We are Short on Time to Make a Bold Move!
Time is Running Out to Paint
It is May 4th, 2023. The tension is building, as well as the cost, as painting day draws near.
We tried to paint in October 2022.
We blocked out a week where guests couldn’t book, but the weather went grey and wet. We reopened those days at a cheaper price to fill them and block a different week of days instead. But...
...the same thing happened. The rain came.
We opened the days for guests to book. A few days were booked but the rest remained empty.
To say the least, hundreds if not $1,000+ was lost just for the blocking and unblocking, and blocking again. 🤦
To add insult to the injury of losing income the sun shined bright on days the days the guests had booked. This made me happy for my guests but frustrating that we were missing out on great painting days.
AND...it didn’t look like the house had been re-stained since it was built. Oof-ta! The siding was made of beautiful vertical cedar, but it is in rough shape now.
The property had suffered decades of neglect before we bought it. We replaced many boards of siding and tons of trim right away.
The discoloration of the old boards and the contrasting colors of the new boards all over the house made it a patchwork quilt of varied wood colors.
This meant paint was our only real option anymore. We were 20-30 years late to revive the wood with stain.
And while the cost to paint is not small, and thousands of dollars in lost income was the blood price to pay to get it painted, the urgency was real.
That tongue and groove cedar would have been expensive at the time it was built and an absolute fortune to replace today. It didn’t look like it would last another Oregon winter and spring either.
The wood already took a few days to dry out after each rain due to the lack of protection. If we didn’t get it painted soon we could plan on forking over our retirement to replace the siding and we would still need to stain or paint it anyway.
The weather is some of my favorites anywhere, and a total tease every May. One day you are cranking the A/C and breaking out the sprinklers for your kids, and the next you are wondering where you stashed your coat.
The rain and the sun tend to come in sprints.
8 days of rain and clouds.
6 days of sunshine, then...
...a couple of days of downpours.🌧️
This makes it hard to paint the exterior of a house and get it done in time before the next wave of water falls from the sky.
A Deal Was Struck
I had a moment of business owner BRILLANCE in April when a guest called and asked for a discount on a two-week stay.
She was in town to work as a traveling nurse, and her company covered a limited amount of Airbnb service fees. She wanted to book my place but needed it to pass approval with the higher-ups. (In the future hopefully, she will book direct and avoid the fees altogether.)
That aside, it is not my custom to give additional discounts, as it is not a budget home, it is a luxury stay, but I sensed a bargain to be struck.👃
I offered a discount in exchange for her agreeing to allow my painting team free reign. I also threw in that her discount would be fixed even if the weather mucked up our plans.
Since she worked during the day this was an easy give for her, and no risk due to the uncontrollable factors of the weather. “Done!” she replied.
Delighted that we could now still make money with a paying guest at the house, while also paying out a significant amount of money to transform the exterior, I contacted my painter immediately. He confirmed that he was game.
The Future to Decide
Now it was just the small matter of committing to a paint color that would remain with the house for 10+ years...No pressure at all!
We were pretty sure we wanted black paint:
Bold.
Striking.
Catches your eye on a Google Vacations Rentals or the Airbnb scroll sort of color.
Luckily, there are tons of articles out there listing the BEST blacks to paint a house.
Amelia Lawrence is one of many out there and she does a GREAT job! The trouble is that each article contains a different list of "the best blacks!" Different. Not the same. Not easy.
AND the colors show up differently on:
a computer screen,
a phone, the paint chip at the store,
and the sample put on the house.
AND Different in shade vs cloudy vs full sun.
Wow! Who knew it could be that varied? The weighty decision of deciding our future weighed down on us. Well, me mostly. The hubby had strong opinions, but ultimatily the final decision fell to me.
And I had only a week to date these many different blacks and then commit!
Could you choose a color in a week?
- Definitely! Easy peasy.
- Probably. Hard to choose.
- No way! I need way more time.
Could I do it?...click here to find out.