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Contrary to the statement of one of the individuals who voted against hiring a professional, I am not rich and I did paint my own house, although I also did have other things to do. And yet, here I am, writing in favor of letting someone else do it.

Allow me to set the stage. The house I bought was located 35 miles away from the apartment where I lived at the time and 30 miles away from my job. So, two or three times a week, I would drive 30 miles in one direction after work and do 1.5 - 2 hours of painting in a place where there was no heat or electricity, and then drive back 35 miles to go home. Additionally, due to the way the fireplaces were grouped around the center of the house, most rooms had an odd pentangular shape to them. The house itself is rather small, so the gaps around windows and doorways were fairly narrow and required a separate smaller set of paint rollers. The house was also 75 years old at the time with nary a straight line or a right angle in site. While we loved (and still love) it dearly for its individuality, all these little narrow spaces, small walls, odd shapes and non-parallel lines and surfaces made for a challenging painting experience.

Thankfully, my husband (he was still my fiance at the time) had some painting experience and I myself am a fairly low-maintenance woman and not afraid to get dirty. And while I am very proud of the work we did, looking back at this project I do wish we hired someone else. The house would have probably been finished and ready for us to move in within a week (instead of a month and a half), and we wouldn't have had to deal with the last few unpainted sections after we moved in (and anyone knows that it is a lot easier to paint an empty room than a fully furnished one).

As you are weighing the pros and cons of painting your own house, consider the scope of your project. Is it a large house? What is the shape of your rooms? Is it furnished or unfurnished? Are you planning to paint the entire house the same color, or are you looking for a more complex color scheme with lots of patterns and transitions? Finally, are you allergic to paint or have any respiratory illnesses? If yes, then even wearing a mask might not help you enough. If you are a woman and are pregnant - do not even go there. No painting for you. Period.

If you are painting just one average-size rectangular room, which you can easily empty of all furniture, by all means go for it. However, if you are working with multiple rooms and multiple obstacles, trust me, it is just not worth the frustration. Pride yourself on picking out your color scheme and accessories, but hire a professional to do the painting. Use the local consumer report or a national service provider rating service such as Angie's List to find the best you can get for your money and hand your project into their hands. If your contractors are nice, fun-loving people, they'll let you help them out and write your initials and funny things on the walls before they paint over. Be content with that.

Learn more about this author, Maria K..
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