Why am I painting ceilings at midnight?

I'm sure if you asked Marc, he did not *intend* for me to be painting the closet ceiling at midnight.  He simply thought that he'd get the ball rolling on our mudroom redo - maybe take the closet doors off and get some hooks on the wall and it would be a step in the right direction.  Clearly he had no IDEA what he was getting into.  Because a mudroom renovation for ME is akin to construction of a personal poker lounge for him.  I imagine that when he has four seconds to daydream (and with his current schedule, it probably isn't often) he visualizes cherry paneling on the walls, the perfect comfy chairs, the most incredible poker table(s) and maybe even a little side door with a small window through which he can ask guests the password for the night before letting them in.  He sees how this poker lounge would change his life in a multitude of happy ways.  He can practically feel himself basking in the glow of it.  Maybe he even Googles poker lounge images once in a while to make sure he has the best ideas on board if and when the time comes that he gets to make his dream a reality.

This is precisely how I feel about my mudroom.  The mudroom I have yearned for, dreamed of, even built once in our old house.  The mudroom that was on my priority list for our new house.  My top THREE priorities in fact.   The mudroom that sadly, was passed over in favor of other wonderful features in our new house.

Coming up with the idea to take the closet doors off of our mudroom closet and instead turn it into lockers was the lightning bolt that reignited my hopes and dreams.  That one day, my three children and I could make it into our jackets and boots and out the door without knocking each other over or dumping out  bags of rogue mittens to find the pair that went missing. 

This was NOT something to be taken lightly or jumped into without the proper planning.  I have been googling images for months and sketching images for weeks and scouting supplies whenever I could.

See?

There was the one that got it all started,

The one with the floor of my dreams, reminiscent of our Beacon Hill apartment
(and can I just say THANK YOU to Better Homes and Gardens for watermarking it's images so I can give proper credit?  Also, can I say SORRY! for the images that no one bothered to watermark, that I shamefully can not give proper credit?)

There was the Martha Stewart one with crisp green walls and awesome metal buckets and perfect simple bench,

the one that reminded me of the Martha one but with a little more organizational bling,

the one with the killer print on the cushion,

the stripey walled one that makes me giddy with it's chic style and matching baskets,

the other one that was crafted from an existing closet that makes great use of the space just like the original,

and the one with the custom white cabinetry and glowing tangerine walls that makes my heart go pitty pat!

This is why I was slightly taken aback when, on Monday morning, Marc announced with conviction "We're gonna get the mudroom started today."  I attempted to explain why this was not a feasible plan of action, but was confused into agreement with comparisons of mudrooms to software and big words like "iteration".  We needed ITERATIONS you see, because if we waited for perfection then we'd be missing the opportunity to have an imperfect but more functional  mudroom TODAY.  This ITERATION would just be the first PHASE of a number of phases which would eventually lead us mudroom nirvana.

Like I said, I'm sure he figured we'd just take the doors off, throw up some hooks and call it done.

Anyone who knows me (well, anyone besides Marc, who didn't quite catch on) knew that I couldn't let that happen.  Which is why I've spent the last two nights awake into the wee hours, painting and spackling and painting some more...and the days searching online and in stores for the cast of characters I need - a bench, coat hooks, molding, buckets, bins and the like.  I don't have time to find perfection because my mudroom is torn apart and my life is crumbling around it - so I just need to find what will work.  Right now that is a Bjursta bench from IKEA which I'll assemble and paint tomorrow (and make a cushion for next weekend - nevermind that I have no idea how to do such a thing) and hooks and molding from Lowe's.  I'm hoping to hit Target tomorrow for bins and accessories.

I will post befores and afters when I have afters to show...but right now, I just need to decide whether or not I should spread the love by painting my laundry room door before I close the lid on the can of paint....