Contrary to what you may have heard, some walls are better than others. Pour yourself a little glass of
something as this conversation could go on and on...are walls meant to keep things from getting out or protect from unwelcomed intruders? While I'm not a huge fan of walls of any kind (same way I feel about curtains or ponytails on men), sometimes they are absolutely essential. I know I've blogged about this tip before, but allow me to dip back into the tip jar today as I recently slipped and forgot this important tip. When it comes to projects in our home I tend to have zero patience and want it done immediately. On occasion, I've been known to pause a show I am watching and re-arrange an entire room (I call this Attention-Deficit Design...ADD). I've painted our front door after midnight because I couldn't stop thinking about it. A house guest got up from her chair one morning to refill her cup of coffee and I replaced the chair with a love seat before she returned. Yes, I'm a little nuts. This past weekend, however, my compulsive design habits caused me to skip a few very important prep steps before sanding our living room. After a few hours of patching and prepping the walls for painting, I sanded to my hearts content. Midway through my sand-fest it dawned on me that I'd forgotten to cover our BRAND NEW FURNITURE. As though turning around to a crazy old woman holding a meat cleaver, I spun around to find white, thick dust all over our lovely dark grey velvet sofa. Instead of throwing myself out the window I grabbed the shop vac and reminded myself about the importance of slowing down, taking time to prep and the need of a good wall of protection.
WRAP IT IN PLASTIC: For bigger projects at home, The Home Depot and Lowe's sell plastic walls that have zippers for easy access (don't let those dirty minds wander). For smaller tasks like mine I still prefer building room around my work rather than simply covering furniture. I get painters tape, plastic drop cloths and tape away. Spending a few extra minutes prepping saves a lot in booze...and frustration!
