I’m not a fan of my bathroom. I’d love to rip the whole thing out and start from scratch, but unless I win the lottery that’s unfortunately not a project I’ll get to tackle any time soon. I made some changes way back in 2011 (which tackled the ugly blue plastic shelving), and I've recently made a couple of other small changes.

The shower curtain rings I had were simple chrome spheres. They were nice enough, but after a few years the humidity was making them discolour a bit. After a bit of searching I replaced them with something with a little sparkle.

Have you seen this video yet? It showed up a couple of times on my Facebook feed today and it struck a chord with me – it made me wonder how much time I spend sitting in front of a screen everyday instead or interacting with real people. The answer is easy - too much (and no, the irony of learning about this video via Facebook does not escape me).

On Sunday I was up WAY too early, so I did something I haven’t done in ages – I went for a walk. Not just a small walk – I was out for hours. Yes I took my phone, and yes I took pictures of the interesting things I saw as I went and shared them via social media, but here’s the thing – the only reason I was able to see different/interesting/beautiful things was I was looking up – I didn’t have my head down as I madly tweeted about whatever random thing that just popped into my head. And I liked it.

I did a sort of meandering loop from my place, and in all I probably walked about 10km. In that time I saw some things I likely wouldn’t have seen in my everyday life, and I know I never would have seen if I’d been looking down. What I did find really interesting however is that when I tried to make eye contact with some of the people I passed and say ‘hi’ more often than not I was ignored or given a strange look.

Are we so used to communicating electronically that simple face to face interaction between strangers is completely foreign? We think nothing of interacting with complete strangers over social media – is doing the same thing in person really all that different?

Maybe it’s a Toronto thing? My mom says that she finds a huge difference when she comes to visit – but she lives in a town that’s significantly smaller. Is it the pace of life in the ‘Big City’ that makes us all slaves to technology?

No matter the reason I’m going to set myself a bit of a 30 day social challenge (if you’re on social media of any sort these days you’ll know that 30 (or 100) day challenges are all the rage – there’s the 30x30 nature challenge or the 100 Happy Days challenge, and any number of fitness and diet related challenges, so really I’m just following the trend). Anyways, starting tomorrow (May 6) I’m going to look up and try to say ‘Hello’ or ‘good morning’ or something similar to at least one stranger a day, and maybe, if I’m very lucky, they’ll also be looking up and will say hello back.

By the way - here are some of the interesting things I spotted on my walk while I was looking up:

When the idea of a Para Paints Blog Crew Spring Fever Challenge was hatched I must admit to being a bit hesitant - I mean what would I paint? Sure, I still live in a condo with all white walls but, while I have vague ideas of what I want to do with the rooms, with school and work I simply haven't had the chance to sit down and really figure out what colour(s) to use. I wish I was one of those people who can pick a colour out of a fan deck and immediately know that it's the perfect colour for the space. I take a while pondering and second guessing myself and I didn't have that much time for this project.

Anyways, once I committed (along with Meredith and Susan of Newberry Sykes, Tash and Kes from The Dream House Project,  Sabrina from the Pink Little Notebook, and Sara from Saige Wisdom) I decided that as this was a spring themed project I would try to do something fun with a used item – a renewal of something old which I thought was appropriate as spring brings a renewal of life (both for plants, and for us unfortunate humans who've been hiding from mean Mother Nature for months). I thought of reworking something I already had but in the end I found the perfect item at Value Village for just $1.99. 

I've wanted one of these keepsake boxes since I first saw them a few years ago, but as they're priced from $95 to $145 (US) each they are a bit too pricey for my 'tuition-is-expensive' pocketbook. When I saw this wooden box sitting on the shelf at the thrift store I knew what I would do with it. The box had been the recipient (victim?) of someone's artistic touch, but I figured a bit of sanding and some primer and I'd be good to go. Famous last words.

I used Para BlockOut primer which worked wonders on the untreated pine of the box including a couple of knots, but strangely the little blue dots thwarted my efforts to remove them. I have a feeling the only thing that would have blocked the ink was something oil based which I didn't have on hand since it tends to be smelly and I was painting in my dining room. As I planned to use dark paint on the top of the box and the worst of the dots were on the inside of the box (which would rarely be seen), I decided they just add a bit of character to my project. Besides - polka-dots are 'in' right?

Once I'd primed the box I added two coats of Jo Jo Whitewash (PF 17), and then it came time to tape off my borders.

I debated the size of the borders a bit, but eventually I decided that 1/2" was the perfect size as the box is 14" long. Taping didn't take as long as I thought it might, and once it was completed I used an artist's brush to paint some more Jo Jo Whitewash along the edge of the tape to try to eliminate any colour from seeping underneath. 

The colour I chose for the box is called Rubber Boots (P5027-73D). I love the colour, but I think it was the name that sold me - can you think of a paint more perfectly named for a spring project? A couple of coats later and it was time to peel of the tape. I'll admit to being nervous, and wondered if painting over the tape would make it hard to remove, or worse remove some of the paint entirely, but I had no trouble when I peeled it back slowly, and it revealed a crisp line.

I've decided I'm going to store various keepsakes in the box. I've got some 'First Home' cards from when I moved into my condo, some recent birthday cards, pictures of friends and family, and a couple of pieces of jewellery (a bracelet from my Gran, a ring from my great aunt, and a bracelet I got for my first communion) that I don't wear (but want to keep) and I think this will be the perfect place to store them all instead of in a few different places. For now my new keepsake box is sitting beside my TV, but I don't think that will be it's forever home I’ll probably move it to the bookcase, or maybe my bedroom. What do you think? Not bad for a thrift store box right? 

Now that you’ve seen my spring inspired paint project, I hope you’ll check out what each of the other members of the Para Paints Blog Crew created – click on the banners below. Once you’ve been wowed by their projects I hope you’ll share one of your spring painting projects in the link-up below (You just have to share your project once, and it will appear of each of our blogs).

SPRING FEVER – Share your Spring paint projects!

A few simple rules:

1. We ask that you only link projects that were created by you.
2. You must link directly to a specific post.
3. Do NOT link posts that are linked to your link party, shop or giveaway.
   If you do, YOUR LINK WILL BE DELETED

Be sure to follow each of your PARA Blog Crew hosts:

The Dreamhouse Project
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Newberry Sykes
Bloglovin' ~ Mere Twitter ~ Sue Twitter ~ Mere Pinterest ~ Sue Pinterest ~ Facebook

Pink Little Notebook
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Saige Wisdom
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Sweet Suite 10
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