I always knew my younger daughter was a unique butterfly who sees life so differently than you and I. We tried to be so careful all of her life, to try to teach her how to function in this world while never crushing her effervescent spirit that makes her so special. But sometimes, what she sees as pure joy and happiness leaves many of us completely befuddled. Like her paint choices. When they first moved into the condo we rented out to them six years ago, I allowed them to paint it whatever colors they wanted. The carpet was trashed, the kitchen counters were a giant Pinterest fail, and I figured there was little they could do to it with random paint colors that would lower the value any more than the absolute steal we got buying a foreclosure at the bottom of the market. I teased my daughter relentlessly over the Partridge Family transition from the yellow kitchen, to white stripe, to blue living room. I thought the green and purple bedrooms were a little much for me, and I absolutely hated the weird dark rose bathroom and orange-of-insanity hallway. In 2013, when the biblical floods came, I often wondered what the restoration crews must have thought about the whole thing.
Over the following sixteen months, while we waited for three successive contractors to complete the work on the renovation project post-flood, we made multiple selections for tile, bamboo flooring, countertops, trim, and everything else required to bring the condo back to livable status. I begged my daughter to settle on "grown-up colors" for the paint, and not to try to put in too many transitions. My pleas fell on deaf ears, and even caused a bit of resentment from those who would be living in the condo. I knew they would not be living in it forever, and I wanted my income-producing investment to maintain as much value as I could keep in it. She toned down her crazy candy colors a little, but she still insisted on saturated purple and green for the two bedrooms, and a rather intense canary yellow that flowed from the kitchen to the living room. The hall and bathroom stayed white, mostly because the contractors refused to put in any more custom colors than that.
Now we have reached the moment that all the kids moved out of the condo. They emptied it well, but there was a phenomenal amount of cleaning that had to be done to bring it up to my standards (developed from years of practice moving out of base housing and needing to pass ludicrously strict inspections, and from growing up with parents who faced the same requirements). I spent all of this afternoon over there cleaning parts that I really shouldn't have been touching, because it wasn't my mess, but I'm on the clock here, needing to rent the place out again sooner than later. As we scrubbed stains off of walls and trim, and realized just how horribly cheap was the paint that the contractor used (and how poorly applied), I leaned in to my daughter, so her father couldn't hear me mutter this, and said, "Dad is gonna hate me, but I'm going to go ahead and paint the living room and kitchen, as well as the hall and bathroom." She looked at me aghast and said, "But... My yellow! It's the color of happiness!" I firmly but gently reminded her that she has her own house now, and she won't be living there anymore. I am hoping to get a professional person or couple, like maybe a computer programmer employed by the new Google campus opening up not two miles away. I also am hoping to raise the rent, at least enough to cover the new appliances we bought, and the new windows we intend to install.
We had a huge shopping trip to Home Depot this afternoon, and without letting myself overthink it, I chose "Perfect Taupe" and got three gallons of it. I started in on painting behind the new stove first, so that it could be pushed back into place and be done. I painted down low between counters and upper cabinets, while my foster daughter's new husband helped me paint the biggest wall in the house. We made good progress, but it's going to take another couple days to complete the process (which is why I started immediately). It's a strong color. I didn't want to make the mistake of putting light, bland walls that would show every smudge, and need repainting between each tenant. That way lies pain and grief. But it is a neutral color, and anyone who hangs art will appreciate how well it makes colors pop against it. It's very close to the color I intended to put in my own house, before the "Dark Pewter" that ended up just as blue as blue could be. I hope it helps my next renter feel like they are living in a home, not just a temporary space.
No comments:
Post a Comment