Measure Twice, Cut Once

I have a confession to make. I sometimes lay awake at night thinking about board and batten in our entry way. It gets worse. This morning, it was the first thing I thought about when I woke up. (Is this a sickness, people?) I don't know why: my Strengths Finder says that I'm an Activator, and that once my mind is set on something I like to forage ahead with it, getting irritated with others who stand in my path. Yikes.

This has been a project on my mind for months, I just hadn't done anything about it. So today I did. I mocked it up with painters tape, read online tutorials, and took countless measurements. Then I measured again. And just for good measure (pun!), measured again.

Off to Home Depot I went, feeling a little fearful: I've never shopped in the lumber department, let alone gotten boards cut to my specs. 90 minutes later (yes, this took a while) I left feeling proud of myself that I'd conquered my fear, gone to Home Depot without my husband, and manged to get everything I needed cut to length. By myself.

At home, I excitedly pulled out the board and batten pieces to show my him how it will look. Except some of boards are too short. All of the vertical ones, in fact. Every single one.

Moral of the story: Measure not twice, not three times, but four times, apparently, before cutting. Or at least if you're me.