosophical/spiritual aspects of all of this (including your care of Felicity’s hydration pickiness!). Tenderly caring for Matt and your beloveds, turning appreciatively to view the results of your God-given talents, skills and hard work, and the many rewards of the life you have chosen, is karmic. Gifts of the spirit. Blessings from above coupled with the knowledge of why you’re here, where you are.
All things turn to good for those who love God.
Blessings my dear! Looking forward to the photos!
XO
I truly understand Felicity’s hydration pickiness! I have 4 who hated a water bowl. I got 2 of the Pet Max water fountains from our favorite store, Amazon. That was some years ago. The furbabies are in their 13th year and everybody has perfect lab work because they drink tons of water. BUN & Creatinine are normal despite their age. Vet wanted to know what fountain I was using. The 4 of them go thru about 1/2 gallon daily.
A fountain for Felicity would help her and free up time for Kristi. Of course what goes in, must come out so maybe not so much time freed! Lol All cats instinctively like running water.
My daughter once had a cat who insisted on only dispensed water from the refrigerator door! He would sit in front of the fridge waiting for anyone to notice his need, and we had to fill his very small Corning Ware fluted water dish! I will also confess to filling our dogs water bowl with cold refrigerator water before bedtime. She enjoys a chilled drink before bed!
Our dogs want cold water from the fridge too. I wish they would drink more even, so I keep filling several times a day. Your daughter’s cat was very smart…our dogs do not know where the cold water comes from! š
I appreciate your candor! We all have journeys to be thankful about and this post is a good reminder. Nicely done!
What a great feeling and sense of accomplishment!
Well done, Kristi, well doneššš
Makes me think of Bob Ross…happy mistakes š
I believe the earth is round for a reason, it is so we cannot see too far down the road and get ahead of ourselves. I love the journey it took you on to find that dream closet, it is an amazing room all on its own, let alone being a closet and a laundry room and so glamorous for both. Our cats loved the faucet treatment too; I laugh about that. Silly kitties.
Cheers to you, Matt and the fur babies!
It really pays to not go headstrong into big projects! Your closet is fabulous! But now that you will no longer have a guest room/second bedroom, has that made you rethink your addition to include that somewhere else? I just think of the possibility that one day your Mom may need to live with you, or Matt may need in home care, and you will need to give them a room with a bath nearby, if not included into a suite.
I think their gym will also serve as the guest bedroom…at least that was a plan at one time.
It has been a real lesson in possibilities as you’ve worked through many floorplan changes! I love what you ended up with – I think it’s objectively the best one, not too bulky, improves the small windowless kitchen, meets your needs and joy-making wants like this closet, and just makes more sense than previous versions. Glad you are getting to experience the gratitude of a path winding somewhere you didn’t even know you wanted to arrive at!