Growing up in Metchosin, my parents were Real Estate flippers and immigrants from Germany who were obsessed with fixing up and building houses. They would purchase small homes, renovate them and sell them for a profit. They’d even do this while they built a house at the same time. Sometimes they would hold them and rent them, and I learned a lot from them as builders and landlords.
I find such pleasure restoring an older house, breathing new life and energy into the walls of a home, making right the structure, systems and aesthetics. It’s these hands on experiences that make me an excellent Realtor, Associate Broker and Property Manager.
Though I don’t have an official builder’s trade (My Realtor and Property Management licences are my ‘trade’) I love to paint and landscape. A fresh coat of paint is always necessary when buying or selling a new home, and I’m happy to help Nicky with his renovations when it comes to the last step because he is not a fan of watching paint dry :)
Do I regularly go to the hardware store covered in paint? Yes. Do I show up to showings like this? No, unless it’s your 2nd or 3rd deal with me, ha!
Below I’m sharing some of my favourite painting jobs starting with my guest bedroom which I painted a moody dark blue-green, saturating the baseboards with the same colour as well as matching the velvet curtains to give this room a super cozy feeling.
In the main living and dining area I painted the ceiling a soft flat light blue to open up the space even further, and highlighted the gorgeous original cove ceilings in a satin cream (most of the walls are the same colour - ‘Bavarian Cream’ but in eggshell. The main feature wall was painted ‘Jonestown Blue’.
Doesn’t the blue ceiling look great?! I love it! I also love how the light plays off the satin finish on the coved ceilings. They just don’t make them like they used to. This room was previously brown, it took a serious primer and 2-3 coats to finish.
In the main bedroom (this was also painted a very dark yellow, almost brown) I painted the entire room in Bavarian Cream but applied a bottom level of ‘Aruba Blue’ by using a laser level to get a perfect line around the entire room. This is one of my favourite paint projects, the blue is so cheery (and echoed in the turquoise accent colour outside).
The rest of the house is mostly painted in a neutral cream. Downstairs was painted in Oxford White because the Bavarian Cream colour from upstairs reads too yellow with less natural light.
So now you know I love to paint! I believe most of the work is done in the prep - it takes precision to spackle and sand all the imperfections of a wall, caulk the baseboards, and TSP the walls. I really believe in washing the walls before a paint job, especially in a room like the kitchen or bathroom that can have handprints or grease that will show through the paint.
Aside from swearing by a TSP rinse to prep the walls, I also love using a 1.5 inch brush to cut in, and am very loyal to Cloverdale paint which I think is the best paint product in town! Show them a BCAA membership card for a great discount on paint! Painting this entire house took years in between my deals at work but I’m very happy with the results.