Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, good morning, everybody. Happy weekend here listening to the
repcol Light Home improvement show was sponsored by Benjamin Moore.
And this week I want to start with something that
absolutely made my week. I mean absolutely made my week.
I got a phone call from an old friend. Now
I worked with her for years. When I say old,
(00:20):
she's old. It's not like I've known her forever. I have,
But she was old when I first met her. So
old friend in every sense of the word, I love
her dearly. I got a call from her. I worked
with her at Repcolite. She retired, you know, probably during
COVID time something like that. Anyway, anyway, she called and
(00:41):
we were talking, and she told me that she was
really upset about something and she was debating going back
to a particular store with this item. Now, I ask,
you know, what's the deal, what's the deal? What is
going on that's making you this upset? And what needed
to be returned? You know what didn't live up to
your standards? Do you know what it was? I would
(01:04):
love you to guess what you think it was. I
bet if you made a thousand guesses, you would never
get it right. It's toilet paper. I about fell over
when she told me that she got a six pack
of toilet paper, it's down to three and a half
rolls and they're all see through, right, you know, they're
all see through. She hates this stuff. I love the
(01:25):
idea of her driving, you know, to the store with
her partial pack of toilet paper and demanding her money back.
You know. So I'm envisioning that as she's talking to me,
because she's thinking about going back to the store, and
before I even know how to you know, what to
say to that, because she's asking my advice. I didn't
know what to say. But before I could even get
(01:45):
to making a recommendation, she goes on to say that
she called them to complain. I said, you're kidding me.
You called the store to complain about the toilet paper?
She did. She told the person on the phone how
bad this toilet paper was. She told her how thin
it was, and she was descriptive. I mean, I really descriptive.
(02:06):
I won't be as descriptive as she was. She told
this poor lady on the phone all of those things,
and the lady on the phone, you know, rather than
just hanging up. I mean, this is probably really good training,
good customer service because rather than hanging up, the lady
told her, oh no, no, this happens. This happens. You
(02:27):
just got to work your way through the role. You
know what happens all the time. It's the toilet paper machines,
the outer layers, they're always thinner. You just gotta get
your way into that role. And that stuff, you know,
thickens right up. You know, all the plies come together
and all of that. It's gonna be great. Just keep
working through the working through the role. That's what she
(02:47):
told my friend. Well, my friend, of course, she's not
taking any of that, not at all. She's already halfway
into multiple roles and it's thin all the way through. Well,
at that point, you would think the customer service person
on the phone would surrender, right, you would figure she
was cornered, But no, she had more suggestions. You know,
(03:10):
this toilet paper troubleshooter was really doing a good job,
and she wondered if perhaps my friend had accidentally separated
the two plies. You know, you bought two ply paper.
Did you separate the two plies and now you're just
continually unrolling a single ply? You know, that's why it
could be thinner. Now, on the downside, you got to
(03:32):
deal with that. But on the upside, you just doubled
the productivity of that particular role, you know. So if
you could continue to do that, if you can live
with the thin, you're gonna get twice the distance out
of the paper. Well, my friend cannot live with the thin.
So I don't know what she's gonna do. She dealt
with that phone call, finished it and hung up, and
(03:55):
now she's, you know, called me to find out should
she go back to the to the store and bring
her toilet paper in. You know, a lot of us
at Repollite, we've been on the phone, you know, troubleshooting
issues before, paint tissues. You know, somebody's handling a weird
paint situation. They don't know how to how to work
through something, or they're not sure how our product works,
and we've talked them through that. But I never in
(04:16):
a million years dreamed that people in the world, you know,
on a given day, were potentially troubleshooting toilet paper problems.
That was completely new to me, and I loved it.
I loved that idea. You know, I told my friend,
if she does bring that toilet paper back, she's got
to bring somebody with her to record, you know, video
record the interaction. I want to see it and I
(04:37):
want to share it everywhere. Anyway, I was laughing about that,
and I thought that was, you know, that the tip
of the iceberg. You know, we had accomplished the funniest
thing we could talk about, and that was about it.
