It’s Monday, which means it’s time for Goal of The Week! A new weekly segment where Non-Consumer Advocate readers set and then reach small attainable goals.
“Not a soccer goal, but a personal goal. A single do-able, not overwhelming goal. A concrete goal. A reachable goal. A realistic goal.”
So no huge vague goals like “organize the house” or “lose weight.” A single attainable goal.
My goal last week was to paint stripes on my son’s walls. I had found inspiration from Brooks, a contestant on HGTV Star, and knew the project was A) within my skill set and B) could be accomplished using crap supplies I already owned.
Here’s my son’s room last week. I’d already picked up an Ikea-at-Goodwill duvet cover for $4.99, which helped to modernize the room. But the dark green walls were a problem. The color sucks all light from the north-facing room, and is not helped by the haphazard placement of soccer posters.
See?
But an ancient can of bright green paint from Katy’s Basement Depot plus a roll of blue painter’s tape both brightened and groovified the room. (Do you notice the difference in photo quality between the two pictures? This because I dropped my camera on the sidewalk, and it’s now non-functional. Luckily my husband has an iPhone, which works in a pinch.)
I left the rest of the walls as-is, as I felt that to stripe-i-fy the four walls would a smidge more criminally insane clown retreat than I prefer.
I do plan on installing a plain black curtain rod to the right of the skateboard shelves to display my son’s collection of soccer scarves.
Like the furry yellow butterfly chair? That was a curbside find from a few years ago. And of course, you remember the cool $10 Goodwill woven leather chair that normally retails for $198!
But the real question here is whether or not my son likes his stripes. Worry not, as he loves them! Even though the VOC-tastic paint meant sleeping in the spare bedroom for three nights in a row.
What’s my goal for this week? It’s actually to complete the goal of clearing, beautifying and organizing the horizontal surfaces in my dining room.
Remember?
I’ve made some progress with this goal, but I’ll save the details for next week’s post.
I’ll be out of town for a few days this week touring and interviewing at Whitman College with my kids, so I can’t set the bar too high.
Are you participating in The Non-Consumer Advocate’s Goal of The Week project? Please share your goals in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
My goal is small. I have my metal in-box full of papers to be filed. I think if I work at it I can get everything where it goes by the end of the week.
!! What a dramatic change! I LOVE the stripes! You did such a fantastic job, Katy 😀 I am very impressed with the green color you managed to find in your “supplies”. Did you have to mix the paint at all?
Your son’s room is awfully cute (rugged? Manly? Impressive?). I love the angles!
The green is actually a color from when we originally painted his room 13 years ago. I chose the color from a fan deck and my husband painted the entire room (two coats!) while I was at work. I came home and *hated* the color, which I likened to “store brand mint ice cream.” My husband was super bummed to have to repaint the room, but we decided that we’d keep the color on the inside of his closet, which had been tricky to paint.
The paint has been sitting in our basement ever since waiting for its moment to shine! 😉
Katy
LOVE the asymmetrical stripes. Gives it an awesome vibe.
Not to be immodest, but I totally agree!
Katy
I love it…great job! Did you make the map shades?
Love that you are reaching your goals each week. That is an inspiration to all of us. This week I am going to make four outdoor pillows. I had the fabric cut out for them but not the backing fabric so today I purchased that so I can finish them! Of course, this was an idea I started with back in May and the summer is half over but at least it made it to the top of the heap!! YAY for small, doable goals.
Summer is half over?! I beg to differ. 😎
Katy
If you live in Arkansas it’s half over. The kids have been out of school since the Thursday before Memorial Day and go back for registration August 7, and classes start up again August 14th. That’s only 5 or 6 weeks away, so yeah, the summer is half over!
Looks great. I wish our knock-down textured walls could have cool paint jobs like that and actually look good.
My goal of the week is to list a pile of stuff on craigslist. And hopefully sell it and get it out of here! If I actually get all my errands done as well (stuff that I don’t have to do often like depositing checks, shipping returns and making a thrift store drop off) I’ll consider myself an overachiever!
UGH, I wanted to do stripes on my sons’ room a few years ago and then discovered that previous owners had put sand texture into a layer of paint. No tape sticks to that well enough to prevent seepage, sigh.
