WWYD - House Painting

So I'll try to make a long story short...DH and I are hoping to close on our house next month and I'm stressing about paint colors, but that's another story! FIL and SIL have offered to help paint, obviously DH and I would too. DH and I have never painted, FIL has painted rooms in his house here and there over the years, and although it sounds like fun, I'm not really sure I want to get into painting 6 rooms. I want it done quickly and right. My mom on the otherhand has offered to hire a painter as a housewarming gift. DH and I are arguing about it b/c he doesn't want to use her money for that (she gives us a lot already) and b/c his family has offered to help and they usually do nothing for us. I also think I insulted his father and sister when I told them we are thinking about hiring someone. They were even starting to argue with me about it.

PS- they don't know my mom has offered to pay for it

Re: WWYD - House Painting

theres nothing fun about painting.... We painted our whole house ourselves and if I coulddo it again I'd hire someone... you can def tell the difference between a professionals work and your own

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Honestly, hire the professional painter!!

We had a professional painter (DH's brother) paint our main floor LR, kitchen, DR and 2 bedrooms. He did all the prep work, was quick and neat as a pin and cleaned up afterward. The results are beautiful and it was great to move into a fresly painted home!

DH and I are very handy people, we've painted in the past a number of times, I am meticulous about stuff like this, and you can still see the difference between our work and his brother's work.

Trust me, it will look that much better and it will be a really nice treat to move into a house that was freshly painted by a professional. You have plenty of other things to worry about and maybe your DH's family can help out in some other area that needs work.

By the way congrats on the house!

Re: WWYD - House Painting

I personally wouldn't waste money on a painter. Painting is probably the easiest thing we did in our house.

We painted the entire place....mouldings and doors too. I used the money for better things.

But then again I wont hire anyone except an electrician to do work cause I'd rather do it myself.

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Coming from someone that has painted 12 rooms in our home, I would hire the prop in a heart beat. It really isn't much fun. Room after room after room. It's a long process. If your mom is will to give you a great gift like that I would take it. DH family can help out with something else. GL!

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Re: WWYD - House Painting

When we bought our house, we were all set to paint all of the rooms our selves, we got half way through our livingroom and hired a professional the next day. Best money we ever spent!!

Re: WWYD - House Painting

we had family members help out and it saved a lot of $$$ but if youre not sure then hire the prof. to keep your mind at ease.... btw congrats!! are u in the neighboorhood?

Re: WWYD - House Painting

thanks for your opinions and advice everyone. i know that we will be saving a lot of money in the long run doing it ourselves and it would be nice to say we did it ourselves. of course at the same time i just want it DONE!

i have some other reasons, that i won't go into, why i would rather not have my ILs painting but that's my own problem! DH and I have some thinking to do!!

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Re: WWYD - House Painting

We were in the same situation and ended up hiring painters. Right after you've closed the last thing you want to do is paint, there's just so many other things that you're going to want to do. It actually cost less than we thought it would and it was nice to have it done in just a few hours opposed to us doing it in a few days.

Re: WWYD - House Painting

We did a mix of both, we had family help painting the bedrooms and hired a prof do the living areas, lr, dr kitchen, entry

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Re: WWYD - House Painting

honestly i wish we saved enough to have a pro paint. We did a horrible job and now when we repaint will have to hire a professional to sand what we did paint (drips) and we have on the ceiling streaks. So if you can have a pro do it.

Re: WWYD - House Painting

make a compromise - hire a painter fro bathrooms - the paint for bathrooms and kitchens is harder to paint with and lots more prep work - big rooms are easy to do just a takes effort

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Hire pro painters. Pay for it yourself.

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Family helped us paint two rooms (if a half bath counts as a room), and it was a nightmare. Honestly, this was experienced family who has painted their entire house themselves, and it was awful. Our painter did the entire rest of the house in less time than it took my MIL to do two rooms, and the difference in work quality was obvious. We had to have him re-paint the other two rooms.

Painting is easy, but spackling properly and getting the walls smooth first is not.

ETA -- Until we had the pro come in, we thought the family-done job was great... Then it was right up against the pro's job and the professional job was just so much better and so much less hassle.

Message edited 7/20/2010 5:02:22 PM.

Re: WWYD - House Painting

Hire the professional painter!

I dread painting! We painted ALL the rooms in our house before we moved in-bad decision; cause by the time we got to the dining room i dind't want to look at another paint color! We put a color we later thought was ugly up and are NOW repainting it with a color we like.

Go with the Pro painter!

Re: WWYD - House Painting

If you can afford it - hire someone.

It's NOT a fun job.

We painted everything ourselves, multiple times - it's totally do-able, so I can understand why it's something you WOULDN"T want to pay someone to do - but it's NOT pleasant !!

Re: WWYD - House Painting

My parents paid for us to get a professional and I am SO glad they did! It was a huge time saver and everything looks great. I wouldn't have been able to do as nice of a job and if we did it ourselves we would probably still have unpainted rooms (3 years later)

Re: WWYD - House Painting

She offered, so take her up on it.

Dh and I painted our bedroom, and I haaaated it. Painting was such a PITA. If we had to do more than 1 room, I woulda hired an outsider.