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There’s a lot of Painting to be Done
The week before closing, we had three companies provide us quotes for painting the interior of the house. Additionally, we needed them to remove popcorn ceilings and paint the kitchen cabinets. Even though I had spaced out the appointments, they ended up all being at the house at the same time.
Competition
Awkward at first, however, this proved to be a great tool for getting competitive pricing. And, surprisingly, there was quite a big difference. We ended up going with Southern Painting, a company we had used at our previous home a few times. They are reliable, do quality work, and were able to start on the day after closing!
This is a Little Overwhelming
Choosing the paint colors was a bit of a challenge. I knew what colors I wanted for my office and the guest rooms because I was keeping them the same as I had at our old house. I took paint sticks and painted them with the paint I used, which was Home Depot’s Behr paint. Labeled the sticks with the room names, and provided them to the painters. This was a necessary step, since they use Sherwin Williams Paints, and the sticks were a great tool for color matching.
The “neutral” wall color for the rest of the house was difficult, as we decided to get away from the “bone” color we’d had previously. We kept twisting and turning on what we wanted and finally decided on Colonial Revival Grey. It was very close to the color I had painted our dining room accent wall at the old house.
Finding a Needle in a Haystack
Picking out the color for the kitchen cabinets was the hardest. Looking at pictures online and seeing paint chips in person made my head hurt. I did some searches for “dark kitchen cabinet paint by Sherwin Williams” and finally discovered “Iron Ore”. So, we went with that. Again, I used the paint sticks and listed out the colors for the painters.
Closing Time – Selling & Buying Our Homes
We closed on the sale of our home on Tuesday the 17th of September. This meant we had to be completely out of the house by Monday. So, we stayed at a local hotel for 3 nights. Then, we closed on the purchase of our new home on Wednesday, the 18th of September.
Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get to Work
We spent most of the afternoon tearing out closet cabinetry, carpeting, and linoleum that we knew we were not going to keep. The painters arrived on Thursday and begin prepping the house for painting. In the meantime, we worked on more projects around the house. Then, on Saturday, we left for Mexico!
When we booked the trip, we thought it seemed a little crazy. I mean, we were moving and had just bought a house! But, since the house was vacant, we got a 10% discount. And, since they needed 6-8 days to paint and get the work done, we needed a place to stay. So, we headed to Mexico.
Perfect Planning
In the end, it was wonderful timing! We stayed in Puerto Morelos, relaxing and recovering from the move into storage, and tried to mentally prepare for the work to come.
Enjoy,
