My wife is due with our baby boy in a few weeks, which meant I finally had to stop using our empty spare room as a dumping ground for old boxes and gym equipment. The room had this horrible, dark navy paint on the walls and an old ceiling fan that rattled like a helicopter. Turning it into a bright, safe space for a newborn sounded easy, but painting and building flat pack furniture when you are on a strict deadline is incredibly stressful.
Covering that dark navy paint was an absolute nightmare. I bought what I thought was high quality white primer, but the old color kept bleeding through the fresh coat like a ghost. I spent a full two days rolling on three separate coats of primer and two coats of sage green paint just to get the walls looking clean and even. My shoulders were completely on fire from holding the roller overhead, and my neck is so stiff today I can barely turn my head to the left.
The real test of my mental sanity was assembling the imported crib and changing table. The box came with about four hundred different tiny screws, wooden dowels, and a single page of instructions with no words, just blurry pictures. I managed to install the main support rail completely upside down on my first try, which meant I had to unscrew the entire frame and start over from scratch. I ended up stripping two main bolts, stubbing my toe on the solid wood base, and losing the hex wrench in the pile of plastic packaging for an hour.
I still have to hang up the blackout curtains, mount a floating bookshelf to the wall studs, and figure out how to wire in the new dimmable light switch without shocking myself. The room smells completely like fresh paint and pine wood right now, and the crib is finally standing, but the sheer amount of leftover cardboard boxes piled up in the hallway is overwhelming. I am leaving the mess exactly where it is for tonight because my hands are full of blisters and I need a massive meal.