The Foolishness of Husbands

Ok, I’m an idiot. I’ve said it many times before, and I’m sure I’ll say it many more in the future.

Now, if you recall, the last time I was an idiot I tried to freeze off my daughter’s fingers while we walked the dog. This time the repercussions are far more long-term.

We’ve been looking around our 3 year old house and really getting bored by the vast amount of white on the walls. Everything was a boring builder white. Thousands of square feet of builder white.

Erin had been talking about wanting to paint for as long as I can remember, but we just had other things come up. Plus we weren’t picking colors or anything.

This January I decided to give my wife a gift… I told her that if she tells me the color for each room I will make sure the house is painted by the end of the year.

Yes, every husband out there is shaking their heads in pity. It’s a rookie mistake, I may well make again. I understand the folly of my ways, and must live with it.

Here’s how I remember the conversation going:

Tom: “You keep talking about painting the house, this year if you pick the colors I’ll get the house painted.”

Erin: “You’ll have someone come in and paint the house?”

T: “Maybe, for the family room and foyer definitely since they go up two floors. The rest I’ll take care of somehow.”

You see, my wife is a doer. Based on her actions over the past month I am convinced here is how she heard the conversation:

T: “I know how much you want the house painted, and I’m even more eager to do it as well. I promise to have that room painted within the week you choose a color.”

E: “Great. For each room we finish I’ll have the color selected for the next room. I know the color for the upstairs hallway already, let’s paint that tomorrow.”

T: “I can’t tell you how excited that makes me, but I’d rather start today. If you tape I’ll get up on a rickety ladder and begin painting tonight!”

And so it is that a month and a half after I made the mistake of offering to paint nearly 3/4 of our house has been painted. We even put glossy stripes in the dining room, which I’ll have to put up a picture to really make it obvious how it looks (and that it isn’t awful looking). I was up until 2am taping for those stripes to help family harmony… Yes, it was worth it.

What have I learned from this? I must remember to do things in secret. Ask little questions, like, “what color would you like in this room? I was thinking of paying someone to come paint it.” Then I can paint it over night and surprise her in the morning.

Of course, being the woman that she is, she’ll catch on and soon I’ll be finishing the basement over a long weekend… anyone know where I can get cheap drywall?

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 8:48 AM