how to kill a creative slump (with zebras)

For me its simple.

I need to paint something... 

 I have to drag myself to a can of paint and make myself paint something. 

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by my squirrel brain & I get creative paralysis and wind up doing nothing.  I find that this makes me very cranky- just ask those near to me. 

This week amidst a super chaotic reno environment  I forced myself to draw and design the High Fiving Zebras I've had locked up in my head.  

AND make a stencil and start painting them in my office.  

The current view from my desk:

I have been struggling with my office.

Remember where we last left off?...

So a while ago I was planning how I was going to redesign my kid's room & I was contemplating Scalamandre's Zebra awesomness for them. 

 They hated it, but liked the arrows shooting the zebras- what do they know at 5 & 7?

I decided I wanted it in my office, 

 so I decided to reinvent it for me.

This included high fives and donkey kicks. 

Why? 

Because it makes me very happy to look at a high fiving zebra.  Seriously, it does. 

I currently have 12 painted, and like 60 more to go.

But it has been very therapeutic and it is making me come up with more ideas for other spaces (not zebras of course), which is good.

 The mess of my office from outside my new window:

Speaking of new windows...

They are all in! 

Check the before and afters I have currently.

First the sunroom (aka: the hot as balls/or freeze your proverbial nuts off room) is no longer with us.

Here is the before 

(you can use the chimney for a reference point):

 And After:

I can't wait to add new raised beds and a pea stone patio in it's old place.

I am so OK with losing square footage for this.   Looks so much cleaner now.

And then there is the front of the house.  We replaced all the old leaky crank outs with double hungs in an attempt to make it feel more coastal cottagey.

Before:

After, as of this morning.  Still needs to be shingled and trimmed out, & I am so happy with it.

The best improvement was finally losing the 12' long fishbowl window in the front.

You can see how close to the road our house is, and its a pretty active neighborhood, so I always felt like we were on display. 

 Now we have more privacy on the inside... oh, and recessed lights- so much brighter now at night!

see what I was talking about?  

it was like "howdy neighbor, wanna watch TV with us or see my kids pick their nose?..."

before:

Next step is framing/electrical inspections and then we can board and plaster it all up 

and get to the fun part.  Painting and decorating. 

I hope you all have a great weekend! 

If you need me I will be high fiving some zebras.