I was really starting to panic. We'd gotten 3 estimates for the painting needed in our house, and all 3 were too high. I was beginning to think I was going to have to take off a week of work and do nothing but paint, paint, paint.
Fri we had yet a 4th guy come to give an estimate. It wound up being slightly less than the others, but still more than we felt we wanted to pay. So Joe decided to call the guy back and try to negotiate with him. He seemed very nice when we was here so it was worth a try. Jackpot! He agreed to do the job for $600. less than his estimate! And the bonus to the jackpot is that he said his team would start on Mon!
But there was still painting to be done. There were 3 smaller, somewhat unrelated painting jobs that were not included in the estimate and Joe & I agreed to do them ourselves. Afterall, none of them involved painting trimwork. So Fri evening we took inventory of what paint we already had on hand and what we needed to buy. Sat morning we got the additional 6 gallons from the Duron store and then got to work.
We started with the stairwell that leads from the main floor to the lower level family room. I had 1/2 a gallon of offwhite paint left over from when I painted the ceiling of the office, so I figured that would do just fine. We painted the ceiling and walls going 1/2 way down the stairway, since the lower 1/2 is open on one side and paneled on the other. We had just enough paint to finish the job, and by just enough, I mean I was scraping the bottom of the can to complete the last few brush strokes!
Then we started on the 1/2 bath in the basement. It is the size of a full bath, but does not have the tub or shower stall so technically it is still a 1/2 bath. We never, ever use that bath so the first thing we had to do was clean the cobwebs out of the corners and spray some mildew remover on the part of the cinderblock wall that needed to be cleaned. After allowing that to dry we applied a coat of stain-blocker primer to the entire bathroom - cinderblock, wallboard, and never-painted-before wood.
While that was drying we did the same mildew removal treatment on some other parts of the cinderblock basement walls. Then we showered and raced to the theatre to see "Snakes on a Plane". This movie falls into Joe's made up film category: silly summer movies. It really should have been saved for the rental list, but Joe wanted to see it, and I was willing to see it with him.
On Sun we slept in (exhausted from that tremendous workload the day before) and then went to brunch at the Silver Diner with the Newlyweds. We all had breakfast foods and coffee and got caught up on the goings-on in each others lives. Then we went with them to the Container Store, since Michael had a gift card that was burning a hole in his pocket. We found a couple things we couldn't live without too, so it worked out well. Although, with the prices at that store, it makes me wonder how they stay in business. I mean, who would buy plastic storage bins for $12. at the Container Store when you can buy the exact same brand of plastic storage bins at Target for $6.99? People with gift cards I guess.
Since we were having such a good time with Michael and Jamie we invited them to help us use our gift card at Starbucks for a frappacino. It was nice and sunny so we drank them outside, then decided to go to Ayres variety store. We almost delayed our painting further by going to Target, but I started to worry we wouldn't finish. So instead we came home at 3:30 to finish our painting projects.
Joe started giving the basement walls a coat of the stain-blocker primer while I began painting the top coat in the 1/2 bath. 'Water green' is the color. When Joe came in to inspect my work he said he hoped the bath didn't end up looking like a mental institution. I must admit that the cinderblock walls painted that light green did bear a bit of resemblance. But since we already had the paint I continued slathering it on, undeterred. Besides, I justified, it will look much more quaint when its done and I've put rugs on the floor and accessorized the room with towels and vintage dishes full of decorative soaps.
After showers and some dinner we moved all the furniture out of the dining room, in preparation for the painters' arrival Mon morning at 8am. They will first have to remove the wallpaper above the chair rail and prime before they can apply the 'Interactive cream' paint. No, that's not a typo; the paint color really is called 'Interactive cream'. Jamie joked that it was the first day on the job for the new Paint Namer at Duron. Then I began to wonder if its really somebody's job to just sit around thinking of new paint color names. I wouldn't mind having that job.
I'm so relieved that we got our painting projects finished and are ready for the painters' arrival tomorrow. Now I only have to stress over finding someone to install the new vanity/sink/faucet we bought at Ikea for the upstairs bathroom, and finding someone cheap to clean up our neglected yard.
Drag Queen name of the day: Ella Vater
No comments:
Post a Comment