Outdoor Painting Saga

This is the long saga of our outdoor wood trim painting......

It all began in April.  I knew that we needed to paint our trim this year so I called early in the season so we could get scheduled.  I called several places but my neighbor's painter was almost half the price of the other companies.  Let's call him Rick (cause that's his name).  Well when Rick came to give us a quote he told us we needed to get some wood repaired before he could paint.  I told him that I would call him ASAP when I found someone to fix the wood.

I got several wood repair quotes and found this guy through a handy man company.  He was so kind and totally patient when my girls just wanted to stand and watch him work all day (I finally had to put up the baby gate so they would give him some space!).  He and his wife were never able to have kids but they call the youth at their church their "kids" and they love to spend time with them.  He fixed all the wood around our front door, underneath the back door, and some pieces between the windows on the back of the house.  I asked how much to take down the ugly, old satellite dish on our roof.  He said they don't do roofs but I went outside and saw that he took it down for me for free.  

Once I knew the day the handy man would be done, I called Rick so he could come paint the next week.  I met Rick at Sherman Williams to pick up our paint.  We lucked out and it was a huge sale that weekend!  We picked a dark grey color.  I was sick of how the white always looked dirty and I saw one other house in our sub that did the dark trim we thought it looked more modern.  Most people try to match their trim to their siding but it never looks quite right.  Plus our next door neighbor has the same brick as us, and the darker color helps make our houses look different.

I found out Rick's brother is a Bishop in a neighboring stake!  But he told me he's not interested in church stuff.  He said he would be back later that week to start prepping.  A few weeks went by I didn't hear from him.  He didn't respond to my texts or messages.  Finally he came to my house and said his knees were so bad that he couldn't get on the ladder.  I felt bad as he was telling me that he's going to only accept one story houses this summer but he doesn't get many of those.  I spoke with Jake and we told him that Jake would help him one Saturday and do that ladder work while he did the main story (he has all the equipment that we would need to use anyways).  We agreed on a price to reflect this deal and he said he would come back.  By then we were in June and it was rainy for a few weeks - not great for outdoor painting.  But then the weather got better and I still didn't hear from him.  I finally got frustrated and asked that he would return our deposit so we could go with someone else.  He showed up at my house that week and said he got steroid shots and he was able to do it all.  I really just wanted our house painted and I could tell his money was so tight I doubted that I would ever get my deposit back.  I knew we were going to UT for several weeks (I didn't tell him that) I told him to just to take the paint so he could come when it worked and not have to wait for me.  Well when we came back from UT six weeks later it STILL WASN'T PAINTED!  Ugh!  I tried to get him to call me or text me - finally - out of patience - I left a voicemail saying we needed him to call me back or we would have to take him to small claims court (a total bluff).  He showed up the next day and got the dang house painted in two days!  Half way through the first day of painting he asked if he could get $100 cash that day and the rest the next day.  I know that he has money troubles - but I wasn't paying him a penny until it was 100% completed.  I told him that I didn't think that was a good idea.  He was so grumpy at me like I was being unreasonable - after I went to all that work to help him out and he was finishing 4 months after I first called him.  We had a slightly heated discussion (I was reasonable and he was totally out in left field).  I told Jake he needed to work from home the next day cause I was just done dealing with him.  I'm so glad it's over!  I'm not sure all that effort was worth the low price...  but I really like how it turned out!  I think that the dark grey brings out different colors in our bricks.


This summer we also completed a few other outdoor projects.  Jake painted the playset with some wood stain.  I love how nice it looks and we've had fewer slivers!

Jake was outside putting on the stain while I was inside with the girls.  When he first started it looked really orange.  I yelled out the window "Jake, that looks pretty dang orange..." then Scarlett said "Can I go see the 'dang orange'?"  haha!

We originally stapled burlap on the back of the ladder so the girls wouldn't fall through.  The burlap stretched and started to fray so we replaced it with plastic mesh.  The mesh looks great and with the wire ties and staples it's really secure.  I didn't put it between the last rung and the ground cause grass/weeds/leaves collected behind the burlap there.  It is working great!

Around our red tree we had these ugly juniper bushes that I was SO allergic to!  I tried to help Jake rip them up but they poked through my yard gloves and gave me hives all over my forearms.  UGH!  Glad those are gone!  We planted new hostas that I was so excited about!  I also bought a Nishiki Dappled Willow next to our front porch.  It's a fast growing plant and the leaves are pink in the spring!  I can't wait to show you a picture next year!

Here's the day we planted our new plants...

Our girls LOVED the sprinklers (and didn't really care about the plants.)

Moral of the story: if you're looking for an outdoor painter in our area, I do NOT have a recommendation for you....