P Painting

There is nothing like a good paint job to change up the world. No matter what lies beneath it, that fresh new surface is like a start over, a clean slate.

This is the first time I have been involved in a whole house paint job. There have been numerous DIY, one room at a time projects in my past, but to have a professional painter come in and do the complete job – well, who would have thought it? Our rental house needed a fresh face, and the magnitude of the job required someone like Ed, from HIS Painting. Ed works alone, doing all the steps himself. It was interesting and educational to watch his progress.

The paint job included kitchen cabinets, which are always a bit of a challenge, spraying all ceilings including a high cathedral one, all walls and trim and front doors. It took the better part of a week. The prep probably took more of that time than the actual painting, and that is what bothers me about this kind of work. Taking off hardware, cleaning, sanding, priming, taping, ad infinitum to the point of despair – and then maybe you can paint. But, of course, Ed does this for a living and accepts it graciously.

The organizational aspect of a whole house job is something I hadn’t thought of before. To have something drying, while you’re preparing the next thing is a learned skill.  To do trim first without worrying about the edges, then finishing with the walls and brushing in details. Knowledge of specialized products is another element a professional painter brings to his work. The ability to patch, disguise, and transform depends on knowing what’s out there that best completes the job.

It was costly, but it was worth the price. The house looks great – better than I would have thought possible.  That was Ed’s part, and we hired it done knowing that the rental house was going to be empty, making it easy to work.  Our house is a different situation. We are still in it.

Because I do clean occasionally, and I do paint occasionally, I didn’t think our house needed as thorough a paint job. However, there were a few relatively small projects which I have been working on myself, slowly. It would have been great to have Ed do it for me, but I can’t imagine him working around all our stuff as I sort and pack.

If there were paint police, they would have taken away my brushes long ago. I hate prepping, I hate paint clean-up, I hate having to mask things, cover floors, remove hardware, … all of it. I hate it.  And, if there were a painting hell, I would most certainly be assigned there for my many painting sins.

I hunted for several days for the right white to match our major walls – never found it. I wish I had labeled all the partly used cans of paint in the garage, another major frustration. Those edges where one color meets another are a constant challenge to me. I paint over cat hair, spiders, and dust. Latex splotches adorn many of my clothes and shoes. I just hate painting, but there is no escaping it.  Even this will come to an end, and I am looking forward to that.

I am sorry about my attitude toward painting and I will work on changing it, if God gives me time. There are very few things I hate, and hating anything really takes more energy than it’s worth, just sayin’…