Here's the chair Stephen was working on when he cut his finger in February. He's turning an Ikea Olle into a rocking chair. Progress on this project has stalled since then, largely because his hand was bandaged up for several weeks. But that always happens, doesn't it? I tend to run out of steam on a project the first time I hit a roadblock. I change my mind about a color once I've bought the paint, realize the sandpaper is the wrong grit and the store is closed, or find out a hat is too small as I bind off the last few stitches. Then I put the project away, eager for distance after this letdown, and never pick it up again.
We just got a notice about renewing our lease, which reminds me that we've been in this apartment for almost two years. It still feels so new in some ways, almost like we're still moving in. There are a few stacks of books in the living room that have yet to find a home, and two of the closets have never quite worked; everything's sort of piled up in there. I have a bunch of "house" projects on deck: refinishing Stephen's desk, sewing new curtains, adding shelves to the hall closet. I'll feel really defeated if we move out before these things happen.
Often, though, I imagine the projects I'll do after we move out, when I have more space and freedom than a 500-square-foot rental affords. We visited the Peaboy Essex Museum today and saw Yin Yu Tang, an 18th-century house transplanted from southeastern China to Salem, Mass. The building was beautiful. It made me want to have a house with a stone-lined courtyard and latticework windows. I'll probably never get a chance to design things like that; we're much more likely to buy something that's already been built when we get a house. But that's years off, so for now I can write these hypothetical to-do lists for myself with abandon.
Stephen, I'm happy to say, is much better at getting projects done in the here-and-now. While his knuckle was patching itself back together this month, he whipped up this little stool from a 19th-century Swedish design. I think it's from an old woodworking curriculum. I'm going to paint it some fun color, as soon as I can decide which one. (Some other things that Stephen has made are listed here: click "Craft".)
