How to have a horrible bathroom

As I mentioned yesterday, this house is 42 years old. It was built in 1970 and we moved here in 1978. Not much has been replaced from then.

I know originally the bathroom was pink, and then it got changed to a green, and that lasted until fall of 1996. Dad had left and I was between jobs, so I painted the bathroom a cream color, and put a border around the top. It looked pretty good, though the paint job was not perfect, and it lasted for a while.

Around 2011 (so 15 years later) we were ready for a change. I can’t remember if it was from my tax refund or from the profit share, but I had an extra $300 and I decided I would spend it on getting the bathroom painted.

I had just gotten a permanent job in 2010, after about a year of nothing and a year of temping, and so it felt good to be able to contribute again. Also, I knew how the economy had been rough, and I thought it would be good if I could benefit someone else with it. Much of this post will be about me being stupid, but I think at this point I was still being reasonable.

I had a friend from school that did contracting work, and so I called and asked about it. He wasn’t going to do it himself, but he could send me two of his workers, and then I would pay them directly, so it would be extra for them.

I guess my first mistake here is that I was not helping him here. Clearly, he did not need the money. However, one other benefit that I felt would come with going through him is that I could trust him. At this point, I was definitely being stupid.

The first thing that should have worried me is that he did not come over for a quote or anything. I said how much I could pay (this was definitely stupid), and he said to pick up the paint we wanted, and then they would just come over and apply it.

Remember that I put up a border. My sisters and I somehow got it into my head that we should take it down. This meant that they went to buy the paint without me, because I was working on removing that. This is another area where a quote could have been useful, because he could have said “Don’t worry about that; we can get that right off.” I could not get it all off and they got it off very quickly. However, the real mistake here was letting my sisters go buy paint alone.

The only recommendation we had gotten on the paint was to use Behr, which is what we used when we painted the house for sure, and might have used for the bathroom the first time. That was no problem. However, my sisters did get the recommendation at the store to get the paint with the primer mixed in. This does not have to be a problem, but I think it may have been for us.

The other issue was color. We had been talking about Aqua. The accents for the new decorating scheme were based on rubber ducks, so something that would look good with that color. I guess they were told that it would dry lighter than it went on, but this was not a reason to go with almost navy. Nonetheless, that is what they got. On the plus side, when they make suggestions I don’t like on anything now, I refer back to this decision and say they have lost their right of input forever.

Anyway, the painters came over, put on one coat, hung out for a while, put on another coat, took my $300 and left. Here is the reason I think the paint/primer combo was a problem. It gave a specific amount of drying time required on the can. They did not wait this full time, but I figured they knew what they were doing. However, as it dried that day, little spots of white started appearing, where I think the paint was pulling away from the primer because of the second coat being applied too soon. I can’t swear that’s the reason—maybe they were just sloppy—but something about that was not right.

There were other concerns about sloppiness. After they left we started finding other things, like that they had skipped a big patch behind the toilet (hard to reach,  yes, but not impossible), there was a big splotch of paint that fell on the floor behind the toilet that had since dried on the floor (it is still there), and another big splotch of paint on the light fixture (that is no longer there because we changed the light fixture). Also, there were questionable judgment calls, like painting over ceiling hooks instead of removing them, and things like that.

I found I was getting really angry. My friend had sent a message, asking how it went, and I responded honestly, and he said it was the dark color and the roughness of our walls. Well, there are issues with that, but my specific complaints were not from that. I wrote back again, feeling like I needed at least a partial refund, and he never responded.

Again, here’s where a consultation would have been good. If the walls are really bad, tell me that, and what possible remedies are. If we are making a horrible color choice, say that. Also, tell me how much it should cost before I tell you how much I am willing to pay.

It was very frustrating. He has had two birthday since then, and I have not wished him a happy birthday, which is huge for me, because remembering birthdays on Facebook is really important to me, and with him, I don’t want to. I know he has used his crew for mutual friends, and been really helpful, and I don’t think he’s a bad guy—I just think ultimately he did not care about me. And I can forgive him, but I can’t really go back to respecting him, because I deserved better than that, and I certainly paid for me than that, and he did not care.

Obviously, a lot of my anger was with me. Why did I let my sisters go to Home Depot without me? That was a problem, and I should have known better, but they performed to the level of their abilities, which are not strong in this realm. In his case though, they should have been able to do a much better job, and there were red flags and I just pushed them down, because there is a friend in this and he knows what he is doing, and they know what they are doing, so it will be fine.

Anyway, now is time for healing. Part of that is writing this out, but also, part of it was repainting the bathroom. I went back to relying on my own labor, and it is a lot better. And it shouldn’t be. They had better equipment and know-how, but I actually cared. I do need to do a few touch-ups, mainly for some places where some paint came off along with the tape. Visitors who use the bathroom are welcome to look for flaws, though residents who complain are encouraged to find their own place. It’s not perfect, but I feel a lot better about it.

I don’t know that I would hire an acquaintance again. If I do, I will have to do it differently.