Hobby, Work, or Something Else?

​This morning I woke up very early, and when I looked out the window and saw the clear sky, I knew I was going to change my plans.

It had been raining for the past few days, so I rarely left the apartment (except for work), and I was prepared to spend today indoors doing chores. However, with the weather like this, I decided to spend my time on an outdoor activity.

​Back in late November, when my mother was putting away her window flowers for the winter, she noticed that the metal grates (which were painted white when installed) had started to rust and lose their color due to the water from the plants.
I couldn't avoid the task back then 🙂

I tried to convince her that we should do it in the spring or early summer when it's much warmer and the days are brighter than in November.
But I failed; she was relentless.
I believe that if I had refused, she would have been stubborn enough to do it herself.

​I tried to find a professional to paint it for me, but no one wanted to take on such a small job.

​"Fine," I thought, "if it's so small, I'll do it myself." I promised my mother I would (so, it's not work, not a hobby, but a promise).

​On that cold November Saturday, I bought paint, sandpaper, and brushes, and—hoping it would be simple—I jumped into action.
While sanding, I realized the metal bars weren't in great shape and that I’d have to sand every single one in detail.
I worked for several hours that day, almost until dark. With a stiff back and frozen fingers, I told my mother there was no way I was doing the second window until it got warmer.

Since she saw how much I struggled (she even advised me to give up at one point 🙂), she accepted the proposal.

​And so, this morning, dressed in my work clothes, I stopped by the paint shop. I bought new paint, sandpaper, a small brush, and this time, a small roller and a wire brush to make cleaning the dirt easier.

I prepared my workspace, unpacked my tools, and got to work.

​I used the wire brush to remove the dirt and scrub the rusted parts. After that, I went over all the surfaces with sandpaper to prep them for the new paint.

I used the small brush for all the corners, but unlike the first time when I used a brush for everything, today I had a better solution: a small short-nap roller, ideal for these tiny, narrow surfaces.

​The small roller turned out to be an excellent choice; I gained a lot of speed and finished painting the grate very quickly.

This wasn't some complicated DIY project, but since I had tools in my hands after all, I'm posting it this weekend in the #HiveDIY community. It turned out okay to me, but most importantly, my mother—the ultimate judge—is satisfied.

In my notebook of chores, "Painting the window grates" is finally checked off as "Done."