Today is my day off, and luckily, it is going to be about 70 and sunny on this early November day. What a gift! Our old house is largely scraped and primed and today is painting day.
It's not uncommon for people to ask why I don't hire someone to paint. I usually feel a bit defensive, like I am a freak of nature or something, because I don't pay thousands to have someone else do this job, when we can do it ourselves. Granted, our old cape is quite diminutive, and that is good. And, as any old house owner knows, scraping, caulking, priming and painting is something you had best get to enjoy. Generally, I do like it. It's a good opportunity to reacquaint myself with every clapboard, nail hole and gloriously perfect imperfections of this house I love so much. On a warm day like today, I'll play my favorite music, maybe some Railroad Earth, open the windows, and tackle the final phase of painting before the cold weather sets in for good. It will be a good day to commune with nature and this old house.
I'm proud to not be one of what I refer to "the HGTV generation". My father always painted his house, too, finally stopping when he was 85 and my mother banned him from doing any high ladder work. He still tackles the stairs and porch, though. My former neighbor in Foster, RI, now in her eighties, always did her own painting, too. And she owns not only her home, but six or seven rental properties. She still does some of it, too, but has a handyman get up to the peaks, which galls her. The lesson: be independent, don't be a slacker, know how to do things yourself.
So I am waiting for sunrise and for the temperature to come up just a bit. I'll tackle priming the north side of the house and the newly built bulkhead door (thanks to my husband) and then paint over all the primed sides...and if I still have any ambition, I'll scrape and prime some of the west side. We don't always do every side at once, and I thought we would run out of time to complete the west, back side of the house, but maybe the weather will hold up long enough to get it done.
I'll be enjoying my day. I hope you do, too.
