Life Is Sweeter With Tuck-Point and New Paint

Have you ever sold a home? Maybe more than once. Chances are you might have spent some money fixing and sprucing up areas and items that you had just decided to live with up until then.

Some new paint, fix the leaky faucet, replace the broken sash cords (that have turned your beautiful hardwood windows into jamming and slamming liabilities instead of assets), replace the old storm door, new carpet … and on and on.

If that is the case, have you ever thought, ”This is really nice. Why didn’t I fix up the place before in order to enjoy it while I still lived here?”

It’s no wonder that after all of these repairs and fixes life is easier and very possibly sweeter. As an example, one no longer has to reach under the dining room side table to pull the lever opening the hot air vent, which has been closing when the fan kicks in since that first winter years ago. I think I vowed once that I would never make that mistake again.

Maybe for once I will profit from my hard earned wisdom.

I say this because recently we decided that we needed to do something about our crumbing castle, built a year before the Titanic sank, before Mothers had their own day and before women could vote. The old Park Hill Dear is now well into her second century and needs some TLC.

Where to start? There are so many things that needed attention. This was apparently obvious to all, judging by the nearly daily delivery of an ever-growing storm of fliers that have been taped, rubber-banded, rolled, stuffed and in several pointedly aggressive acts of salesmanship brazenly inserted in gaps appearing between our bricks.

I thought that maybe our order of addressing issues could be established by the number of fliers we were receiving. According to that method, ordering a large pepperoni pizza and receiving the second pizza for half off was our number one priority. After that was lawn care, tuck-pointing, house painting, roofing, new windows and doors.

I wonder what we would get if they could see inside the house? Appliance bonanza opportunity for fliers! The refrigerator which clears its throat several times a day, or the old hot water heater, the electrical outlets that need to be replaced with GFCI types. Yes, lots of work to be done!

We decided to save the pizza for later and selected tuck-pointing as our number one priority. Keeping the old place standing seemed more of a priority than aerating the lawn. Tuck-pointing is something we know little about, except for the fact that when done poorly it is ugly. We needed a lot of it, so we took a leap of faith to select and engage the work.

The work was delayed in starting and we held our breath. Then the workers disappeared for four days and we held our breath. They came back and worked bankers’ hours but shortly it was done and looked great.

At the same time we went in the opposite direction of painting the living and dining rooms in order to “brighten things up.” We decided to do it ourselves to boot. Anyone who’s painted knows that often the toughest job is to select the paint color. Not only that but in Park Hill it is anathema to paint over the craftsman wood trim and inlaid bookcases and cabinets … but white trim is so clean and versatile.

We waffled back and forth on the trim, and called in help. Eventually we were persuaded that we had a civic responsibility to preserve our woodwork for posterity and future Mothers’ Days. People who want to live in Park Hill want the old craftsman woodwork. That’s one of the reasons they move here.

Now we needed the right colors. Simple, for some, not us. We went through 26 samples before we arrived at our colors. Finally we taped the woodwork and covered furniture and floors and began to paint. “Oh my! That seems much bluer/darker than the sample!” “Is this the right Paint?” “I don’t know if I like it…”

We finished, removed the tape, replaced the furniture and decided to hold our breaths and see what our rooms looked like in the morning.

The verdict is in. We love it! And yes, life is a little bit sweeter!

Neil Funsch has been a mortgage broker for 18 years, the last five in Park Hill. He can be reached at 303-229-2684 or neil.funsch@gmail.com.