But it turns out no, she had more. As we
were talking about returning the toilet paper, she gets really
serious and tells me about this toilet seat once that
(04:58):
she bought when her kids were younger, you know, her
as were younger, And she tells me it said right
on the box that this toilet seat was going to
last ten years. You can see where this is going, right,
I said, please tell me more. I'm intrigued, incredibly intrigued.
I would like to know about what happens with this
toilet seat that was supposed to last ten years. Well,
(05:18):
just as you'd expect, the toilet seat served its purpose.
It did its job admirably for a few years, and
then one of the kids got to rough housing. I
love that old term rough housing, right, horseplay. I got
a detention once, I got some attention, and then a
detention because of horse play in middle school. The principal
(05:40):
literally wrote horse play as the reason on my detention slip,
and I think it saved me getting in trouble because
Dad thought that was such a ridiculous reason for a detention. Anyway, anyway,
horse play rough housing. The kids got to rough housing
in the bathroom. I don't know what that looks like,
but somehow things got real in there, and the toilet
seat broke. You know, a ten year warranty on the
(06:01):
toilet seat, and that sucker's broken in three years. Well,
of course, you know what she did. She unscrewed it,
drove straight to the store and demanded a new toilet seat. Yeah,
customer service and retail work. It's not always glamorous, you know.
Those were certainly not glamorous moments for those poor people.
But it's usually not boring, you know, there's always something
(06:23):
going on. Anyway, enough of that. I just had so
much fun with that story I wanted to share it
on the show. Today, I'm going to be in the
studio with Patty Brummel. Now, Patty's a furniture refinisher and
a regular listener and she does all kinds of work
on Instagram. And Facebook under her company name Midlife Revival.
She's going to be joining me and we're gonna be
talking about all kinds of things, from home projects to
(06:44):
favorite paints, to what makes a particular piece of furniture
and absolute no go when it comes to buying and
refinishing it. All of that, all of that is coming
up and much more. But right now, since we started
talking about fun little retail adventures, and since I don't
have hardly any time left, I want to quickly reference
something new that we launched at Repcolite. It's a price
match guarantee. You know how these things work. But the
(07:07):
bottom line is that we want you to be able
to shop with us confidently, you know, knowing that you're
going to get the best price possible. And so we're
going to match any advertised or current competitors price on
identical in stock items, including brands like Benjamin Moore, Wooster,
three M and many more, all kinds of them. Simply
show us a competitors ad or price or a receipt
(07:27):
or something like that at the time of purchase, and
then we'll apply the pricing to your product in our store.
There's a little bit more to it, but you know,
those are the basics. Stop out at your nearest Repcolite
location and ask about it. All right, let's take a break.
When we come back, I'll be talking with furniture refinisher
Patty Brummel, So stick around for that and we're back.
(07:48):
You're listening to the Repco Light Home improvement show sponsored
by Benjamin Moore. And right now I'm pretty excited to
share an interview that I recorded with Patty Brummel from
Midlife Revival. Patty's a furniture refinisher and she shares her
projects and her insights and all of that on social
media Instagram, Facebook, amongst others. She's a lifelong learner. You're
(08:10):
gonna discover that very quickly in this interview. She started
a brand new career, you know, at the midway point
in life. And most importantly, most importantly, she listens to
this show. You know, I didn't clarify any of this
with her, but I'm almost certain that it's her favorite
radio show and podcast. Not sure, but it could be
questions for another day. Anyway, I sat down with Patty
(08:33):
recently and I recorded a long conversation about her journey.
You know, how she got started, How she tackles. You know,
it gets the gumption to tackle these huge projects. And
you're going to hear about some huge projects, and we
talked about all of those things. Right now, I'm going
to play a portion, just a small portion of that interview.
