Interior Painting

A few months ago my wife and I spent a Sunday afternoon helping our friends, Lily and Jack, paint the walls of their new apartment. The whole experience got me to thinking about the colors of walls, and how we choose them. (Jack and Lily went with gray and sea foam green as their color scheme.) A buddy of mine, whose hobbies include football, body building, and rocking out to Van Halen, painted his living room—the largest room of his house—pink. Entering his living room is like walking into a Pepto Bismal bottle. When I asked him why he went with this color, he said that he had read an article about how color affects your mood. According to the author, pink is very conducive to relaxation. I have to admit, all the times I visited his living room, I was never particularly tense. But I think that may have had more to do with the fact that I was always there on a social call, usually to watch the latest action flick, make fun of Schwarzenegger’s acting, and sip some brews. If my cubicle at the office were entirely pink, I don’t think the groovey vibes from the color would make things better in the event of a computer meltdown.

           

Painting Jack and Lily’s place this weekend, we noticed a few spots where the previous tenant had splattered paint on the trim and hadn’t bothered to clean it off. Which brought up an interesting conversation. I had always been taught to paint the trim around doors and windows first, then cover it with masking tape (after it has dried, of course) before covering the walls with the rollers. Since they did not want to repaint the trim (despite the specks of old paint), we were all set to start taping it when I noticed that something was missing—the tape.

Had Jack forgotten to buy this indispensable tool? No, he didn’t forget the tape—he just didn’t want to use any. Jack’s philosophy is to apply paint to the wall with rollers first, leaving about three inches of space above the trimming. Later, this space gets painted with a hand brush. The reasoning behind this method is that people tend to get sloppy when they see the tape, letting paint fall where it will. Paint sometimes gets under the tape and is only discovered after you remove it. Without the safety net of tape, we tend to be more careful not to splatter paint. 

            

Jack and Lily could count on us to lend a helping brush or two. What if you don’t want to bother your friends, and frankly you’d rather not burn the elbow grease and paint the walls yourself? There are any number of contractors out there who will paint the interior of your house. A general tip, though, is to check their references and get a good idea of the quality of their work. You will probably find that the best professional painters come at a premium price. This is because they know the value of their work. The extra zeros on the bill could mean the difference between a picture-perfect living room done up in your favorite color, or window sills that are as speckled as quail eggs. This is definitely an area of home improvement where you shouldn’t look to pinch those pennies too hard.