The Horrors of Decorating, by Georgie Tennant
I have recently taken the plunge and entered the wonderful (read horrible) world of decorating. Words that I’ve lived quite happily without have entered my vocabulary. Caulk - one that would have been useful a couple of months back when Wordle tried to catch us all out. Painting kettles - sadly nothing to do with lovely cups of milky tea. Frog tape, which, although green, has nothing more in common with the croaking amphibians in the ditch at the bottom of my garden. A large array of gloss paint all of which apparently do different things - who knew? 
We moved house last year, mid pandemic - post one lock down and pre- another. We hadn't had time to do much decorating, so, recently, we started on the smallest room in the house. This might sound straightforward. However, the first obstacle in our way was the glorious (read hideous) anaglypta wallpaper, favourite of homeowners in the 60s. Stripping it was the easy part. I took triumphant photos of my husband peeling layers of the stuff off the wall. But the horrors underneath! Not dreadful enough for a visit from the plasterer, but many afternoons of filling and sanding don’t begin to describe the work the walls needed before painting could commence.
Shortly after stripping the walls, the whole family had a dose of Covid. Energy and motivation levels dwindled.
It’s not just finding the time to decorate that’s hard. It’s the mess and clutter that comes with it all. We have a wardrobe on the landing, a bookcase in the lounge, and another in a different bedroom. Worse than this, my tweenage and teenage son are having to share a room for now. Though they did this permanently before we moved, they are definitely out of practice and peaceful bedtimes are a thing of the past.
I’m at the point in the project where I wish I hadn’t started. The colours are on the walls but there is still so much work ahead. More sanding around the window. A second coat of paint across the whole room. The horror of glossing. And the purchase of a carpet which will mean I have to eat beans on toast for a month. After that my son’s new high sleeper bed (currently in boxes in my lounge) needs to be built. The room is 2.5 m x 2.5 m and right now I feel like it’s going to be 2024 before we finish.
However, despite my self-pity and lost sanity, I know that the end result will be worth it. When we put the final screw into the bed which, by then, will be standing on a luxurious, new, grey carpet in front of lovingly painted walls in colours of my son’s choice, I know we will, at last, be glad that we did it.
As I mused on my feelings about decorating, it made me think this sounded familiar. Had I had these feelings somewhere before?
When we embark on a writing project we have to follow a similar process. We might have to clear away the wardrobes and bookcases – the furniture of our life – to make space for a project we barely have time for but that we know we have to pursue. We do our research (the stripping and the undercoat) to get to the bare bones of what it is we want to write. We feel triumphant, celebrating the great idea we feel bubbling within us. We don’t even mind losing a few days or evenings to it, as the buzz of something new captivates us.
Life, however, gets in the way. Like a bout of Covid, different things stop us in our tracks with our writing. Ideas and projects dwindle before we’ve even got a quarter of the way through. The permanent to-do list hangs over us, and we wish we hadn’t even begun.
Halfway through writing our manuscript, we might get a fresh burst of inspiration. But then we sit back, look too far ahead, at the finishing line we so long for and it all feels too daunting, too long-term to continue. We might procrastinate with cups of tea and chatting with friends, when pushing on through the hard and painful parts will get us closer to the finish line. When we have written a bit (painted a wall) we might look upon it critically, seeing only the bumps and imperfections and not the joy of the whole “wall”. We will have to revisit some of the “lumps and bumps,” which might make us feel progress has stalled, despite it being a vital part of the process.
When we get close to the finish line, it still feels like there is so much to do. Like the boxes of bed in my lounge, the rest of the process is still there for us to work on. This might mean pitching to publishers or marketing our work– but until we do that our writing is an empty room with a lovely carpet, but not somewhere someone can find a home, some hope, a place to stop and rest.
We live in an age of instant gratification. We bemoan website pages taking more than two seconds to load. We wish we could jump the queue in the supermarket when there is one person ahead of us. So, to think in a long-term, gradual sense is really hard. I am not a patient person. If I had all the money in the world, I would pay for someone to go in and do my decorating and finish it all within a week. But it’s a really good learning process. It’s making me realise things about myself.
As a blogger and a poet, I often have instant gratification in the writing world (well, not quite instant but often relatively quick publication and feedback). Like with the decorating, I am having to learn how to approach the longer-term writing projects. I am having to learn to put in the effort and the time, without necessarily having the joy of completing something quickly. I am having to live in the messy middle, without knowing what the endpoint is or when it will come.
“Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.” Psalm 127v1 NLT. I am trying to remember this, as I build my family home and my next masterpiece.
Georgie Tennant is a secondary school English teacher in a Norfolk Comprehensive. She is married, with two sons, aged 13 and 11 who keep her exceptionally busy. She writes for the ACW ‘Christian Writer’ magazine occasionally, and is a contributor to the ACW-Published ‘New Life: Reflections for Lent,’ and ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone.' More recently, she has written 5 books in a phonics series, published by BookLife and has just written 3 more. She writes the ‘Thought for the Week’ for the local newspaper from time to time and also muses about life and loss on her blog: www.somepoemsbygeorgie.blogspot.co.uk
Shortly after stripping the walls, the whole family had a dose of Covid. Energy and motivation levels dwindled.