If you do like what you hear and you want more,
(08:53):
just head to Repcolites YouTube page and you can watch
the whole interview in glorious video. So please check that out,
and while you're there, click the thumbs up subscribe ring
the little bell, and that way you can be notified
whenever we post a new interview on the page. All right,
that's enough of that, enough blathering. Let's get to the
(09:13):
interview with Patty Brummel. You spent years from what I'm
you know, from notes you sent me as a registered nurse,
and I'm curious, how in the world did you get
from I mean, I'm a registered nurse to now I'm
refinishing furniture as a business, right, yeah, yeah, how that
all happen?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Some days, I don't know how it happened, but Lord Willing,
it just kept growing. It's definitely been a journey, but
I would say the just to get down to making
it short and sweet back in twenty twelve, so a
little over twelve years ago, I should back it up.
(09:55):
I have I'm married, and I have three daughters. So
the two daughters back in twenty twelve are twins, and
they were just graduated from college and they were moving
out of the house and into their own places. And
at that point, it was like, you know, furnishing, let's,
you know, use hand me downs from the family. Let's
(10:17):
go looking around thrift stores, you know, antique stores. And
so that's what we did. And it was fall of
twenty twelve, I could still remember, and we went to
just a small little place in downtown Zealand. And at
that time, I don't know if you remember this. I
mean you're in the paint industry, but chalk paint was
(10:40):
really becoming a very popular thing for refinishing furniture and
stuff like that. That was short lived for me as
far as the chalk paint, but it made me think
because the girls would say, can you do something with this, mom?
So it doesn't look like you know this? So I
took a class this place. This place, there was a
(11:01):
vendor that was selling this chalk paint and she was
going to have a class coming really up close. So
I took it and just learned some basics, and from
there I just started, you know, refinishing, like an end
table for them, or just trying to think there was
a little desk or coffee table, those kind of things.
(11:22):
And I look at back at those things and I
cringe at.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
The look of them. Yes, okay, so they still have them,
so you can.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Well, not all of them, some of them I updated
later as I got better. The thing with chalk paint,
if you've ever used it, is it It doesn't have
a really nice finish. You know, it has a bumpiness.
And back then it was promoting, oh, you don't need
to sand, you don't need to prime, you know, all
(11:50):
these things. So of course, like someone had maybe painted
this piece they found, my daughters had found, and so
I don't need to sand dead, I don't, you know,
I'll just paint right over that, not knowing that whatever
texture was already there.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Was going to be what I was gonna all of that.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Oh yes, no, no, And I have totally gone away
from that. Yes you need primer, you know, there is
self leveling and stuff like that. But now I'm kind
of to the point where I don't like to be
limited by the colors of justice those paint lines, and
that's where I frequent you know, Repcolite, and I love
(12:35):
some of the Benjamin Moore products that can be used
for furniture as well. But so back to the story,
I yeah, just that's how it started.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
So you're helping them, helping them, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, and then well then it was like, oh, I
maybe do some things around my house. And then it
was a couple of years later my kids were like,
I never was like on Facebook or anything, and I
just they were like, Mom, you really should start showing
some of this stuff. So they helped me set up
a Facebook page.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
So you were doing it more than just for yourself
a little bit here and there or Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
I still was just that it was just a hobby.
It was in my garage. I liked it, and it
was because being a registered nurse, it was just therapeutic
just to be able to go dabbling something. And even
to this day, I don't feel like it's work when
I work on my furniture. That was what was just
so good about it was that it was something so
(13:34):
different and I could just.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Why was it therapeutic? Do you think I mean, is
it just well kind of check out because.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Just as a nurse, it's just very stressful, you know,
and to me, that's real work. You know. My last
job that I ended up leaving to do this full
time was working in a doctor's office, so it was
more like phone triage and you get a lot of
unhappy people who call in sometimes, you know, and it
(14:04):
was yeah, it definitely it takes a toll on you.
