Have you ever painted a fence? This was the first time for me. Wow – what a difference it is to painting walls in a house!
Funny how you can NOT notice something for some time, then suddenly it becomes very apparent. After the first lockdown, I came home one afternoon and actually ‘saw’ the landlord’s fence had been painted black. It looked amazing.
Let me explain. The landlord (and he’s one of the good ones) lives in the house in front of mine. During the first lockdown, for something to do, he had painted his fence. This was the part that ran along the backside of his home. He even painted the letterbox and his front door to match.
From then on, whenever I drove into my driveway, I felt the envy fairy on my shoulder as I looked at the somewhat dilapidated fence on my side, especially around my home, and wished it was painted as well.
I did ask him why he didn’t complete all of the fences, and his response was:
“Once I finished this side, I was over it.”
Now, I can relate; it was a lot of fence to paint especially doing it on his own.
But the envy fairy persisted. Finally, over a wine with the girls, we discussed my front yard in depth. It was a unanimous decision that the fence, especially around my part of the house, needed to be painted black.
Now the landlord wasn’t going to do the actual painting; however, he was all in favour of providing the paint if I took care of the manual labour.
No problem. I first approached my best buddy and her husband. Yes, they were on board. Next, I asked the Improv troupe that I’m part of, Honest Liars, and said that all volunteers would be gratefully received. Mind you, I did have a wee bribe of food and beer to sweeten the deal.
The date was set. Sunday from 10 am onwards.
The gods did not favour that day and declared it would rain. So a quick change of plans to the Saturday was in order and, thankfully, there would still be some ‘painters’ turning up.
The whole event did begin a couple of days prior. Best buddy’s husband arrived, and we started the rather mammoth task of prepping the fence. Within a couple of hours, the main part (closest to the house) was sparkling clean.
The next day best buddy arrived, and that cleaned fence was painted.
Saturday morning, the sun shone bright, a gentle breeze wafted through, and I set up the water jug (with lemon slices), the paint, brushes, rollers and drop-sheets ready for company.
Right on cue, the first friend arrived, brush in hand and overalls on, followed soon after by several more. I was touched that I was loved this much that people would give up their Saturday to paint a fence.
And so it began.
By 1 pm, all were sitting outside eating and drinking and admiring the finished work.
Did I mention that the pergola had been painted as well? No? Well, it was, and the effect tied everything together. Needless to say, the landlord is delighted with the result.
There are a few more things to do with the outside décor to get it into the party-worthy mode, but once it’s finished, all painters will be invited back to celebrate friendship and helping hands.
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