I've noticed that I have some blind spots—places in my house that are in real need of attention, but after weeks and months of not attending to them, they seem to somewhat blend into the landscape of my life and I forget that they're there. I have little piles here and there. Places that seriously need the touch of someone who has a couple ounces of design sense. Boxes of items still unpacked from our first move (first of four!) seven years ago.
Funny, though, how these blind spots can turn into glaring eyesores the moment I invite friends over. This week, several girls will be visiting my house for the first time and I'm getting some blind spot anxiety. Of particular concern are:
- My unfinished paint job in the living area. I did all that I could without the help of a pro or at least a willing friend with a VERY tall ladder. The remaining walls remain white until I rent scaffolding or pay the estimated $800 (yes, I said eight HUNDRED dollars) to have the pro do it.
- The foot-long piece of painter's tape that has been stuck on the high ceiling since the aforementioned unfinished paint job in APRIL! I mean, why in heaven's name is that still there? Every time the in-laws come up for a visit, they mention it. I really should get up there and pull it down.
- The light hanging over the kitchen table is one of these lovely numbers circa 1998:
That could be bad enough on its own, but picture it with one bulb completely missing and two others burned out. Classy.
- Both of my bathrooms have a "sea" motif with coordinating fishy wallpaper that we inherited when we moved in. Again, bad enough on its own, but the downstairs bath has large portions of the sea life peeled off the wall thanks to Richie getting bored during his long hours sitting on the potty.
- When we moved in, we had some bad wallpaper removed from the master bedroom. Indecision has led to those walls never being painted since then…it's been 16 months.
I could go on, but you get the picture. I'm tending to stress about these little items only because friends are coming over. I'm not sure which is worse—ignoring these items for months on end, or being superficial enough to get stressed about them when I'm at risk of having friends think lowly of me because of them. Or perhaps the worst is having the low opinion of my friends in assuming that they actually care about these things. Somehow I have plenty of grace to offer my friends if they had, say, mismatched window treatments or wallpaper issues or a house-full of dated fixtures or weeds in their landscaping. But, I'm having trouble believing they'll extend the same grace to me. Perhaps it's because I'm not extending the grace to MYSELF!
4 comments:
Just do what I do Christie......make one sweeping comment about your house when all of your friends get there and the fact that they will see things you wish they didn't, and then never mention it again. It makes you feel better that you said something, but then they will forget all about it and most likely won't notice any of the imperfections on their own. I am sure their only thoughts will be "I'm glad she doesn't have it all together too. Good! This makes me feel sooooooo much better for when she comes to my house!"
Kara, you're so right! I personally feel much more at ease when I visit girlfriends, who like me, don't have it quite all perfected!
Christie I was laughing! You do forget those "blind spots" are there and the moment someone comes over they hop out! What gives?!?! If it's any consolation I STILL have yet to purchase curtain rods for my bedroom...for curtains that I already OWN!
I have one of those unfortunate paint jobs too. And I've lived here 5 years with it! Going from my main floor to the upstairs feels like leaving the wonderful world of Oz for something in black and white...or dijon mustard gone rancid, as the case may be. :(
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