Anyone I've painted
with or for has heard me say repeatedly “It’s only paint”….meaning, what’s the
worst that can happen, re-paint again, right? Painting a room is not a life and
death situation. Oh sure, occasionally I find out that furniture is arriving
days sooner than expected and I may have to paint late into the day to
accommodate. But no need to shed tears…………….But sometimes….panic sets in for a
client. You know, life changing events like a mother-in-law coming to visit, or
a client finding out that Thanksgiving dinner has been assigned to their house
last minute. And there was that one harrowing night when my next door neighbor
interrupted dinner…………………
The kids and I had
just sat down to late dinner when we heard a knock at the door. It was our
neighbor next door in tears! My heart sank, obviously thinking some tragedy had
befallen. It took a few minutes to understand her through the sobs. Seems she
had decided to faux paint a focal wall in her living room and it wasn't turning
out right. OK, first, Praise the Lord, no one is injured or dead. Secondly, and
I actually asked her this…why didn’t you just ask me to do it for you to begin
with? She said she didn’t want to over ask favors since I’d already done four
rooms in her home. That’s silly, but let’s go see what’s going on in the living
room….I mean, how bad could it be,right?
Oh my soul! I had
never seen such a botched up paint job. Now her home was fairly new and this
”focal wall” had already been painted by with a flat finish standard white
latex paint by the builder. Somehow, some way, this frottage faux was bubbling
up and seemed as if the only thing holding any of the paint on the wall were
the gusts of air from the ceiling fan. I asked to look at the base color paint
can. It was a deep red color, latex paint. She said she had painted on several
coats. OK, that can’t cause this problem…..Then she had painted on a glaze
mixed with a more orange shade latex paint. I inspected those products.
Absolutely fine, that shouldn't cause this either….by now the kids were having
a grand ole time peeling the paint off the wall creating shapes of
continents….and in walks her husband. I told him I was baffled. None of the
products could have caused this and that it appeared as if there was something
between the original wall paint and the red paint, …. something oily. They
looked at each other. “What”? I asked. The husband then said “ Well, I did
paint a primer on the wall yesterday could that have caused this”? “Doubtful, You
used wall primer, right? What brand”? He told me (I won’t mention the brand
name since the product was not the culprit) It was the best brand to use. Hmm…. Then he sheepishly asked if it
mattered how old the product was. Well, all the cans I’m looking at had just
been purchased……………except I had yet to look at the wall primer can. He had
already tossed the can out………and then admitted he had the can for many years.
Seems it was from his house prior and it had been going stagnant in our
sweltering Florida air. …Oh, but it gets better… He then admits he didn’t even
shake it up. He thought it would be OK to paint the top layer clear separated
portion onto the wall !!!! Are you kidding me?! Who does that?! She ranted at
him. I told him I couldn't look at him. He left. She poured a cocktail .And the
kids and I stayed up til the wee hours of the morning fixing the now properly
painted beautiful frottage focal wall.
Tip: Yes, It is good to use a primer. Use the right primer
for your wall type or situation. And make sure that the product is new and well
shaken.
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