Okay, So I got some motivation...

That To Do List that has been bothering me and moaning at me all week, wasn't going anywhere, so I got some motivation and started to plough through it.  The gardening got done, the decking got stained, the house plants got re-potted and all was going well, sort of, until I got to the next item: 'Make Jewellery Case'.

Old Jewellery Holder

I had decided, in my infinite wisdom, that I should sell my current necklace holder on ebay.  It was a gift, and after using it for a few years, I wanted to declutter my table top.  My big idea was to give a secret backing to the picture that hangs above the chest of drawers in my bedroom.  This backing would be hinged, so that I could swing the picture 'open' and, ta-da, all of my necklaces would be hanging neatly, ready to be picked out and worn, completely hidden out of sight.  Or so I thought...

I put the mannequin jewellery holder on ebay and went to my local hardware store to buy supplies for my new storage system.  I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for and ended up buying bits of wood and hinges etc.  In my magpie fashion, I wasn't paying full attention to the total cost and was a bit horrified when I got to the checkout and had to pay £24.97!!  My 16 year old son was with me and mockingly noted that I could have bought myself a nice jewellery box for that amount.  My heart sunk, as I knew he was right and that I wasn't going to make nearly enough on my own ebay sale to cover the cost of the new materials I had just bought.

When I got back home, I tried to get over being annoyed at spending so much and to concentrate on the job in hand.  I set to work and using the wrong type of saw, (we only have a hack saw for metal), and in a really disorganised manner I started to chop the wood up.  I tried to do neat angled corners, like you get on picture frames, and made a pig's ear of it.  Then I tried to do simple butt-ended joints and they didn't look much better than the first attempt.  I didn't have the correct screws and I couldn't get the electric drill to drill the correct size of pilot hole for the screws that I did have.  In desperation I got the superglue out; that didn't work.  I tried some No More Nails glue; hopeless.  In short, all I managed to make was a mess!

A Mess

Frustrated and annoyed, I knew I had to give up and that my idea just wasn't going to work because of my hopeless joinery skills. I have pondered over this disaster and I had to ask myself why I feel it necessary to keep on improving things.  Why couldn't I just be happy with the necklaces the way they were, rather than having to re-arrange them all, spending money, making lots of mess and getting really annoyed in the process.  I am sure I am not alone in this habit of continually updated and renovating possessions.

I think it is because I can't stand clutter and overfull cupboards and things that we don't need hanging about the house.  I have to admit that a lot of it I create myself, but a lot of it we get given, or inherit along the way.  All those presents that we don't really need, all those things that get passed on to us from well meaning people and yes, all those things I buy and then realise are completely useless.

I like a clean, tidy house.  And a house is much easier to keep clean and tidy when it is not bursting at the seams with stuff.  I know this is to do with control and I am sure it harks back to having three siblings and having to share a bedroom throughout my childhood; me anally lining up my trinkets, while my little brother followed behind destroying my efforts, like a child knocking over sandcastles.

I am going to keep working on this need to renovate and change.  First step is to stop buying so much stuff, I am well on the way there; second is to limit the amount of stuff that comes in from friendly, kind relatives; third step is to stop letting it bother me so much, (much, much harder to achieve!)

So, my lesson learned is not to attempt joinery again, I can't do it and I don't have the tools!  Thankfully, I hadn't opened all of the bits and pieces I bought, so managed to get a refund.  But the wood was all chopped to pieces and definitely couldn't be returned!  My mannequin jewellery stand sold for £5.50, meaning that this lesson cost me £5.49 in wood: painful, but it could have been worse.  Oh and just in case you are wondering, my necklaces are now hanging on the picture frame itself, ironically, exactly where they used to hang before I got the mannequin!

What goes around, comes around.