Recently I got my hands on a piece of furniture that was amazing. One of my gym gals sent me a picture with a text that said “On my street”.
I raced over and there it was in all it’s glory of baby butt pink. As I got closer I realized it had great bones, beautiful hardware and needed NO repairs. What more could I ask for, Right. Well that pink turned out to be one big challenge. No matter how I painted it when I sanded it back there was that pink showing through. I got so frustrated I had to walk away to think. After a day or so I had 2 choices to pick from. One I could remove all the paint all the way down through the white, past the baby butt pink until the wood showed. Or 2 I could embrace what was beneath the surface as if it was meant to be there. It was a no brainer I embraced the baby butt pink and that moment of WOW arrived.
I used Pure White from Chalk Country Paint. I used an electric hand sander with light pressure to sand back the edges and revile that baby butt pink. Somehow it all worked together to make the problem part of the beauty. I used the old gold hardware for the side drawers but the middle drawers had no hardware. This piece screamed glamour so crystal like hardware was a must. The entire piece was given 2 coats of Defender for protection.
Life is like this piece in so many ways. Ask someone you are passing “How are you doing” and most reply I’m just fine. Beneath the surface could be all kinds of storms going on. We all leave our homes everyday with a smile, makeup, fixed hair and a nice outfit. Most of the time it covers up what we are hiding beneath. We are trying to hide what is really going on. We are trying hide things in our lives that we think others want understand. We all do this at one point or another in our lives. It’s sad that we can’t be transparent and show our struggles. How dare someone say anything but “oh I’m fine” when they are ask. Do we really care or wanna hear their struggles. Well, we should and we should take the time to ask those we know “how are they”.
Underneath the surface whatever the problem is we shouldn’t be ashamed. Most of the time people hide things because they don’t want to be judged or misunderstood. Smiling through what trouble we are burdened by is not a sin. It’s okay to share your trouble but still enjoy life. I’ve often said those troubled moments in my life are what built the good in my life. I’ve learned to embrace my past, embrace my troubles and allow them to show through my surface. It’s not always easy to embrace these things and sometimes it takes time. With time, prayer and giving yourself permission to just breathe you will get there.