So yeah, that's how it started. And then it just
once I started the Facebook page and you know, people
started to see it and some of my coworkers were like,
would you ever think about doing something for me? I
have something? And so that's how it evolved into what
(14:28):
it is today. Is just word of mouth and stuff
like that, and it's gone much further than that.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
But that's really really cool. Yeah, So how much did
you know about it? I mean when you started with
your daughters, I mean you kind of said some of
that it was it was new to you. You hadn't
done a lot of it. Yeah, you jumped in. And
how comfortable were you with things like that?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Probably not real comfortable. I mean I had I had
painted at your home piece or so, and I definitely
had painted walls. Yeah, but back then, I mean I
don't even know when, like YouTube and Google really came
on as a thing. But then you didn't go and
(15:11):
google or YouTube how to do this like you can nowadays.
So it was a lot of just trial and ear.
And then when I eventually took my Facebook page and
decided I would also do an Instagram page, that is
where the world just opened up to me to know
there were so yes, okay, that there were so many
(15:32):
other furniture refinishers out there. I mean not to the
point there are today. It's just crazy. A lot of people,
it seems like, came onto it when they were hunkered
down during COVID.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, COVID. So you decide you're gonna quit me in
a nurse, yeah, and go into that was that scary.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It was very scary. I had to convince my husband
first of all, Tim seeing how passionate I was about
what I was doing, and it was just getting to
the point where I had a little booth I was
renting in Hudsonville, so I was trying to keep that
stocked with small home decor and some of my painted furniture,
(16:16):
using that as an avenue for advertising if someone came in,
which it did help, and I had business cards there
and they could, you know, just grab one of those
and I got contacts through that.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And then you still refinishing largely.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, yeah, but I'm still working as a nurse in
phone triage, and then I've got some custom work on
the side. So I was I was feeling very pulled
with these three different things, plus being a mom and
a wife and all that. So he saw how passionate
again I was about it, and it wasn't like it
was just this little flighty hobby for just a little bit,
(16:54):
and he could see that I could make money off
of this, so yeah, yeah, I basically put my notice
in early twenty seventeen. They had to find a replacement
for me, and I said, you know what, I'll stay
on until you find someone, which ended up being about
six seven months before they found something. Yeah, because then
(17:14):
you have to train the person. And so right at
the end of twenty seventeen, I hung up my stethoscope,
as I say, and how.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Do you feel about all of that? Set the right decision.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I It was scary, but I have no regrets. It
has just been a wonderful ride. I appreciate my husband
letting me do it, and yeah, I couldn't do it
if it weren't for him, you know, letting me let go.
But it's like I said, it has just opened so
many doors and it's just been a fun journey. And again,
(17:50):
I was like approaching the fifty year mark at that time.
And that's the name for my company. I named it
Midlife Revival because it was my midlife. I think it's
really midlife at fifty. Some people say forty. I heard
the other day.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
But thought it was twenty four. Oh, I'm passed.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So and then, you know, reviving myself, you know, by
doing something different in life and not feeling like I
always had to be a nurse, and you know, as
the kids got older, they don't need you as much,
and so kind of just finding something to occupy my
time when they were out of the house. And then
I like to take that midlife revival and also bring
(18:35):
it to my furniture and you know, they've lived, Yeah,
they've lived. They lived one life just like me, and
now they're going to live another life and they're being revived.
So it's it's a twofold reason I picked that name.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
That's a great name. All right, we're gonna take a
quick break and when we come back, I've got more
of Patty's story. That's all coming up next and stick around.
Welcome back here, listening to the Rep Coolite Home improvement
show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and I want to jump
back in to my interview with Patty Brummel from Midlife Revival.
(19:10):
And if you want to check out Patty's work while
you listen, you can find her on Instagram and Facebook
by searching mid Dash Life Revival, Midlife Revival, Little Dash
in between mid and Life. You can find her there,
so check that out. A lot of stuff on her
page that's probably going to be very interesting to scroll
through as you're listening. And remember what you are hearing
(19:32):
on the radio here and in this podcast is just
a small portion of the full interview. If you want
to catch the whole thing and watch it in glorious video,
I mean, I don't know if there's anything better than that.
