Laying Down Color



Tribeca Loft?

Bruce Bostwick, Mr. Uber Meticulous Painter, is here imparting some desperately needed freshness to the downstairs front hall and bathroom.  Houses get tired-looking (hell, I get tired-looking).  You know those Open Houses  with graying sheers on the windows and ancient chipped paint?  We were on the road to that.  Truly.

After two days of work, Bruce has stripped the faux paint-sponged wallpaper from the bathroom walls and filled the three big holes.  He's talked me out of a mad moment of  thinking I'd go Tribeca Loft and live with the stripped surface.

"Won't go with the house," he said, calmly.  Bruce is not going to let me drive off the deep end.  On the other hand, I wouldn't have an audacious red dining room if he hadn't forced the issue in 2001.  Stop dallying, he told me after I agonized for a year. I  finally chose a red, closed my eyes, he painted five coats, and I love it.

With a properly prepared surface, the bathroom will be painted with Pratt &  Lambert "Cream Whip," an unaudacious, airy peach.   Bruce refers to that stage not as painting but as "laying down color."

Could there be a more meticulously organized brush box?