During the ongoing shelter-in-place regime, I should be reading fiction and transporting myself to other worlds that might afford me a semblance of normality or familiarity. But I don’t seem to manage this ordinary activity of reading and escaping reality. Instead, I face the uncertainties occasioned by the pandemic by transforming pieces of furniture and objects in my house with chalk paint. Lime green now are a metal candle holder and an old beach chair I got when a friend moved abroad. A stained cookie baking sheet has morphed into a coral serving tray.