valis2 | Thoughts about painting

So the new place (1500 sq ft) needs to be painted.

I do not want to paint it. I only want a couple coats of white paint, applied by an expert.

My father is telling me he will teach me how to paint, and I can do it myself rather cheaply, or pay $$$ and have it done by an expert.

However, I'm worried about the timetable, and I am also concerned about how little time I have available for the next two months and how I have to clean out the new place and somehow get rid of all of the stuff there that we don't want to keep, clean out the apartment and transfer everything to the new place, and also pick out flooring and have it installed at the new place, and sign paperwork and get a mortgage, and do my usual eBay/shows/trips/pull out hair all the while. Also, I know how I operate, and if I am the one doing the painting, it will all end in tears.

Anyone have suggestions for getting a house painted in the metro Detroit area, without leaning on friends? I just need a nice, neat two-coat white paint job on 1500 sq ft. Well, less, actually, because one bedroom doesn't need it.

In other news, I've started posting the Riptide fic at the comm. It ended up at 26K. I might still revise the last chapter a teensy bit, but wow. I did not expect this--I thought 5K, max. *blinks* Anyway, I'm so happy to have it (pretty much) finished so that it will STOP EATING MY BRAIN.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I had my whole house painted by someone else when we moved in. I'll do an individual room, but whole house = no way. Especially if you're just doing a basic clean-the-place-up whitewash. Prod have sprayers and cool stuff that makes it SO much easier.

Yes, that is EXACTLY what I was thinking.

I mean, when he said it would take 3-4 days per room--I mean, even if I do one room and move to the next--*headdesk* I just don't have that kind of patience.

Why not get a quote from the professionals and then weigh up your options (speed and quality versus you doing it more cheaply)? It could be that doing it yourself may not save you as much money as you'd think, especially if you put a value on your own time and all the other things you could be doing with it.

My family would be horrified at me saying that: they would never pay for a painter or wallpaperer. But I hate doing stuff like that with a passion, possibly because of a childhood spent scraping and painting whenever we decorated. :-)

I am just not equipped to handle painting a whole house, not when I'm leaving in mid-January and I have people coming over on Christmas Day and Husband's grandmother is still kind of there, rummaging about in her belongings.

She even said she'd be back in another week to stay and load up more stuff, which means that I will still have to wait about getting someone in to actually paint. *cringes*

Now, I know VERY little about painting, but the few times that I've helped friends do that, it's been messy and smelly and then all the cleanup afterwards...

Put me down as another vote for getting quotes from professional painters. I'm thinking that they might offer discounts for doing the whole house at once. They likely know how to do any necessary taping and tarping quickly and efficiently, and I'll bet they clean up after themselves, too.

One last point -- for the money that you're saving by getting a good family deal on the house, you deserve to spend a little money to pay someone to do it for you!

I really want to have someone paint it for me. The taping and the tarping and the wah is just too much for me. And I hate driving friends crazy to help--it's going to be hard enough for me to ask people to help me move stuff, much less do the painting, too. I think that I'll get some estimates.

;) Thanks for the comment!

You get your husband to do it.

Your father is quite right that paying a housepainter for inside painting is hideously expensive, compared to what it costs to do it yourself. And it is something that you CAN do yourself. Outside painting (and new flooring) are simply more difficult skills sets and require Equipment. But inside painting is something almost anyone can do herself.

But if you are the one handling the mortgage, overseeing new flooring, cleaning, packing, transferring, etc. . . . then I'd say your husband should do this. None of my business, of course.

But you can buy a book at Home Depot or Lowes that will tell him how to do it.

hee! Only trouble is, Husband works six days a week and goes to graduate school, and has even less time than I do. ;)

I am going to get some estimates and find out exactly how much $$ is involved, I think, before I go forward.

My brother might be willing to do it in the afternoons after class. Want me to ask him?

P.S. He'd be cheaper than a professional painter, since he's not, but he's someone who isn't you painting and he definitely could use the cash.

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!

I'm emailing you my brother's phone number right now. He knows some people up your way and can get a small crew together to help out.

Personally, I love to paint my own rooms. Multi-color. I abhor pure white.

That said, there are always students who can use a quick buck. Painting isn't really that hard to do, so you give them one room, check the result, and if it's ok, you give them the rest of the work.

In Germany there's also MyHammer.de, which is an ebay auction the other way around. You post a job to be done and collect the offers. The cheapest gets the deal. Or rather, you can choose the one you trust most amongst the cheapest offers.

I bet the US has something similar. Maybe you can google that.

I have only painted a little, here and there, and found it to be awful and nerve-wracking and *shudders*.

I might have a line on a friend's brother who can do it. I'm crossing my fingers!

Thanks for the idea, too--I'm sure there's a site like that.

Thoughts about painting

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject