Ratio of 1:9786645
Lisa writes: Painting is sneaky. It's the cheapest big-impact kind of thing you can do to a room. Cheaper than a new couch or carpet. Cheaper than a trip to Ikea even. You just look at some swatches, pick up a couple of cans, a roller, a brush, some of that funky blue tape, and you're off and running. And, boy, are you! Wow, you got that whole living room taped and painted in a couple of hours! Wow! You rock! And then you'll hit it with the second coat to tomorrow night (even faster 'cause it's already taped) and, dang! Crank that, Painter Boy! So now there's nothing left to do but a little trim. That'll be quick, right? It's only a couple of inches wide. Might only need one coat, since it's already close to the right color.
HA!
And you just fell for it. Fell for it again, most likely, because I'll bet this isn't the first time you've fallen for the nothing-but-a-little-trim trap. Despite the fact that the ratio of wall surface area to trim surface area is something like 1000:1, the ratio of the TIME involved to PAINT the wall surface are to the trim surface area is more like 1:9786645. If you're lucky. There are weird shapes and angles and corners. And doors! Oh my gosh. How many doors could we have possible incorporated into this project? SEVEN. And then you need to get new hinges because the old ones are all covered with 44 year old paint. And then you've got to figure out how to take off the doorknobs and reassemble the doorknobs.
And the whole time we're driving back and forth to Home Depot -- it's like the little driving ride at DisneyLand where little kids think they are driving a car but they don't realize they're hooked to a track and no matter what they do to the steering wheel, they can only go one way -- and back and forth and back and forth to Home Depot. And we keep passing the same group of guys hanging out in front of 7-Eleven, looking for work, and I'm thinking, "Hey, I bet those guys know how to paint trim. I bet those guys have LOTS of experience paining trim. I bet I could stop at the ATM and get a handful of twenties and not have to paint anymore trim..."
HA!
And you just fell for it. Fell for it again, most likely, because I'll bet this isn't the first time you've fallen for the nothing-but-a-little-trim trap. Despite the fact that the ratio of wall surface area to trim surface area is something like 1000:1, the ratio of the TIME involved to PAINT the wall surface are to the trim surface area is more like 1:9786645. If you're lucky. There are weird shapes and angles and corners. And doors! Oh my gosh. How many doors could we have possible incorporated into this project? SEVEN. And then you need to get new hinges because the old ones are all covered with 44 year old paint. And then you've got to figure out how to take off the doorknobs and reassemble the doorknobs.
And the whole time we're driving back and forth to Home Depot -- it's like the little driving ride at DisneyLand where little kids think they are driving a car but they don't realize they're hooked to a track and no matter what they do to the steering wheel, they can only go one way -- and back and forth and back and forth to Home Depot. And we keep passing the same group of guys hanging out in front of 7-Eleven, looking for work, and I'm thinking, "Hey, I bet those guys know how to paint trim. I bet those guys have LOTS of experience paining trim. I bet I could stop at the ATM and get a handful of twenties and not have to paint anymore trim..."
Before
(Tom adds: During - a surprising revelation)
After
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