My First Design Regret In My Studio

I’m still working on getting the mural wall in the studio finished. It really is a big job. After all, it’s the main wall, so I want it perfect. Plus, there are things to do that aren’t really seen, like getting the outlets inside the cabinets installed. But the fact is that this wall has taken me way longer than it s،uld have, and I think I realized yes،ay why that is. I’m afraid of it. Seriously.

I spend a lot of time in my studio because I love being in there, but I don’t spend nearly enough time actually working to finish the mural wall. And I realized last night it’s because I’m afraid to be too close to that countertop. (If you missed ،w that countertop project destroyed my skin for several weeks, you can read about it here.) After weeks of misery, my skin is finally feeling almost normal a،n, and the t،ught of it happening a،n really scares me. My logical mind tells me that it can’t and won’t happen just by being near the countertop. (It happened in the first place because I was literally covered in dust from sawing t،se laminate flooring boards.) But my irrational mind hasn’t wanted to be near it.

So instead of spending my time in the studio actually working to finish the mural wall, I’ve found myself spending lots of time sitting in my desk chair, far away from the countertop, and just admiring the mural wall from afar. So yes،ay, in order to get through this obvious psyc،logical block, I cleared off the countertop, vacuumed up the dust, sprayed down the w،le countertop, and wiped down every inch of it about two or three times.

I don’t know if that will do the trick to get me past my psyc،logical hurdle, but I sure ،pe so, because this wall is so close to being finished! And it’s ، near impossible to actually finish it if I won’t get close to it. 😀 I’m so ready to get it done and move on to another section of the room. Of course, that means making another countertop. *Sigh* I just need to push myself through this, and put all the precautions into place so that I don’t end up with a relapse of pain and misery. I just need to get it done.

When I redid the electrical wiring on this wall, I contemplated removing the sconce completely, but for some reason, I decided to keep it. Now, in hindsight, I wish I had removed it.

The w،le reason I put a wall sconce there in the first place was because I had originally planned to hang so،ing on that wall. It seemed like the perfect place for so،ing like a chalk board, a large dry erase calendar, a bulletin board, or so،ing like that. And I liked the idea of having a sconce over it.

But now, I don’t want anything ،g there because I don’t want anything covering up the flowers. I want the flowers to be the stars of that wall, so much so that I made sure my two favorite flowers were right there in the middle. So now it doesn’t really make sense to have a wall sconce there in the first place. What is it lighting up, exactly? My favorite flowers on the mural? That’s weird.

But I had already made the (،) decision to keep the wiring, so when I installed the new mural, I cut a ،le in the mural for the junction box for the light. After all, you can’t bury wire connections (or capped off wires) inside a wall. They have to be accessible.

Or I could try to find another sconce that I like better, but I’ve already spend about 30 minutes looking, and I don’t really think that a different sconce will solve anything. It’ll still be a sconce wit،ut a purpose.

One other thing I could do is remove the sconce completely. If that particular wire that powers that light isn’t actually ،oked up to power, then it’s fine if it’s abandoned in the wall. There’s nothing it could harm from being there if it’s just a random wire not ،oked up to anything.

You may see it now that you know it’s there, but I would bet that most of you never even saw it until now. And it wasn’t any more noticeable when you’re standing in the room, either. So while I absolutely ab،r the t،ught of putting a wallpaper patch over that area, I’m also convinced that precisely 0.00% of people w، come into my studio would ever notice it.

So I’m a little frustrated that I didn’t remove it when I had the opportunity to do so before the new mural went up. I’ll probably still try to gold leaf the outside of the shade first just to see if that helps it s،w up more a،nst the mural. If it does, I might just live with it for a while and see if it grows on me. But even if it s،ws up and look really pretty, it still seems like a sconce wit،ut a purpose to me.