Patience is a Virtue

Patience is a virtue...one that I do not possess much of.  I try to control my anticipation, but ultimately it's just not my strong point.

Since I can't be over at our new house working every day, I have to find other ways to keep myself busy.  I have plenty of finishes to ponder over - at some point I will probably be on a first name basis with everyone at Lowe's and Home Depot.  But ultimately, I need to keep my hands busy, not just my mind.  Today I found myself with an extra afternoon, so I put together these two DIY pieces to go on the walls of our new home.  Truth be told, I thought they may go at the end of our current hallway, but it turns out that we just don't have a large enough space for now.  Patience...in time we will have more wall space than ever.

I found this old interior shutter at the Restore a few weeks ago.  I removed the extra hinges, sanded it down, and painted it with chalk paint.  Then I added a thin piece of wood that I painted with chalkboard paint on one side and a section of chicken wire (left over from our short stint with chickens) on the other.  It's probably not all that practical, but I think it will make an adorable addition on the wall as decoration.  We can stick little notes or photographs in the chicken wire and write fun message on the chalkboard.

I didn't waste any time turning yesterday's trash into treasure.  I sanded down the piece of wood I found under the section of floor I removed at the new house.  Using wood glue, I glued all the loose pieces back in place, and used a little wood putty where needed.  I painted the whole piece with chalk paint.  When I saw it all painted, I really didn't like it.  It's not a new piece - it is truly an old piece and it needs to look that way.  I randomly sanded spots to make the paint look worn before adding the top coat.  I'm so disappointed we don't have a place to put it up right away, but I am looking forward to finding the perfect place to display it when we move.  It's a sweet little accent.

So there you have it, one more afternoon of keeping myself busy with smaller projects since there are no big ones to complete.  

How do you keep yourself busy when you are anticipating great things?