Painting the Van -- Oops - I Mean the Trim

                                           

Few things test a marriage like owning rental property.

Few things test sanity like being a landlord.

What was meant to be "for retirement" has turned into a full time job -- or five.

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Apparently, it's very true that you get what you pay for. Too bad we can't all afford to pay what we really want for products and services. That might save a lot of headaches.

Nevertheless...we hired a painter to paint our old house. That was the first week of January. He said it would take 3 days. Then he ended up in the hospital. When he got out, he assured us he'd be finished by the weekend. He needed paint for the trim. Greg dropped two gallons off at the house around the 10th of January.

Then, the painter seemingly fell off the face of the Earth.

Despite endless attempts to reach him - - no luck.

We showed the property to a potential renter on the 30th. Imagine how thrilled we were to discover the trim paint was still sitting in the middle of the dining room -- untouched -- weeks later.

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Time for Plan B....

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My kind in-laws agreed to watch the little girls so I could paint yesterday. I dropped them off early and was making the obligatory visit to Home Depot by 10am. $60 to Home Depot. (Oh...if only we owned stock in that company!) By 10:30, I had my ipod blasting (tuned in to my aptly named playlist -- "Let's Clean Rental Properties.") I ignored the fact that the painter had started in nearly every room of the house -- yet not completed a single room. I was determined to have a better attitude.

Energized and motivated to get the entire house done - - I began.

My enthusiasm did not last long, however, as I hated the color for the trim. 'Cookie crumb' was apparently meant to be eaten...not painted.

Thinking it was pointless to spend precious time painting a color I hated throughout the entire house, I pounded the lid back onto the paint, using my fist -- that is an important point -- rather than a hammer. I threw both cans of paint into the back of the van -- and returned to Home Depot for the second time in 2 hours. (I think Greg's record is 4-5 times in one day -- I'll have to confirm that with him.)

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Picture this: There I was -- so happy to be in Cleveland Heights on a gray, cold, winter day -- spending my time, once again finishing a job someone else had committed to. I hopped out of the van and experienced mild curiosity as I saw a thick, brownish-orange discharge dripping from the back of the van, puddling in the parking lot. The curiosity turned to horror when I opened the van and discovered that the ENTIRE GALLON of cookie crumb paint had spilled all over the back of my car.

Take a moment to visualize what your reaction would be....

I was immediately grateful for three things:

1) That I was no longer driving my in-laws car as I had been for the previous six weeks

2) That I had to tell Greg, rather than my dad, about the accident. (Sorry Dad!)

3) That now I could pick out a new color for the trim, in case they couldn't lighten the old color enough.

Who says I'm negative?

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* It took 3 full rolls of Bounty paper towels, just to absorb the majority of the paint ($10).

* Two spray bottles of upholstery cleaner has yet to make a dent in the mess ($14 ).

* $30 for new "Water Chestnut" paint.

* Approximately 2 hours attempting to clean the mess.

* Paint on my coat, in my hair (you'll remember, it was dripping), and on the camera.

So much for painting the entire house. And as for the painter...he must be dead or in jail.