My Best Friend Carlos

I was planning to make this entire week a whole week about my BFF Carlos.  There he is….

But on Saturday I came down with food poisoning and it’s kicking the crap out of me.  literally.  and figuratively.  sorry mom.  I am so drained and my brain has just completely stopped working.  I told Jeremy that you are supposed to learn something new every day…..what I learned is that I would never last on Naked and Afraid.  Goodbye dream.

Ever have food poisoning last six days?  I haven’t.  until now.  It’s a comforting thought….indoor plumbing.  and granny panties.  and heated/air conditioned blankets.  I need one of those if you have one.  A blanket that can both cool and warm.  Shark Tank get on that.

So anyhooo….I had great dreams….Martin Luther King Jr. sized dreams about this post.  It was gonna be epic.  The one that took us four years to finally do.  The step that we have been DYING to tackle in this house.  But alas….now I just want a normal UNINTERRUPTED (if you know what I mean and I think you do) conversation with a few photos.  I can share more later but for now….send a little prayer up about my guts and let’s talk about how my BFF Carlos transformed our foyer, stairway, hall and living room.

Here are the befores…

Obviously this is after we cleared the furniture out.  Now you can better see the toothpaste colored walls and the tan trim…

Upstairs the ceiling connects to the living room ceiling.  The foyer ceiling (pictured off to the left in the picture below) was a tray and it was minty/tan/minty/tan/tan.  yikes.

All of that got moved out and now it is all painted.  We hired Carlos (my mom’s painter who has proven to her to be an honorable worker and trustworthy person) to do the work.  We paid him a flat amount of $2500 to do all this (ceilings, trim, walls, and finish our deck) and we were responsible for buying all the supplies.   In the end we spent about $700 in paint, stain, paper, tape and caulk.

TOTALLY WORTH IT.  Every single penny.

The paint color is Benjamin Moore Stingray and we had it color matched to Sherwin Williams paint in eggshell.  The trim is just the brightest white that Sherwin Williams carried.

We aren’t fully moved back in yet but already it has changed my life.  I just want to finish these rooms now.  I can’t wait to get stuff on the walls and things back in order.

Also…this coffee table….great for kids, but the color in here seems to clash now…

I hate to paint it so I think I might just have to build something new that is all dark brown.

These windows make my day now.  I feel happy looking out there and seeing the light pour in.  It’s amazing what an effect color has on our moods.

Overall….piece of cake.  Totally happy.  And I so appreciate Carlos and his wife (his wife accompanies him to all his jobs and it’s adorable) and all they did.  If you are in Georgia and want his number, here you go…..

678.334.4322

Tell him that Katie Bower referred you and told you that he does free quotes.  He thought it was hilarious that I asked to take his photo and post it to a website.  I explained that is what I do…talk about painting and my kids and things….and he told me that I had a good job.  Yes.  Yes I do Carlos.  The best job in the world.