It’s not just finding the time to decorate that’s hard. It’s the mess and clutter that comes with it all. We have a wardrobe on the landing, a bookcase in the lounge, and another in a different bedroom. Worse than this, my tweenage and teenage son are having to share a room for now. Though they did this permanently before we moved, they are definitely out of practice and peaceful bedtimes are a thing of the past.
I’m at the point in the project where I wish I hadn’t started. The colours are on the walls but there is still so much work ahead. More sanding around the window. A second coat of paint across the whole room. The horror of glossing. And the purchase of a carpet which will mean I have to eat beans on toast for a month. After that my son’s new high sleeper bed (currently in boxes in my lounge) needs to be built. The room is 2.5 m x 2.5 m and right now I feel like it’s going to be 2024 before we finish.
 |
| My current feelings about decorating, expressed clearly here! |
As I mused on my feelings about decorating, it made me think this sounded familiar. Had I had these feelings somewhere before?
When we embark on a writing project we have to follow a similar process. We might have to clear away the wardrobes and bookcases – the furniture of our life – to make space for a project we barely have time for but that we know we have to pursue. We do our research (the stripping and the undercoat) to get to the bare bones of what it is we want to write. We feel triumphant, celebrating the great idea we feel bubbling within us. We don’t even mind losing a few days or evenings to it, as the buzz of something new captivates us.
Life, however, gets in the way. Like a bout of Covid, different things stop us in our tracks with our writing. Ideas and projects dwindle before we’ve even got a quarter of the way through. The permanent to-do list hangs over us, and we wish we hadn’t even begun.
Halfway through writing our manuscript, we might get a fresh burst of inspiration. But then we sit back, look too far ahead, at the finishing line we so long for and it all feels too daunting, too long-term to continue. We might procrastinate with cups of tea and chatting with friends, when pushing on through the hard and painful parts will get us closer to the finish line. When we have written a bit (painted a wall) we might look upon it critically, seeing only the bumps and imperfections and not the joy of the whole “wall”. We will have to revisit some of the “lumps and bumps,” which might make us feel progress has stalled, despite it being a vital part of the process.
 |
| Slowly making progress |
When we get close to the finish line, it still feels like there is so much to do. Like the boxes of bed in my lounge, the rest of the process is still there for us to work on. This might mean pitching to publishers or marketing our work– but until we do that our writing is an empty room with a lovely carpet, but not somewhere someone can find a home, some hope, a place to stop and rest.
We live in an age of instant gratification. We bemoan website pages taking more than two seconds to load. We wish we could jump the queue in the supermarket when there is one person ahead of us. So, to think in a long-term, gradual sense is really hard. I am not a patient person. If I had all the money in the world, I would pay for someone to go in and do my decorating and finish it all within a week. But it’s a really good learning process. It’s making me realise things about myself.
As a blogger and a poet, I often have instant gratification in the writing world (well, not quite instant but often relatively quick publication and feedback). Like with the decorating, I am having to learn how to approach the longer-term writing projects. I am having to learn to put in the effort and the time, without necessarily having the joy of completing something quickly. I am having to live in the messy middle, without knowing what the endpoint is or when it will come.
“Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.” Psalm 127v1 NLT. I am trying to remember this, as I build my family home and my next masterpiece.
Well done you, Georgie, for tackling the decorating. And, yes, similarities with writing process. Enjoyed psalm quote at end.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a great analogy! 'Living in the messy middle' could be the title for a book about being a writer. In fact, you could probably write a whole book based on this post, each chapter about a different stage of the DIY process and how it links to writing. (When you've finally put the paintbrushes down, you can start writing the book!)
ReplyDeleteAs one who knows exactly how you feel, living in a partially renovated house where EVERY room needs decorating, my life is permanently loved in that 'messy middle' state. The writing feels like that often too. But I can sit in the one almost finished room, and enjoy the space, and then open the laptop and lose myself in my writing, and forget the mess happening all around. I have a retreat from it all, which I am so very grateful for!
ReplyDeleteEloquent as ever!
ReplyDeleteOh so true. The messy middle of any project can be daunting, and everything does usually take so much more time than anticipated. We wouldn't want a boring life though, would we?
ReplyDeleteNever tried house deco and all but since you say it is similar to the gruelling tasks of writing a proect, it is not all fun but of course, hard work. It is possible to save and get the house deco done for you but who can take out my ideas from my head and help me write it out so I pay the person off? I WISH!! Well, what is necessary in life has to be done and with our God's help, it will end up beautiful and pleasing to our satisfaction and to His glory! Lovely post. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteFabulous! So true re the writing comparisons. And I love that photo 😆It echoes my feelings about decorating exactly. Next, we need a post to be a reflection (and photos) on the finished article! X
ReplyDeleteCaulk! It sounds like a nasty skin condition. I sympathise HUGELY. I don't like it either and anaglypta is surely the wall covering of Beelzebub. Well done for keeping at it and I love your clever weaving together of gloss paint and writing.
ReplyDeleteI bet you're a genius at Balderdash, Ruth, that's a brilliant new definition of Caulk! I can't share your horror at anaglypta though, as I've just looked it up and I think it looks fine. A bit dated yes, but not hideous! Super idea combing the decorating with a blog post, Georgie!
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