This issue of the Cook County News-Herald contains our special Spring Home Improvement supplement. As always, we had a lot of fun putting the special insert together. I’m always surprised by how much I enjoy looking for topics, reading the items submitted by our other writers, perusing the ads of the assorted trades people and writing up my own home improvement information.
I’m surprised because I’m not a very “handy” person. The idea of actually doing any of the projects we write about makes me shudder. I have difficulty hanging a picture or a curtain rod. Actually having to measure and cut and hammer something together is way out of my comfort zone.
I have the greatest respect for folks like Tom Alvin and Phil Kruse, who have taken on a house rehabilitation project as a hobby. It was fun to read Jane Howard’s article on their work on the “old Zickrick house” in Grand Marais (pages 8-9 of the Home Improvement supplement). But I would never consider taking on something like that for myself.
To me, a hobby is something simple and uncomplicated, like reading or walking or putting together puzzles. Not ripping apart walls and then rebuilding them or putting up paneling or tiling floors or laying plumbing…that does not sound relaxing to me.
Although painting, in the right situation, can be almost enjoyable. I don’t mind painting outside, working on something like the deck on our house. Painting outside, where you don’t have to be so extremely careful of where drips fall, is not so bad. If only our deck wasn’t so darn big….
And painting inside is tolerable— if you are painting an empty room. The problem is we never paint empty rooms, do we?
That’s why I was intrigued with the painting tips and painting checklist that we found on the Paint Quality Institute website (see page 10 of the Home Improvement supplement). In addition to beautiful photos of all kinds of room treatments— most far more advanced than I’ll ever try—the website has an abundance of tips to make painting as pain-free as possible.
For some, the painting advice may seem painfully simple. But for us home improvement-handicapped folks, the no-brainer suggestions could potentially save a great deal of grief. An example is the Paint Quality Institute’s advice to use old sheets or other absorbent material to cover your furniture and floors instead of plastic. Plastic, they explain, allows the inevitable drips to run and spread and could lead to slipping and falling.
Perhaps others have thought of this hazard of painting, but I hadn’t.
Another seemingly simple tip is to make sure that the paint tray you buy is the same width as your paint roller. When I read that, I could envision myself making that mistake. Who would think that paint rollers and pans are not universally sized? Think of the frustration and heartbreak this advice could save some poor soul like me, struggling to just get the job done.
I hope you don’t encounter any such aggravations when you undertake your home improvement projects. And, whether you are a seasoned do-it-yourselfer or a novice like me, I hope you find something helpful in our Spring Home Improvement issue.
If nothing else, you can use it to protect your floor from drips of paint!
Painting: The art of protecting flat
surfaces from the weather and
exposing them to the critic.
Ambrose Bierce
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