If you want to catch it on video, just head
to Repolit's YouTube page and check it out. But right now,
let's get back to the conversation. You know, what's going
through your mind as you assess is this piece, something
(19:54):
that you can do something with, something that I should
just leave here.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Well, I have a certain style furniture that I like.
There's a lot of people who are really into the
mid Century. I lived the mid century, so for me,
that's really not my thing. I love more the early
nineteen hundreds or even older. I'm not a huge Victorian,
but I do like the dressers and you know, stuff
(20:20):
from this early nineteen hundreds. But yeah, I do. I
have a problem with Facebook Marketplace.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Oh, Facebook Marketplace. I always forget about that one.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah. I love estate sales, but you have to learn
to be wise with that what is well because the
prices can be really high on the first day. So
I've tried to educate people on this that estate sales
normally it's a two day or a three day thing.
So the first day will be full price, the second
(20:50):
day will be maybe thirty percent off, and then the
third day will be fifty percent or if it's only
a two day, they go to fifty percent, like after
twelve o'clock in the afternoon on the second day. If
it's something that you could live without, but you're like, oh,
I would like that, I will go check it out.
On the first day, see what the price is. If
(21:10):
it's like, okay, that's a little too much, and I
can walk away. If it doesn't it's not there. The
next day, I'll do it. But I have gotten a
lot of things by just coming back the second day.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Really.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, And some of the estate companies will even have
what they call like a like a silent auction thing
where they'll have a box there and as long as
you do half of the price plus one dollar, they'll
call you. So like, yeah, I've done that where I
just do half of the price and I add one
(21:44):
dollar to it or two dollars, and I've gotten a
lot of calls back on that. And then you don't
really have to come back immediately the next day right
away to see if it's there. They just call you
and say at the end of the first day or
second day, hey, your bid was the highest. If you
like it, you can come anytime on this day, before
this time or whatever.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
When you look at a piece, what are you assessed?
You know, to make sure that.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Well, first of all, you give it the smell test.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Oh tell me about the smell test.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Okay, So if it's got like smoke, okay, Well yeah,
all of them are gonna smell like craym. Probably the
smoke is going to be the bad one. So even
with Facebook marketplace, I always ask if this is available,
is it from a smoke free home? Okay, the smoke
I'll definitely walk away from. If it's just oh yeah,
(22:34):
oh yeah. Well there are ways, but you're not guaranteed. Okay,
you can try, like a good vinegar cleaning. You can
use the Binchillac spray to try to block, you know,
seal in those odors. But I learned after one piece.
It was just this tiny little secretary desk where it'd
(22:56):
folded down, but it was just a small dusk and
I was working in my garage and so it basically
always sat in my garage. I never smelled anything, but
I cleaned it with the vinegar water and you know
all that. And the Gale who bought it a few
days later, she caused me she had put it in
her kitchen kind of as a little like station for
(23:18):
her for her kids school papers and all that, and
she's like, I'm smelling smoke. So I had her bring
it back and so we did the spray select because
I had not used that, and it did yeah, it did.
She took it back and then no problems. So I
now just even this musty grandma smell. After I've given
(23:42):
everything a really good cleaning, I will seal all my
pieces under the drawers, inside the drawers on the back,
underneath everything with that benchilect R spray, just to seal
in if there is still any odors, because normally I
can't smell anything anymore, so it might just come later.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
I know, so stink smell or you don't want anything
to do with stink, what other? Yeah, so you're looking at.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
It, I would look at repairs. I mean, drawers can
be a little tricky. It just depends on what's your
capability skill level on you know, repairs. If it's peeling veneer,
I'm not afraid of that anymore. I used to be,
but it's pretty easy. If it's just a top with
(24:30):
some peeling.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Veneer, get it glued back down, well you.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Can try that. Or it's amazing sometimes the beautiful wood
that's actually underneath that veneer. So I've done both. It
just depends on how bad. I had this one armoire
once where the veneer it was just on the top,
but the veneer it just like just all just peeled off.
