Paint Me A Picture

It’s Monday 15 September 2014 and the sun is shining down on our building site, a veritable hive of activity, as the electricians, deck carpenters, gibber and painting contractor all go about their business at the start of this week.

We are due for the plumber/ gasman to do most of the water-heater and sewerage treatment engineering work later this week. The gas suppliers will also make the first delivery of two 45kg cylinders of Rockgas, do the connection certification and check the system for leaks, etc.

The door handles and other fiddly bits to doors and windows will also be completed.

It is gratifying to see the painters finally tidying up and rolling up their drop-sheets for the final time. Their job is complete. Like Michaelangelo told the Pope when he was taping up the Sistine Chapel before getting on with the undercoat, “This may take a bit longer than a week, mate…”

Our ceiling didn’t quite turn out like the ‘Creation of Adam’. Ours has a bit more white… actually completely white…  and with fewer characters playing finger-finger….

Photos of the finished painted areas will not be all that exciting to look at until the furniture and accessories have been positioned or fitted. Meanwhile, for the record:

(Above): Standing in the sitting room looking into the bedroom with the French doors on the left. The head of the bed goes against that far wall. The ceilings and trimwork are painted while, and the wall surfaces are finished in a light duck-egg pale green –blue colour.

(Above): Also standing in the sitting room and looking into the bedroom, with the bathroom door on the near right and the dressingroom / walk-in wardrobe door next to it.

(Above): Standing in the bedroom (roughly where the headboard will be standing) with the French doors to the deck on the right and a tiny bit of the bathroom door just visible in the left corner, looking towards the sitting-room, and the entry door, leading through to the family living room in the main house.

As a footnote, let me recount a lesson I have learned: For a number of days I have not been impressed by the painters at all. Their time-keeping was terrible, the amount of work they managed to finished each day seemed unnoticeable. I was most unimpressed, and I was sure that I would have done a far better job.

Now that the painting is over, I’ve changed my tune a bit. Actually, I’ve changed my mind completely by about… 98%  Yeah, totally… The finish these guys end up with is superb and the quality of the cutting-in is unbelievable. South African painters simply don’t deliver a job anywhere near these fellow. Well done to Brian and his men!