We have lived in the same abode for nigh on 25 years and so it was decreed by senior management that blinds and curtains should be replaced in 2020.
In a subsequent decree it was also decided that some paint colours should be changed. Yours truly was duly consulted and on a board of two people with senior management having a casting vote in case of a tie ,the process was started in Feb 2020 with unanimous agreement.
So, we consulted our colour consultant ,who visited, and she proposed certain colours and fabrics and also suggested places where we could find them. We shopped local and had everything in place with our painter due to start work on March 18th, 2020.
The blinds and curtains were also selected and put aside, as they say in Kerry, with approx. fitting dates selected and entered in order books.
We hadn’t pencilled in Covid 19 and the consequent lockdown . All the tidying had been done, books had been taken off shelves, pictures and prints taken down and put away in boxes. They remained quite secure in their packaging until we were released from our Corona virus imprisonment.
It was a surreal experience to live in a house with so much stuff out of reach. We negotiated a new date with our painter to start work in the last week of August.
The blinds were fitted the week after lockdown ended but would have to be taken down again when painting started.
We went off on Monday morning with 2 weeks to go to the arrival of our painter to purchase the required paint. We were amazed when we were told they had run out of supplies because of the amount of paint used during lockdown. He told us it could take a week to build up supplies again.
Kerry was calling and we were going to take a break, paint or no paint. We struggled on the road with major delays and along diversion from Carlow to Portlaoise. We were stuck in a long line of traffic waiting to enter the metropolis of Macroom when my phone rang asking me for exact amounts of paint needed as our paint expert was going on holidays for 2 weeks. I told him my location, far from home, frustrated, stuck in traffic and we agreed we would talk to his deputy when we got back home a week later, having wished him a nice holiday.
Having returned from Kerry we did as agreed and visited our deputy paint expert.
Colours and amounts were duly mixed, paid for and loaded up in the trunk of the car for the journey home to the garage. Paint was delivered and our painting adventure was ready for commencement.
Our man, the painter ,opened up the first 10 litre drum and I heard a mild expletive as it was the wrong colour and we were not going to have a hall stairs and landing blinding us with a strange yellow hue. After much early morning discussion, it was agreed that said wrong colour had to be returned .
Thankfully our painter agreed to do the necessary visit to the paint shop . He would at least know what he was talking about.
When he returned with same paint can he explained that it was the computer made the mistake .The shop assistant enters the colour, presses the button and the computer inserts the appropriate number of colours into a white base but sometimes the little tube could be jammed, and the colour would then be off shade.
It seemed a plausible enough excuse and who was I to argue with a paint computer.
Anyway, they manually added another drop of something and hey presto we are as close as we could get to the “Afternoon Tea” colour .
One change of lifestyle I am currently experiencing is this early morning rising . You see these painter men come at 8 am so yours truly must be reasonably awake when they arrive.
Anyway, we are now on day 6 with the end line just ahead.
I am now quite content to live with the paint smells for a short period. We have lovely clean walls ,lots of fresh air in the house due to all windows and doors being fully open all day. Gradually all the bits and pieces are being restored to their rightful places.The end result is worth it.
We hesitate to start these jobs, but it is only as they progress that we realise how absolutely necessary they were. Incidentally we had several trips down memory lane as we discovered hidden gems that had been hidden away in drawers, boxes and presses for years.
We now have a very new looking clean house again and I’d better be most careful lest I should be the first to blemish a wall, door, bind or curtain.
As they say in Kerry well wear and then This wan will see me out. I hope not.
I wish a happy painting experience to anyone about to set out on that artistic journey.
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