A little more than two years ago we did some home renovations and extensions. The architect that was commissioned for the job came for the initial meeting to hear about our dreams and our budget. I later however realised that this was a spying session, because the first renders that came back were filled with wineracks and bookshelves. He had summed me up nicely. I was in love with his plan. I am easy that way.
Long story short, we ended up with a beautiful foyer and for almost two years I have been confused about what should go there.
Eventually I decided on interesting doors. I got this idea from a restaurant in Cape Town that has a huge artwork with different doors. I started my search on the various image banks and collected my own. These were then all printed on small A5 canvases. I also like the symbolism associated with doors:
- Moving through difficulties or challenges
- Entering into new spaces
- Suggesting opportunities
- Leaving sadness or loss
- Transition
- New beginnings
- A threshold or boundary at which two places meet
The Engineer left me to my own devices in figuring out how these should go up. I had a plan, but I have to see things before I can commit. I commenced with A5 sheets and masking tape, to try and visualize the whole thing.
The doors went up, and in my opinion looked gorgeous. Little did I know…
So lesson 1: mounting tape works fine but not if it is in your entryway and you see it from the side if you walk in.
Lesson 2: canvas borders should be black
Lesson 3: A level is your friend. The Afrikaans word is “waterpas”, isn’t it beautiful?
Lesson 4: sometimes there is a reason why you marry the engineer in the first place
So two months after this whole project, we realised that there is some water damage. In comes the insurance assessor and a team of builders and down goes my doors again.
After a few days of chaos and waiting for things to dry, the doors can go up again, but the engineer offers to do it this time. Where I did things with masking tape and paper, he sits down at his computer and writes 39 lines of code. On the screen is a render of my piano, the light switch and my 18 images… and he is moving things closer and further apart by the click of a button. So yes, you can be annoyed and grateful at the same time.
This time the canvasses went up with nails, so that they could be flush against the wall. I also painted the canvas borders black.
Perhaps the lesson here, is that you have to get it completely wrong the first time, to get it perfect the second time around. Or maybe, that we should all just play to our strengths and admit that we have weaknesses.