Sewing & House Painting

As per usual, I got distracted. Well, I'll be more positive and call it multi-tasking.

I did continue making progress on my "Google Calendar-based Todo List" Home Assistant integration, too. I hope to have it in a mostly working state soon, and write about it then.

Until then, let's talk about my side projects: sewing and house painting.

Sewing

I pulled out my sewing machine to hem and decrease the waist on a new pair of pants. And I accomplished my goal (although I might need to make another round of adjustments). While the machine was already out, I decided to bring out an old project from 2020 – a skirt that used to belong to my grandma. She had sewn it for herself, and I "inherited" it from her after she relocated to a different state to live with my uncle (she had to leave most of her belongings behind).

The skirt was made to fit her, meaning it was larger and more modest than I would like. So I spent a long time taking it apart, and after that I just had it sitting around in the separated halves for five years.

Well, I finally put the halves back together. I can't remember if I had already trimmed them to a more flattering shape. Then I learned how to do an overedge stitch on my machine. This all went quite well.

Then I tried to sew an elastic band on the backside of the waist. This was a disaster for a few reasons. I was using the wrong needle (should have used a stretch needle) and I was using an elastic band that was too thin. I ordered some wider elastic and discovered I actually had stretch needles in my sewing supplies (contributed by a friend who I had lent my sewing machine to at some point). So I will try again another day.

I am also tempted to buy a new sewing machine. Not that there is anything wrong with the one I already have (also "inherited" from my grandma that, according to my mom, she bought even though she already had one and just had it sitting around). And it has a lot of features for a beginner machine. But a lot of my frustration with sewing is starting and stopping stitches. I have so much anxiety over pressing the pedal with the correct force that the needle actually starts going. Not too hard that I lose control. Not too soft that the thread slips through the needle before it actually hits the fabric (this probably happens 50% of the time). And when I'm approaching the end of the stitch, I mentally prepare to press the reverse like I'm playing the Night-Light Fright mini-game in Mario Party.

To be fair, I just need to get more experience. But I recently found out that there's machines that start and stop stitches using a button and you don't need to use a pedal! And you can control the speed! Feels a little pay-to-win, but if it means I can sew more often and more confidently, it's probably a good investment?

House Painting

I went to Home Depot to get two more Behr paint samples for "Antique White" and "Off White". Previously, I got "Blank Canvas" and I think it's way too bright. I thought I wanted something very bright, but after painting some swatches around the house, I don't think it works well across every room.

Why Behr? Why not Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore? Mainly price. I read lots of reviews about which brand to use, and it seems like these days Behr is pretty decent. People recommending SW and BM are generally people who paint for a living and get discounts. I could wait for sales, but that's too much time pressure for me LOL. I also read that SW and BM paint consistency works well for how professionals paint, but Behr consistency is more forgiving for inexperienced painters (aka me). And I don't think I will notice the quality difference (except if the color varies between cans, which I also read is a problem).

My vision is to have every room be the same color, but in different sheens for living/bedroom and bathroom/kitchen and ceilings. I'm planning to use "Extra Pure White" for the trim too keep a nice contrast. Then I can eventually add accent colors and/or wallpaper to different rooms to make it more fun (not expecting to this anytime this year, but who knows lol).

Here's a preview of some of the paint swatches. Ignore the crossed out swatches, those were from the Blank Canvas sample but I did not mix it well before applying.

And here's a table comparing their LRV and RGB values. (LRV is the light reflectance value; the higher the number, the brighter it will be.)

I think something really interesting to note is how the same paint color can look vastly different on different walls in the same room. You can see this clearly in the hallway picture. So I'm just going to have to base my decision on the walls I look at the most.

Right now, Off White is looking like the winner.

Antique White is a bit too yellow and too similar to the current color. I like that Off White looks less saturated while still having a little color. It's whiter and brighter than the current color, but not blinding like Blank Canvas.

I will eventually muster up the courage to actually buy the painting materials, move all the furniture, and prep the walls. But for now I will continue to stare at the various paint swatches around the house.

Eat, sleep, exercise?

As a bonus topic, how is my progress on my general well-being?

My sleep still sucks. I haven't exercised yet (I took a week off from climbing due to minor finger injury and, ironically, because of poor sleep).

I did buy a shelf to organize our home exercise equipment, so when I do exercise, it will be easier to get going. I can also walk in the closet again! Yay!

And I have been eating decently (at least in my opinion). I had two main meals this past week:

1. 3x Salmon salad (broccoli/kale salad kit, added cucumbers, onions, and salmon)
2. 4x Cured meat sandwich (brioche bun because Trader Joe's didn't have sliced brioche that day, added onions, sometimes with cucumbers inside and on the side)

Next week I'm getting Hello Fresh delivered so I will have more variety.