Part of the experience of renovating an old house, or any house for that matter, is not getting upset with the numerous challenges and the inevitable mistakes. Laugh at them or you will go bonkers. If you do have a small meltdown, wash your face and then get back in there. Always remember the golden rule "measure twice, cut once," or as I've amended it, "open the darn can.
My job and my house are very far apart (what's 130 miles between friends?) and so I'm not always "on site" when tasks that I've outsourced are being worked on. I've worked with many trades people over the years, be it general contractors, plumbers, electricians, painters, etc. Find someone you're very comfortable with who understands your budget, and most of all your creative vision. Overcommunicate and leave notes ... everywhere. Here's a not so good situation and a better one.
One of my first contractor/painters assured me that he had a very creative and artistic eye. I wanted to paint our dining room a spice/burnt pumpkin color. I had a ribbon that was the exact shade I was looking for. I stipulated matte finish. Here was MY first error...I went to the store and asked them to color match the ribbon in matte. Then I went home. I didn't open the can to look at it. OOPS.
The next day I left for a short business trip. The contractor put up one layer of primer and two layers of the "Matte Burnt/Spice Pumpkin". Problem was the paint shop didn't match the ribbon. It looked more like Nickelodeon Logo Orange and it was semi-gloss. Wow. That popped nicely with my old world pocket doors. Not.
The painter called me AFTER he was done putting 2 layers on the entire room to say he thought it looked bad. I would have appreciated it if he called me after rolling on a few square feet, and of course, I should have looked in the can before rolling out of town. Lesson learned.
Here's the orange Nickelodeon dining room forever memorialized in film:
I then had to pay the painter for his time to RE-prime over this orange disaster. I wasn't going to mess around this time. I went straight to Martha Stewart's paint palette and picked out "Norman Brown" in matte. I liked the color. I loved the name. So that's 2 primer jobs and 4 paint jobs to come to this:
That was a not so great experience. Here's another experience with a different contractor that turned out wonderful.
Matt the Contractor, as I like to call him, has been one of my most favorite contractors. When I started the kitchen renovation I met with at least 6 contractors. Matt was the last one I met with and we instantly clicked. He spoke my language. It was a vulcan mind meld. He also had artistic vision ... he wasn't just a tall guy with tools. He's a potter, he works with his hands. He's an artist who knows how to use tools. I digress, Matt showed me renovations he had done in his house that were similar to what I wanted to do. He also understood my budget limitations (literary agents aren't rolling in dough ... just books) and was creative where I had to cut corners. I called his references, who absolutely gushed about him. Now I'm one of those people. They call me and I can't say enough good things.
While I was away from the site, Matt took digital pictures and email'd them to me. When he happened upon a BRICK WALL in the kitchen, he didn't just sheetrock over it. Matt called me and said "I found this really cool looking brick wall, I think you would like it, it looks awesome". He was right. I love that brick wall--it's one of my most favorite elements of the kitchen renovation. We have some old grain/feed bags I picked up at an antique shop hanging on the brick wall now.
More before and after "kitchen renovation" pictures next time...when I post about my countertop trauma.
Hey look at me! I figured out how to put pictures in these posts. Dang!
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