One thing you hear constantly about freelancing is about how precarious it is. You can be drowning in work one day and then, boom, nothing for days if not weeks on end.

But there’s an opposite to that that not many people seem to talk about — that when the work is flowing well, you have enormous power over your income. I have been working super long hours all week and refusing to say no to anyone, including taking a job super late job last night that was due this morning. I haven’t made up for my truck expenses, not by far, but I’ve at least been able to ensure that I can get most of the less expensive bits that I’m missing for the house. Not just that, when I got in the truck this morning, I knew for sure that I was going to spend the afternoon doing some painting. That was an enormous boost for my morale.

I finished the job around ten and then spent close to an hour making a few more boxes up and hauling them to the truck, as well as doing chores and playing with Puppy.

I made it to Mérida before noon, to my surprise, and stopped at the bank and then got brunch before going to Home Depot. I hadn’t planned to get my paint there, wanting to get to get to know my local suppliers, but I had to pick up something for the owners of the Chelem house so I figured I might as well kill the proverbial two birds with the same stone.

For the paint colour, I had a very clear idea in my mind of what I wanted and I found it on a Berel paint chip. Berel is a Mexican brand of paint of decent quality (as per reviews I’ve read). There is a Berel store right by my house, so I figured that if I ever needed more, I could go there. I had all the Spanish I needed for the transaction, saying I needed a gallon of glossy (“brillante”) paint for wood furniture. The clerk picked what base I needed and mixed up my paint in record time. It was perfect. I also happened to find the cabinet pull aisle, so, after being surprised by the low prices for several models I liked, I picked out seven of these beauties to replace the existing knobs on my dressing table. I hesitated between this orangey shade and the same ones in silver, but my love of blue and orange won out. I think I made the right choice!

When I got to the house, I unloaded my things and then I decided to see if I could bring the dresser in on my own. I started with the drawers and then discovered that the dresser was super light. Still way too awkward to carry up the stairs on my own, but it was no effort at all to bring it into the living room. It was filthy and I spent quite a bit of time cleaning it and removing stuck on gum (yuck!) and tons of cobwebs. I then sanded it well.

I started my painting with one of the bookcases, though, because I was so curious to see if my vision for what they could be was true. It was!

I didn’t do the others because I need to refine my technique as I got more drips that I expected onto the fixed shelves. I will probably lie the other ones on their back and paint them that way. But what a welcome burst of colour in a drab room!

While I was in the kitchen, I plugged in my fridge. It got super cold in seconds. I don’t think I’m going to regret that purchase! By the way, I saw on the locals classifieds what I am sure is my exact model of fridge in two different ads for $3,000 and $5,000, when I paid $2,000 including delivery! I done good on that one. 🙂

I gave my dresser a first coat and then did a first coat on the coffee table.

As a reminder, this is the before:

And here it is stripped of the disgusting fabric and with one coat of paint:

Not bad, huh? Sure I might eventually want to get something a bit prettier because the coffee table is literally the first thing you see when you come in the door, but that pop of teal against the brown couches will go a long way to making the living room more inviting. I’m not showing the dressing table until it’s done. 🙂

It was four by the time this was all done and I’d had enough for one day. I cleaned up (I look like a Smurf, but I at least got most of it off my hands) and took out the trash. Then, I headed to Chedraui to pick up coffee and a few other sundries. I happened to notice that you can buy chocolate-scented body wash in Mexico that smells good enough to put on an ice cream sundae!

It’s been a good day.