Laowai

…and a couple questionable plaster walls.

I completed a painting project today. One of the few spaces left in the house that I have not coated in my choice of color. The front closet – by our front door. The plaster on the outside wall of this closet has been peeling and ugly since we moved in so I inexpertly patched and sanded (hate) and repainted everything.

Here are a couple process photos.

You'll see I did not tackle our fancy round window. Isn't it funny to have a round window in a closet? It remains blue and in need of repair. But the rest of the closet now matches the white and gray colors that I've used throughout the house. 

Another old house detail that I left intact is this fire extinguisher. And don't worry it was last serviced in (does it say!) 1952!

Here are a couple more finished photos.

So for about two weeks while I worked away on this project I had all the contents of the closet dumped out into our living room. The pile of coats and gloves and shoes and picnic supplies and boots and bags and ice skates seemed to swell once it was outside the closet and I thought "how did that much stuff fit in there?"

And now onto the sentimental part. Today I sorted through that big pile of stuff. I discarded some dusty old shoes and some snow pants that no longer fit were put in a pile for Goodwill. Then I neatly put back all the stuff we do use. When you live in a place with distinct seasons I guess you need a closet full of things like these.

At the bottom of the pile of hanging things were these three tiny aprons. My heart felt wobbly looking at them. We used these aprons a lot – for painting or cooking projects – anything messy. I think mom bought the yellow one with embroidered bees. The blue one was a give-away from the Swiss grocery store and I made the fruity one. The thing that gets me and makes me feel full of emotion is that I loved those days. I really loved making things with my girls. I can picture the big messes we would make and the treasures we would create. Those were some of my favorite times of my life.

And so I tucked them back into the corner of the closet.