Create Your Special Place {Part 2}: Get Creative & Muster the Muscles

In the three-part series, To Gather Again: Create Your Special Place, this is Part 2, “Get Creative & Muster the Muscles.” If you’re new here, I want you to know this is not a D-I-Y blog. In fact, we often talk here about why we can’t do things by ourselves! However, I’m sharing a few things we’re learning during our latest family project.

For several months we’ve been gutting our old barn and revamping it into a “new” rustic place to gather with friends and family. My last post dug into cleaning the clutter. During those grueling days of cleaning, it helped to daydream about the changes I envisioned for the barn.

Get Creative

When it’s time to gather ideas, I venture to Pinterest. It’s an online smorgasbord of delight for a visual learner like me.

There is a hazard of drooling over pins (ideas, products) that are not practical for the project or the purse! It’s important to remember Pinterest is not a mortarboard where our projects must duplicate others in every detail.

If you’re looking for ideas to create a special gathering place, use the delightful pins as a springboard for creating your own twist to suit your style and your pocketbook. Consider looking for pins that are dreamy, but practical. How can you tweak the pin so you can use resources you already have on hand?

Rather than ordering everything we need online, we try to support our local economy whenever possible. Also, we like to think outside the box store. My teen and I meandered through thrift shops and found items we could repurpose. For example, I wanted to install a ten-foot curtain rod over our barn entrance. A new curtain rod of this size can be pricey. Delighted to find a metal pipe at a resale store, I paid one dollar for it and later spray painted it. I wanted to hang a curtain we could pull across the barn opening to block the airflow on colder days and then tie back on warmer days—something rustic but durable. Hence, we purchased painter’s drop cloths, and voila!

Pinterest also tells how to get those drop cloths soft and pure white, but I want to keep the tan color. My family can’t keep anything white—especially at the barn! (I’ll post photos of these in my next post).

Another obstacle when perusing the amazing Pinterest is spending too much time pinning ideas to virtual bulletin boards and not enough time putting in the real work.

It’s funny how easy it is for me to muster ideas. And not so funny, my inability to make those dreams become a reality.

That’s when it’s time to muster some muscle power!

Muster the Muscles

You may be creative and strong. I am not. The CRPS prevents me from doing everything I’d like to do. However, I find great joy in working on smaller projects, which don’t require me to be on my feet for very long. So, for many of the barn renovations (at least the heavy-duty ones), I had to muster the muscles of my husband and our teen son.

Maybe you have a health issue as well, or perhaps you’re lacking in tools or specific knowledge and skills. Whatever the reason, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Incorporate Your Teens’ Creativity & Muscles

You can ask for volunteers or consider hiring or bartering. If you’ve got teens around, they have much to offer.

Our son and a few of his friends wanted to earn a little extra money so we hired them to do some odd jobs around the barn. There are pros and cons to hiring teens. Not all teens are experienced in hard labor and they may, or may not, work as diligently as you hope they will. However, you have the opportunity to teach them new skills and a good work ethic.

The teens approached demolition tasks creatively and they had fun hanging out together. So much fun, we had to occasionally nudge them back on task. Nonetheless, they got the jobs done and did them very well.

Another benefit for including teens in your projects is the work keeps their minds off of the stress in the world and their hands off of their electronic devices—even if it’s only for a while. They’ll soon realize the value of using their time productively when they see an end-product . . . or cash in the hand.

The teens also set a good example for the next generation. Even our three-year-old grandson wanted to help so we found little things he could do like hold the ladder for GrandPop.

Most days though, it’s just the three of us here working. Some days we work individually. Our son sands rough-cut lumber for the barn floor. My husband installs the floor after he gets home from work, and later I go clean the barn after the day’s work is done.

Other times we have all enjoyed working alongside one another.

And. to be honest, there have been times when we have annoyed each other.

Be Flexible, Focused, and Favorable

Life lessons overflow during this project. We are reminded that not everyone approaches a task in the same manner. We all like doing things our own way! Family projects teach us to be flexible. We’re trying to learn not to be so rigid in our thinking and see the value in other perspectives.

But, at times, we lose our focus. Our son gets to a point where he just wants to be done with the renovation. Just call him when it’s time to gather for a party!

My problem is my creative brain won’t turn off. I’m constantly thinking of additional little projects. And my ADD keeps me flitting between projects instead of completing one before beginning another.

My sweet hubby is the captain who keeps us on course. Bless him. He’s laser-focused on completing one task before beginning another.

Yet, the traits that occasionally irritate us, are also the very things that help us stay more balanced. My husband brings the foundation to a project, I add the beauty to it, and our son brings the fun! And in that process, we begin to appreciate the value the others bring to the project. We may even try to assimilate a portion of their traits or viewpoints. 

I greatly love and appreciate my guys!  

Everyone knows it’s more pleasant to work in a favorable environment than in a negative one. Yet, that takes work too. Patience, compromise, and thankfulness all require a concentrated effort. Family projects require us to value each person’s talents and skills. But also, we must respect their time.

Of course, I want everything to happen quickly. I have to remind myself not everyone wants to spend all of their free time working on the project. Don’t overwhelm or criticize. Prioritize. Only give bite-size tasks. And don’t mention other projects (no matter how wonderful) before the task at hand is completed!

Celebrate Before Completion

Our barn renovation is progressing nicely but it’s still far from finished. We’ve installed new light fixtures and ceiling fans but one-third of the floor is still not installed. We could’ve said we’re not celebrating until the project is complete.

But our grown daughters and their families were coming in for a visit during Easter. It was time to get creative and work with what we had. We could’ve requested everyone to help with the project. Instead, we chose to savor a time of food and fellowship at the barn. What a sweet memory for us to cherish.

My last post in this series will focus on celebrating with a Barn Praisin’. It may be a month or so away before I post it because I have some great ideas that will require more work at the barn. Don’t tell my guys.