A Newly Painted House

It has been a long time since we painted our house, and it was over due. But for the first time, we did not want to tackle the job ourselves, so we hired it done. First decision - who to hire? Tom had worked with a young man named Jonathon, who worked at Lowe's when he ordered materials for the new front porch. He asked him for a referral. Turned out Jonathon was leaving Lowe's and starting his own business, and wanted to submit a bid. Tom worked with him, and when his bid came in at a very reasonable amount, Tom hired him. Last Sunday we worked to get everything off and away from the house. We left the nails in the wall for the Carruth Collection so we would know how to put them back.

On Monday Jonathon arrived and did the pressure washing.

Cleaning always seems to make a bigger mess before it gets done.

Then the weather turned difficult - it was windy with a threat of rain. So nothing happened until Thursday, when Jonathon returned to begin the masking. We have 28 windows. It was an all day job.

Finally on Friday we got paint, but not until Jonathon had to go get some parts for his sprayer. Seems he had loaned it out, and the borrower had not cleaned it. And Jonathon had not checked it. A learning experience?

Saturday Jonathon's wife came with him to help. They are newly weds, which may explain why she was willing to help, but they made a good team. Saturday, late in the afternoon, they ran out of paint. They were back Sunday afternoon to finish the base paint and begin the trim.

Finally today Jonathon finished the job by 1:00 this afternoon. While he was finishing, Tom got all of the windows washed and I cleaned the inside. We have most of the stuff moved back into place outside, with a few more pots to return to the front porch.

It looks good, with the exception of the bottom of the garage door, which might need a bit more paint. We have to paint the green house/shed, do we can handle that too. But it feels good to have this project done.

We got a good job at a good price, and a young man got some experience and some capital to get his business going.