2005 Un-Gift Guide: A Painted Room

Gift: An Offer To Help Paint a Room
Price: Priceless

How many friends do you have who would like to do a few things to transform their apartment, but never get around to it? Offering to paint a room is a great gift and a sure way to get them going.

We recommend that it..

take place over a weekend.

start with a planning dinner on Friday night.

end with a celebratory dinner on Saturday night (lotso' drinks).

To start the gift, give them some color ideas. This can be in the form of magazine pictures, color chips or a pre-printed color collection from your local paint shop.

For painting tips and instructions see this link. For floors, this is a good link.

Comments (6)

But, um, make REALLY sure they want the change... nothing worse than an "improvement" gift when the recipient doesn't think they have anything in need of improving...

posted by patrick (the other one) on 2005-12-06 14:45:20

Actually, on my next painting project, I'd settle for the gift of "clean your brushes and paint tray."

posted by patrick (the other one) on 2005-12-06 14:47:47

Patrick,

How, oh how could I resist?! If you paint my little pad I will clean the paint brushes!!

Kate

posted by Kate on 2005-12-06 16:50:02

Assuming you have the skills and the time I'd say another idea would be to help someone out with an existing project. You know the kindyour friend has been living in a mess for weeks, the cat has no place to sit, friend doesn't even know WHY he started the project, and the walls are still not painted. My boyfriend is living that nightmare but this weekend things are going to change!

(And yes, do like p(too) says and clean up after yourself.)

posted by riye on 2005-12-06 16:55:19

did this!
gave my mom time to prepare the space, by announcing this gift last week. She's easy, as long as the walls are white or some shade of khaki.
Bonus: i'm back in the favorite child slot for this upcoming beautification.

posted by little sarah on 2005-12-06 21:08:00

..sigh...I wish someone would have offered this to me recently. Today will be my SIXTH day of painting my living room/foyer. It is taking forever and I'm so tired of living in the mess.

Also, I just happened to see that the woman upstairs was painting her apartment and offered my ladder, which she didn't know I had. It would also be nice to just offer up all your old painting supplies (rollers, handles, trays, etc.) to friends. That would really help in cutting down the cost of even a small paint job.

posted by Marie on 2005-12-07 10:53:33