More porch progress

While I was cleaning up the spare room last week I realized just how many pictures I have stacked away in there. I still don't have much hanging on the walls since we reno'd; this is partly because I don't love a lot of what we had up before, and partly pure laziness.

When I set up the Ikea shoe cabinet next to the door last weekend I thought that it drew attention to the wall and made it look big and empty. And the cabinet was really off level due to the slant of the porch; it bugged me every time I walked into or out of the house.

So this morning I got to work and unscrewed the cabinet from the wall and leveled it using, of all things, a hockey puck (see below). When I realized how frightfully slanted the porch was and how impossible it was going to be to subtly shim the cabinet, I decided to embrace it in a very Canadian manner.

Then I went looking through the pictures stacked up on the third floor to see what I could find. I had a set of four leaf prints that hung in the hallway on the main floor before we reno'd. That hallway is gone now, and I had no place in mind to hang them. The porch is totally enclosed - we have screens for the summer and windows for the winter, so there's no fear of the weather ruining whatever I hang there.

They're just perfect to fill up the empty space on the wall. And it's really fantastic that they're no longer taking up floor space up on the third floor.

While I was out admiring my handiwork, the door caught my eye. I slapped on a coat of primer last fall and bought a pint of glossy black paint for it, but somehow I had never gotten around to actually painting it. Today was a perfect day for painting - sunny and warm with a nice breeze - so I got to work.

The activation barrier to get out the paint and brushes is so high, and yet every time I end up amazed at how little time and effort it actually takes when compared to the satisfaction and pleasure derived from the completed task.

The door still needs at least one more coat, but it's looking good so far. I love how it pulls together the black frames on the pictures and our house number plate.

I'm now toying with the idea of using the rest of the black paint on the butt-ugly bricks facing our fireplace. But that's a task for another day.