And my goal for this week is to recover our home from the 14 inches of H2O we had this past Wed in our basement. With no garage our main floor, back yard and porch are all covered with things pulled out of the basement and waiting to dry, be fixed, replaced, trashed or just put away again. We kept everything out till it dried out down there and we got the new hot water heater and chest freezer installed. Bye Bye paid off credit cards! Sigh.
I need to upload some listing of jewelry on my Etsy store; they won’t sell sitting on my studio desk!
I need to take some suitcases down to the foster care agency for some kids to use. Then clean out the rest of the clutter in my daughter’s bedroom. I’m thinking of taking a 1/2 day on Wed since I have Thursday off and I took off on Friday.
Nice work on the stripes! So pleased to see the improvement. I need a weekly goal – I got last week’s done. Hmmm… nope, nothing coming to mind.
Hi Katy, I showed my 9 year old son your sons room. He loves the skate board shelves and my daughter loves the blinds. Did you make the blinds?
I did make the blinds from Home Depot roller blinds and vintage classroom maps:
https://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/2011/05/my-sons-roller-blinds-are-famous/
Katy
Huzzah, I have been looking forward to this post… since I can also report meeting my own goal of the week! I finally got around to getting a new photo taken for my driver’s licence. So, goal of the week – tick!
I got two friends onto the idea last week too. So far I know one completed her goal (buying moisturiser, she’s starting small :-)), not sure on the second, but both were very interested in the concept.
I also headed off another looming goal of the week at the pass. I’d purchased a very cute new cushion cover from one of my favourite local designers. Normally this cover would sit, unused and unfilled, for many months, but I was ruthless in just gettting. it. done. on Saturday.
Hey, I bought moisturizer today, which I had been meaning to buy for awhile. (My heels are a mess!) Nothing wrong with a simple goal. 🙂
Katy
That looks amazing! Makes me wonder if I should paint my bedroom. It’s currently 2 shades of blue, which make it kinda cold.
My goal is to not eat out and to stay on top of my library due dates! I waste so much money on late fines, even thought the library is a 10min bike ride away so there’s really no excuse.
Can’t you renew using the computer?
Katy
Yup, but I like to check out the latest new books which always have at least 100 people on the hold list. So no renewals allowed! :/
Room looks great!
My goal is to visit the local yoga center and see if they have a beginner’s class that I can take. I’ve been talking about this for two years! Two! Umm, maybe I should try to sign up for one? This week I will at least go to the center and see!
I need to do the same thing as well. I’m just trying to find the right place. I also am thinking about the YMCA as they have all the classes and a pool. Unfortunately it’s about a 45 minute drive but I could do that at least 3 days a week. Maybe this week I can get up there and take a tour. Good luck with finding a class. I’ve been talking about this for at least a year so I’m right there with you.
I’m going to continue organizing my kitchen. This was last week’s goal too, but I didn’t really get on it. It’s a small space, so I can probably have it done in 15 minutes a day plus a little extra on my day off.
Katy, have fun in Walla Walla. I have a book recommendation for you: Debt Free U by Zac Bissonette. It really helped us take a clear-eyed view of financing college.
I’m continuing with my Goal of the (multi) Week: getting everything in nursery pots planted (in larger containers). Making progress on tomatoes. Have neighbors who are moving and I inherited several large, plastic terracotta pots. But at 105 degrees, some days it’s more important to just keep everything watered and wait ’til the heat wave ends.
Can I post a goal I’ve already started since I know I’ll finish? Is there goal cheating?
We have a ton of house projects to do and what I’m working on today is painting our forest green door a bright and cheery yellow. I started yesterday priming. I guess I didn’t prime enough because you can still see the green. I also decided that the yellow was too yellow, so I’m diluting it with the primer. I think I need one more coat of mostly primer with a little yellow to get it right. I have three littles 5 and under that make this goal noteworthy. It is nap time so I better get a move on.
Your goals can be set however you like!
The door sound adorable, and noteworthy even if you were childless!
Katy
The Maple Counter is a good restaurant in Walla Walla. Get the fries and ask for the diner sauce. Olives is also good and you have to check out the Walla Walla Goodwill – exposed bricks and beams, it looks more like an Urban Outfitters.
Maybe I’ll hit the Goodwill tomorrow, and we’re planning on brunch at The Maple Counter tomorrow.
Katy
Those stripes look fantastic! Loving your blog.
Thank you! I am partial to them/it myself. 😉
Katy