March 23, 2020: Lockdown arrives with concern about the unknown; bills, mortgage, health, toilet paper needs, all on top of my two college girls vacating their apartment to arrive home with half of their belongings in tow. So much for empty nesting. My husband’s entire office building has officially closed and my interior design business has reduced to a mere trickle.
The first day I clean, organize and stock the pantry for armageddon while I binge watch the news. Next I organize the closets. So that’s done, now what? This is a lot of time to fill. I wonder if now is the time to tackle home projects. This quarantine could provide a guilt free opportunity to wholeheartedly focus on the house. As project people we daydream of all we could accomplish in 10 days (cough, cough), a lot! This could actually be really fun!
My initial idea was to refinish the dining room table. My husband advised against it because the required patience is not my strong suit. But I was determined. I’d been wanting to do so for a while and had gotten a bid for $3k—yikes! We dragged that heavy beast into the garage for what I figured would be a few days. Gross miscalculation...3 weeks and countless YouTube tutorials later, my finished product was complete. Other than elbow grease and permanently discolored fingernails it cost me less than $150 and looks like a million bucks!
Our garden project followed. We have a yard area where we plant tomatoes but we always envisioned a “real garden.” Something with proper, nutrient rich soil, appropriate irrigation, rows of perfectly spaced vegetation, a compost bin and maybe even a fence. My husband, a former contractor knew just how to construct “hot houses” using visqueen and basic framing materials. I researched plant varietals and drafted color coded maps. We dug, we raked, we planted, we seeded, we had dirt under our nails. We even created a hand woven wattle fence from branches in our yard. Now we have our own little QFC and its actually growing!
So much for 10 days. We are now more than one month into this corona crap but at least HOME DEPOT is still open...yay! I can navigate those aisles like a pro. I started documenting our projects and progress on social media, making videos, and having fun reading the comments and staying connected. We work our buns off, dawn to dusk, but we are really enjoying ourselves!
Next up, the basement. Our semi-unfinished basement has become a collection area for the junk of life. The floors are unfinished and it always feels dirty and disorganized. I organized the storage room. Jeff built shelves. We bought a ton of new container bins, discarding anything old, broken, ugly or unnecessary. Turns out productivity begets other projects, because every time I went into the basement I’d come up with a new idea. We ended up; epoxying the floors, carpeting the landing and stairs (would not recommend this project, very hard!) building shelves for the wine cellar, wallpapering, and converting a vacant room into an art studio for myself and my 3 kids; all of whom have graduated with art degrees. We created a sanctuary with cement floors to make a mess, to spill paint on the floors and create away!
We are into months in two and three. This is getting old. We’re winding down the major projects (although I am toying with refinishing the hardwoods) but continuing to enjoy the fruits of our gardening labor; which is really flourishing! We are cooking beautiful meals, eating on the patio, playing tons of badminton. During this extended family time we are painting in the art studio with the girls, cutting each others hair, grooming the dog, learning to embroider and even nursing baby bunnies back to health. Endless “Togetherness” is a stress at times, but not being together would be tragic.
What I’ve learned from Corona Virus is that no matter the circumstance, family is the most important thing, creativity can’t be halted and productivity is both therapeutic and healing. Tackling our projects with determination bonded our family, creates daily purpose and provides a mental distraction right when we need it most.
Article by Nichole Jacobson
Originally published in Bellevue Lifestyle