One More Reason I Need Therapy

Why is it that every time I prepare to host people in my home – no matter how informal the gathering – I have a sudden urge to completely redo the house? What is it about inviting guests over that makes me look at every piece of furniture, wall hanging and light fixture with a newly critical eye? And why on earth do I feel like anyone else will care or even notice if I change or don’t change anything?

I can look around our house and tell you exactly when I bought items and for which event. The bathroom accessories – towels, tissue holder, soap dispenser, etc. – were purchased hours before my bunco group arrived. The pillows on the living room couch and den chair were a last-minute effort before a birthday party. Our dining room table and chairs were ordered in October to ensure we’d have them for a New Year’s Eve dinner.

So I had to know that inviting someone to spend six weeks at our house would inspire a remodeling frenzy.

About a month ago, we found out my cousin’s daughter would be doing an internship in our city and offered for her to stay with us for the summer. We are very excited to have her in our home – but within two days of agreeing to play host I had talked my husband into a bathroom enhancement project. We, of course, had lived with this same bathroom for the past eight years and been unbothered by it, but I suddenly saw the room as if for the first time – and it wasn’t pretty.

God love him, my husband is quite handy and agreeable and patient and saintly…so he started working on the bathroom approximately 48 hours after my cousin accepted our invitation. The problem with home improvement projects is that one thing always leads to another. The refreshed tile in the tub made the tub itself look dingy, so we had to resurface that, too. The new framed mirrors highlighted the tacky existing light fixtures, so those had to be replaced. We were totally satisfied with the faucets until the new countertop on the vanity was completed and we (and when I say “we” I mean “I”) determined a rubbed bronze fixture would really look far superior.

We hired guys to do a few things in the bathroom, but most of the work fell on my husband, who knows from experience that once I get a plan in my head, I have to follow through with it – and quickly. Have I mentioned that he is a saint?!?

Anyway, now that the walls have been painted…and the tile has been freshened…and the lights and faucets have been installed…and the vanity has a new finish…and the mirrors and wall hangings have been hung, the bathroom floor is looking a bit tired.

However, so is my husband, so I’ve decided to let it go for now.