Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Two steps forward, one step back

Turns out my new Bolivian/Italian/American pal is a real find. He arrives when he says he will, calls when he might be late, and notifies me along the way when there is a problem. Now, I do have to say that the light color on the floor is a major help in brightening the space and I love it. He is also doing halfway up the one green wall today and can't wait to see the full effect of fresh paint.

Which brings me to 'the problem': He was painting away on my floor yesterday with the garage door up, but a deluge of rain swept in. By the time he noticed the rain coming in sideways, a strip about 4' wide was sopping wet and my precious paint running out onto the sidewalk. My guy got scrub brushes and worked on the sidewalk and managed to get the paint diluted enough that it didn't do permanent damage, then of course he needed more paint to fix the bare strip again, so off I went to Home Depot to grab the third gallon for him. When I got back he showed me where there is a squirty leak in a drainpipe entering the ceiling, and a big splotch where the second coat of paint had washed away from that water. We don't know if the leak is from a ceiling or the pipe itself might be cracked and I have to leave town in four days! I contacted the property manager who is going to keep an eye on it, but WTF- I only closed on this a few days ago. And the place was thoroughly checked for water stains or any evidence of leakage- but of course this IS Florida and the rains can be torrential, like yesterday.

After patching the thin spots on the floor and fixing the wash-outs, my guy was again out of paint- told him to stop drinking it, so at 7 AM today I was at Home Depot getting my fourth can. As I reached for the paint on the shelf the lights went out. I felt my way to the paint desk in time for the lights to come back on BUT the paint mixing computer was completely out. So I sat there at the paint desk chatting with the painters from all over the area telling me paint related horror stories. Finally the computers came back on and my color got located, called 'WOOL COAT', of all things. Since it was 93 here yesterday it wasn't something I wanted to discuss.

Made this for the door:

I'll have a real sign made when I get back in the fall. Or maybe I will just paint the windows and doors with Ivory Flakes mixed in water. This was a big kid activity in the 50's, anybody remember? Looks like snow. And I will be snug and warm in my wool coat, the one with all the patches!

1 comment :

jpsam said...

It is so exciting reading about your new studio. I'm living vicariously...I look forward following your progress.