My house was in dire need of a few coats of paint. I last painted it around 7 years ago and it needed a facelift and a little work. I debated for a time if I should do it myself or pay someone to do it for me. The answer was elementary- did I have the time and was I capable of doing it myself for less? Maybe that is the Midwest upbringing coming out but it rings true with me and I prepared to do it all myself before the Spring ended and it became too hot in North Florida to be out in the heat all day.

I took a few days off of work. I purchased a paint sprayer and all the supplies. I prepped and repaired various old, rotting woodwork in advance of the painting. While doing the work I realized that we spent a great deal of time inside our houses looking out and not nearly enough time outside of our houses looking in. You could take that literally or figuratively and come up with the same answer. If you haven’t done this in a long time then maybe you should. Myself, I waited much too long. I realized how tired my little, yellow house looked; used to be yellow, that is, before the sun bleached it away.

I am a fifty-three-year-old man. I spend most of my time letting younger, more eager people doing the heavy lifting. They still have a lot to prove, so why not let them? Remember your youth, when you would scramble up a tree without thinking? Did you ever climb on top of your parent’s house just to sit on the roof and be above it all? When I was tall enough I learned that I could stand on top of my parent’s redwood fence and clamber up on the roof without a ladder. When I was sixteen, I could also just jump off the roof and land on my feet in a springy, drop and roll kind of maneuver. Wouldn’t that be grand if we could still do that? I am certain that I would be laid up for quite some time if I tried this today. The tallest part of my house is the chimney. The wood trim needed scraping and priming and some caulk and this would prove the toughest part of the job. I have always loved heights and being above it all. I love to look out from a hillside or mountaintop and just survey. Doesn’t everyone? But getting up there just to survey and getting up there with a paintbrush or spray gun in your hand is a completely different exercise. The first day of cleaning the exterior I needed to scrub the house with a strong cleaner. Climbing the ladder to a height of thirty feet proved to be, in a word, terrifying! I know how to properly use a ladder. I know that my ladder is well-rated for my weight and the height to which I have extended it, but that does not change the fact that with every step upward the ladder gets a little bouncier. At one point, when I was wondering how high on the ladder I could go I came face to face with a black and red warning label that reads “Do not stand on or above this step. You could lose your balance”. I stopped at this. I had already lost my training from climbing rock that says keep your butt away from the rock so you exert more pressure on your feet so they grip better and I was hugging the ladder like a child hugs a fireman while being rescued from a burning building. I needed to overcome this if I was going to get any work done. Know your limits and if that label says I can climb four more steps then, by God, I can certainly go another two or three…or maybe just the one. Yeah, that’s good enough.

I am not sure I completely got over this fear but I did make peace with it. I spent four days up and down that ladder or standing on the roof. The heat was not yet so bad in North Florida and it was actually pleasant being out the sun working from morning until evening. It was also very gratifying. More than once I found myself on the roof and took time out to look up and out. Every day as the sun heated the ground and the clouds began to form many birds would take flight. I would stop and take notice when that happened. What a great life that must be, to be above it all; to wheel and soar high above the ground looking for prospects be it a mate or a meal. I love to watch as they twitch and move various feathers and control surfaces as naturally as we place one foot in front of the other. I want to be one of them. I noticed one afternoon an outline of a bird I know I have never seen, or at least noticed, before. She had long, gracefully tapered wings with smooth tips. Most soaring birds have remiges, or flight feathers like fingers at their wingtips but this bird had none and a very large tail. She had smooth lines, like a sailplane. I watched in admiration long enough to commit this outline to memory and made mental note that I am fortunate to be able to stand on my roof and survey. What a great way to spend the day.

As the week passed I got the house cleaned and prepped. I caulked up all the widening cracks between panels and trim. I taped up the windows with plastic and I painted…and painted…and painted. Every day I started thinking that I would be done when the day ended but would always have another list of things to do for the next day. Each day on the ladder I grew more comfortable and confident. Each day the house looked better and better. Every day the list of things I had to do became shorter and shorter. My legs grew stronger from the climbing and perching. My calves were sore and cramping. My skin was a little more tan. I felt better and better each day. By the fourth day, Summer showed its face. The afternoon was so hot and humid that I could not last past around three in the afternoon while the rest of the week I had worked until six or so before cleaning up. I picked the perfect week, I think, to get this all done. Now I find myself sitting on the back porch admiring the house or standing in the front rose bed looking at the bright face of the house with it’s two coats of paint. I have small bits of trim work left, but the rain has come now and it must wait for a sunny afternoon. I can wait.

The quote to paint the house was around $2000. I did it for less than $500. Does that matter a whole lot? I guess not, but what would I have done otherwise? Would I have found something more valuable to do with my time? I doubt it. I imagine that I would have mixed a cocktail at 5:00 pm and watched the workers finish each day. Instead, I mixed one and looked at my handiwork, making the list for the next day.

I enjoyed to week. The work focused me. I concentrated on the details and the not falling off the roof. It was meditation. It was time well spent. In the end, I can look at the fresh paint job and smile. My neighbors will comment on how good the house looks and I just thank them. The paint was the goal but the process was priceless. In the effort to monetize everything sometimes we believe that our time is too valuable to be spent on something so menial as house painting; but what do we do with that time if we pay someone else? Consider your next menial task and what might be involved. I saved a lot of money painting my own house but that is not the point. What I got from the week was peace. Oddly enough, now that it is done I feel well rested. I love to come up the driveway now and take notice of the bright yellow house but I also remember how good I felt through the entire process.

Paint your house. Dig up some grass and build a flowerbed. Grow some flowers or vegetables. Take some time to do something you can’t monetize. You will find that the time you spend is far more valuable than the value you placed on your time beforehand. Paint your house and always remember; we spend far too much time inside our house looking out, and not nearly enough time outside our house looking in.