Sunday, July 16, 2006

It's best left to the pros

Painting one's home is a common activity. If you watch HGTV as much as we have, you would also believe that anyone can and does paint his/her home. Don't be fooled. If they don't have a crew working off camera then these regular people have pros over their shoulders facilitating their work. It's no easy task especially if you have the whole apartment/home to do. Well we do have the whole apartment to paint but as my sister Christina thought if we could tackle a couple of rooms at a time it's doable. Doing it in stages. Hmmm I believe she has forgotten what it takes to paint. It has been over 6 years since she painted one wall in her room (a small room). I haven't painted a wall in a while but I do know it's not easy nor fun especially when the weather is predicted to be in the 90s. Hot, hot, hot.

So why would perfectly sane adults who have incomes would attempt to paint in 90 degree heat?
Well desperate people, such as my sister believe herself to be, would.
1. After four months of renovation and going over budget (and still continuing) Christina wanted to save some money. Hiring a crew would cost $1400 for labor and a few hundred for supplies.
2. Family is coming to visit in less than two weeks. We've planned this family vacation 8 months ago so it was impossible to change. Didn't think the renovation would take this long. We had planned to house everyone (5 visitors in all) at our new home. Christina is keen on still making this happen.

So as you can see 1+2=painting this weekend regardless of weather. So although I wasn't thrilled with the idea, my sister Tina and I agreed to do it with her. It's been very hard-emotionally and financially for Christina. Anyone who's done renovation knows how hard it gets as it appear the task will never end.

We got the primer, drop cloths and brushes.
We wiped down the walls.
Then finally we started. We started with the ceiling ...and then we stopped.
After about 20 minutes of getting primer dripped on our faces and getting cranks in our necks, we stopped.

Tina and I gently encouraged her to get professionals. The cost is a bargain considering that it's the whole apartment. This way we can get it done and over with. And as Tina reminded us it would done so much better than if we did it. So after some thought she arranged to have our contractor hire a painting crew.
They'll work this Monday and Tuesday.

Although we spent about $100 on materials and lost a whole Saturday, it was totally worth it because Christina now knows without a doubt that hiring pros is worth the money.

In three days we'll have a nicely painted apartment.
Pics to come.

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