Painting the House

So two years ago we hired Errico, an affable fellow originally from Nicaragua, to paint our house. His bid was half of what I expected, as our house is two stories and pretty big, and he set out to do a great job.

Three days in, he came to work tearful -- his mother was crossing SW 77 Avenue, near Kendall, and was struck and killed by a car. Could I help? I could -- we were hired by him and his three siblings, and handled the case -- getting it settled in record time for all the coverage there was, and earning the thanks and respect from his family.

He finished the job, and Wifey needed to pick colors for the interiors, but she suffers from lack of confidence in matters of design and decor, and she balked. We told Errico we would see him in the future.

The future turned out to be a full two years. Wifey finally agreed we would stay in our house, despite her desire to move somewhere "less suburban," only if she could re -do the place. It was the right thing to do -- we bought the house almost 19 years ago, and it was time for an update.

She interviewed several decorators, and settled on two lovely young women -- friends since Braddock High, and now in business together. They helped Wifey choose colors -- which are mostly an off white, which I heartily approve of, and the dining room and one wall at the end of the main hall will be a royal blue.

So Errico and his crew have come back -- they've been working 8 days now, and are due to finish by the end of the week. He does a terrific job -- very clean and neat, and uses Sherwin Williams paint, which makes Wifey and me smile. My late father in law Richard was reverential about Sherwin Williams, saying always "You must only use Sher-vin Villiams!" and showing me spots on his ceiling where the roof had leaked, and the superior "Sher Vin Villiams" had kept the "vater" out. So Richard, may he rest in peace, would have approved...

I'm mostly staying out of the decorating decisions, even if some strike me as strange. We had beautiful, heavy wood dining chairs, which Wifey could "no longer stand to look at." Errico happily accepted them -- he plans to disassemble them and ship them to a hacienda he owns near Managua. Their replacements are tiny, office-like chairs that are rather uncomfortable. They are literally half the size and plushness of the chairs we just gave away -- but apparently look appropriately modern.

And we have, at most, people sit in our dining room two or three times per year -- so I did not exercise any veto powers on the chair replacements. I know nothing about decor, anyway...

Another item slated to go is the "Great Wall of Wifey." This is a custom made oak wall unit Wifey said we had to have about 10 years ago. It cost well over $10k, and I used to whine to Dr. Barry about the cost -- wouldn't a $5K wall unit suffice? But Wifey said it was a "forever" piece, and so we got it from no defunct Blackwelders, the go to place, at that time, for custom furniture.

Well, "forever" turns out to be a decade, and now Wifey says she "can't stand to look at it." So it'll be replaced, apparently, by something more modern.  Again -- as long as I have a place to use my computer, and maybe watch some football -- I'm fine with it.

So Errico is toiling away, hopefully turning our house into "less of an eyesore," as Wifey says.

The budget she came up with is equal to the gross salary I earned AFTER I asked my bosses for a raise in 1990. But I figure it's still way cheaper than a move would cost -- and so I agreed with the project.

I told her that I went out and splurged on something important, too.  I bought a secondary issue municipal bond -- Longboat Key, Florida, which will generate $800 per year in tax free income, and mature after I'm gone -- hopefully to be used by Wifey for expenses in her golden years...

Actually, I did agree to some updating, too. I have a waterfall that uses the sprinkler pump to cascade water down a coral rock wall into our pond. It stopped working years ago. So I found a pond guy from Paul, the owner of my fish supplier in Homestead, and Nick resealed the basin, installed a new pump, re plumbed the thing, and now the water flows again. He's going to replace a broken timer box, so it'll go on automatically in the mornings and evenings -- right now I have to turn it on and off.

It'll be nice to sit out there -- and indeed the cooler weather is coming -- and contemplate the nature of the cosmos -- knowing Wifey is happier inside the house, with her new stuff and newly painted interiors.