You are going to see me refer to this project a lot during the next few months, so I’ve decided to call this one, the Big House Job. I have only worked in this home once, 3 yrs ago, when I first did the nursery for their yet to be born, twin boys. As luck would have it, this couple was in search of a Nanny for the Summer, and I happened to have a 
daughter home from college that Summer looking for work. 😉 Sarah instantly fell in love with these little boys and was a very good fit for this family. She continued to fill in as a Nanny through her remaining 2 yrs of college, when she was home on school breaks, occasional weekends and another Summer . Even now that she has graduated and is working full time as a nurse, she continues to watch the boys a few hours here and there. Since she’s been with them since they were born, she really loves to see how they are developing and enjoys the fact that she can actually have a conversation with them now.
At first, the homeowners were going to sell this house and buy something new. After looking around, they decided this house had too much character and a great location, so even though it lacks a yard (there is a park across the street), they would do some major renovating and stay. This house has 3 floors, 12 rooms, plus 4 full baths, 1 powder room, and a 3 season porch.
To start, a new heating system and central a/c have just been installed. All the electrical is being upgraded and all of the baths are being gutted and completely redone. A few walls are being moved and/or removed and all floors will be sanded. The kitchen is fairly new, but in the final phase, some upgrades will occur in that room too.
The family has moved out and are living in a nearby hotel for now.
I was offered first option to do all of the painting in this house which will include ceilings, walls and trim in every part of the house. I don’t normally take on this big of a "straight painting" job, but a couple factors convinced me to go for it. First, I obviously know the homeowners and have a good connection to them since they kept my daughter gainfully employed during her college years. Second, it is a quick, 15 minute commute for me. :-). Third, Stacy agreed to share this job with me. Fourth, the job will be done in phases, so we can both fit in other decorative painting jobs here and there; and lastly, there will be some decorative painting in some areas. Also, I actually like "straight painting", finding it relaxing and a nice change of pace from the various forms of decorative painting that I normally do.
So, this week we have begun. The house is still very much under construction so there is always a bit of confusion when multiple contractors are coming and going. We are starting on the 3rd floor since most of the rooms up there are ready. Some tiling is still going on in the bath on this floor and some carpentry work seems to be going on in the hallway and one closet.
This is the boys bedroom and the room I am concentrating on first. Stacy primed a couple of the walls on Saturday. I decided to move that pile in the foreground out to another room before I did any more work in here.
This is the door to the boys room that I painted before they were born.
Here’s one wall before it was primed. You can see the soft blue cloud-like glaze that I did before. The 2 big white patches on the wall are from the plasterer that was in before me. When I moved that pile in front of the wall, I discovered a hole in the wall that the electricians had made when they were running their wires. Apparently, this pile was moved in after the electricians and the plasters only plastered what they could "see" and did not bother to move any furniture, etc. that was against the walls. Stacy decided she would take care of all these extra repairs herself since the homeowners experience with this plasterer has been less than wonderful and we don’t want any more delays.
The Boys Room is going to be painted a light blue and then I am going to add some circles in navy and white, various sized, all over the room. I haven’t worked out the layout yet since I don’t think I’ll get to that until later next week.
