Our Super (Handy) Man

**WARNING!! Super Long Blog Post!**

Hello Everyone! As I alluded to in this post, we got more work done our house. Nothing structural or anything, just some things that we wanted to check off our list. For the most part, you all know Justin and I as DIY'ers. We've tackled most of the smaller issues with our house ourselves, but there are certain things that we can't do (or just don't want to do) that we leave up to the professionals. Or in this case Bobet.


Bobet is our family's handyman. He's a jack-of-all trades. (By the way, that's not his real name, it's his nickname. I feel like all Filipinos have Filipino nicknames, right?). When we went out of town for the holidays I asked my parents if they could "loan" us his services for the week and they were happy to oblige.

The three things that we wanted him to handle were:


1) Patch the framing and install the deadbolt in the basement door
2) Patch the holes in the basement left by the plumbing incident
3) Paint the upstairs/downstairs hallways, the stairway, and trim


Let's start with the first item.  We have had an ongoing saga with the basement door ever since we purchased the house. We had the contractor who was working on our kitchen replace the door, however, he didn't bother to fix the framing around the door or install a deadbolt so he basically left the door looking like this:
 

Yes, I know our contractor it sucks, but more about him some other time.


One day I came home and the basement door was open. It totally freaked me out. It was probably due to the fact that we didn't have a deadbolt and knob lock wasn't secured. I knew from that point we needed to get the door fixed ASAP. Bobet to the rescue.

Isn't it amazing? It looks so good and professional! He installed the deadbolt just like we asked and not only patched up the framing around the door, but added molding around it to make it look more like proper interior door. Justin and I probably wouldn't even have done that. Wow!


Now onto the second item on our list...


A few months ago we found some some mold in our basement, but before you get your panties in a bunch, it wasn't because of water/moisture issues in our basement. It just so happened that our toilet on the main floor was leaking and it was leaking into the basement.

Gross, huh? We have since gotten it fixed thanks to our home warranty, however, in order to diagnose the problem, the plumber had to cut holes into our basement wall. Not like our basement is fnished or anything, but it was no fun to look at.


The holes (and mold, yuck!) up close:

And from a distance:

With the materials we provided (a piece of drywall, drywall tape, mortar, etc.), Bobet was able to fix it--just like that. When he patched the holes he even painted the entire wall so that it would all be uniform.

From another angle:

A pic of both the door and the former holes repaired. Ta da!

Lastly, we had asked Bobet to paint the hallways, the stairway, and accompanying trim.  Justin and I (with the help of our friends) usually do all the painting, but we felt like the stairs would be a little tricky. We had no clue no how to paint the tall walls of our stairway (a long pole? a ladder? scaffolding?!). 


Here is the upstairs hallway:

Here is the stairway:

Here is the downstairs hallway:

Although you can't really tell (darn flash!), the hallway/stairway is actually this really dark, ugly, tan/olive green. Why the previous owners chose a dark color palate for the entire house is beyond me. Interior Decorating 101 states that dark colors make small areas/homes feel even smaller and this flat paint wasn't doing the hallways and stairway any justice.

Bobet's specialty is painting (he painted the entire first floor of my parents' house), so we figured he could best diagnose the correct way to paint the areas with high ceilings and awkward angles.

Here are the after pictures (you can see someone wanted in on the photo shoot):

I love the glossy finish of the paint. The shine really opens up the space and makes it feel a little more airy. We used Valspar's Paint and Primer in One and color matched it to Benjamin Moore's Wickham Gray, which of course is one of their Historical Colors (my fave).

Overall, we are super happy with all of the work that Bobet did. So, in honor of our family handyman, I'll end this super-long blog post with the video "Bebot" by the Black Eyed Peas. Bebot, Bobet...no relation, but hey, it's what my sisters and I immediately thought when we first met him. :)