(24:54):
That was probably the easiest. But then I've had some
other like dressers that clients have brought and I've had
to use like the hot iron and wet towel. Sure
you technice can do it that way, but gorgeous wood underneath,
you know, So.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
That's really fun.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
It's like when you strip something that was painted and
you realize, yeah, I don't understand why this is painted,
and it's.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Nice to be able to keep some part of it
is the original wood if you can, so you know,
do that kind of the two tone they call it,
but just the stain top with a painted But yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
What about now you mentioned some of it? I mean,
where do you go? You find these things at a
state sales face, Facebook market pace.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
I'm not a big garage sale, but though some people
get them at garage sales, and then I would say,
trying to think, I really that's about it. I don't
well thrift stores, but thrift stores have gotten hold of
the idea that you're going to pay huge amount for
(25:56):
a very old dresser just because they know that people
will do vibm and flip them and stuff. And again
with that a thrift store they'll have where if it's
been there for a month, they'll mark it down a
little bit if it's been there for two months against
Mark Dwnsmore. I haven't bought too many things at thrift stores.
I know there's other furniture refinishers that do. Again, I
think my favorites is an estate sale because in that respect,
(26:21):
especially if you go into a home that's been well
maintained all these years versus a thrift store or you
don't know where, if it's been sitting in a barn
or what you know.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
So, yeah, no, that's really cool. Well, obviously I've got
an idea where you're at on this, But the whole
have you run into issues with every time we talk
about this on the radio show, talk about you know,
finishing furniture, refinishing furniture. Honestly, it comes up big time
when we talk about kitchen cabinets. There's two camps. There's
(26:52):
one camp that is all about painting over wood. There's
another camp that is absolutely cannot believe that anybody would
paint over would you're getting these you know, vintage pieces,
antique pieces, some of them are all wood. Sounds like
you're painting over them. I mean, if you're hitting them
with ben how do you feel about that cross?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
How I feel it depends on how the piece comes
to me, you know, or I find it. If it's
something that absolutely could be like fully restored, like gorgeous wood,
all that, I'm all for trying to just restain it
or leave it as a very light you know, just
(27:34):
take the old finish off and seal it. That became
quite a trend for a while. I think people are
kind of getting away from that, but it still is.
But the problem is that a lot of these old
pieces that I like from the early nineteen hundreds all
have this veneer covering them, and it can be chipping
or peeling. And that's where if you're going to just
(27:55):
repair where the veneer has chipped off or whatever you're
going to use like a bondo or something to you're
gonna have to paint right. That's why it's nice to
save a top maybe if you can.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Got some of the original. Yeah. Yeah, So when we
would talk to people, you know, one of the things
I would always try to say, is is it getting
use right? You know in your attic? Because I've talked
to plenty of people who that style, whatever that is,
it doesn't fit with what I've got, right, And if
it's not having any use at all, what kind of
life is it leading at this point? But if you
put some paint on it and now can bring it in,
(28:29):
it's ten times I.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Feel like, I mean, I don't know the whole history
of painted furniture, but I know it goes back to
it goes back to the I think the seventeen hundreds,
you know, or whatever, because you look at like colonial
times there was painted.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
I'm pre sure the cavemen painted their rocks, Okay, you
know from.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, yeah, So all the way, it goes way back.
It's not like, you know, we're doing something that wasn't
done before.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
All right, let's take a quick break and then we'll
be back for the conclusion of my commonsation with Patty
Brummel from Midlife Revival. Stick around and we're backa listening
to the repcal Light Home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore.
And let's just get right into the conclusion of my
conversation with Furniture refinisher and all around Di I wire
(29:21):
Patty Brummel from Midlife Revival. So right now. Your biggest
thing that you're working on is this renovation. You talked
about it. Yeah, your daughter's nineteen twenties. Nineteen twenties, right,
what's that whole experience been like.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
It's been challenging, but it has been fun. This is
our youngest daughter. She had been looking for a house
for several months and everything was falling through. Everything was
like really small and you were going to pay really
big bucks for it. But it all worked out good
because this house was really outside of her financial capability
(30:04):
to purchase, but it had more space and it gave
mom a workshop so I could get out of my
garage and so I was just paying a rent and.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
It need work. Oh yeah, okay, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
It was definitely one of those that you would call
the fixer upper. We knew going into it that it
needed a new roof.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Who did that? Did you hire that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
We hired that. Oh yeah, we yeah, there were we
know our capabilities.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
That's one of the best things you can know. Yeah ability.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yes, we did this. Actually with another daughter, we helped
her with her first home here in the Holland area,
and hers was not as much of a fixer up.
It was more just a cosmetic thing, but it it
was nineteen twenty four age, so close the same age.
So the plumbing electrical we had hired out to do,
(30:58):
and then we did all the cosmetic stuff. And that's
where I learned a lot of these projects is trial
and error. She says, I try. I trialed on her, yeah, yeah,
and then yeah, well and she was the firstborn too,
so I trialed on her.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah exactly. So little sister had got some fine tuned
versions of us, but the other ones they get their
rough yes.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yes, so. And then going into this house that we're
presently been working on for over a year, I hate
to say, is we did higher out for the roof.
We ended up getting all new electrical and plumbing in
there as well, and then it snowballed into more things
than we thought. So the interior we are almost finished with.
(31:45):
I'm just finishing up that upstairs apartment.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Pretty much done with the interior stuff. Yeah, other you know,
bigger projects, which is in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Let's say, well, I have refinished the cabinets in her kitchen.
She had like nineteen eighties, oh cabinets in there, and
she wanted them to be black. The cabinets and so
we started out with Benmore Advance because I love the
Advance product, very durable, very durable. I actually used it
(32:15):
in my for the first time in my other daughter's house,
but hers were just like a lighter off white color.
But the problem was that Advance only has the higher sheen,
so the black just it was too much. Oh, it
was too much.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
They've got a satin sheen, and.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
They have a satin but satin was too much. So
I went into the store talk to them, I should
back it up. I did have someone hired out to
do all my wall painting and spray all the trim,
because I learned from doing my other daughter's house that
it was better that I just pay someone and because
(32:56):
it I don't have a great sprayer, and so it
was just so time consuming. So anyways, he was using
scuff X Benjamin Moore scuff X for all the trim,
and so so I went into the store and I said,
what about scuff X for the cabinets And that came
into Matt Finish and that was perfect. And so yeah,
(33:18):
I have another favorite.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Lots of projects, lots of things. What was the biggest,
you know, the biggest challenge in all of that money
probably make it work, right, we hire the people that
you want exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah, well, we wanted to try to preserve as much
of the house's character as possible, and unfortunately it did
have all of the original woodwork. Unfortunately it had been
painted prior, so I would say that was one of
the bigger challenges, was preserving that but having to repaint it.
Some of the areas we had to remove the trim,
(33:55):
so then you have nails to pull out and patch that.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
But then the lead based paint or anything or what
do not even think about it. Let's just not think
about it.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yeah, well, nothing was like chipping and stuff. I don't
think the paint that was on the top was because
I think that's nineteen seventies or earlier, right, and this
was probably more like an eighties type renovation.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
It was encapsulated there it was, and then no, and
then I have a.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Hepa filter type sanding system that I use to do
the scuff sanding with. And no one was living in
the house either. And then we did use the bin
schelect white primer to encapsulate everything as well afterwards, so
that would have been one of the biggest challenges too.
Was just all the trim work, trying to preserve it,
(34:52):
you know, keep it. Whereas now I know why a
lot of HGTV shows are just they just rip everything
out because it's so much easier just to start all
new than to try to redo everything in there.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Are you happy you did those?
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, one hundred.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
And we really repurposed a lot of other stuff that
we had to pull out because we actually put an
addition on the upstairs bumped up the ceiling because it
had like a slanted ceiling, so we were able to
preserve or save rafters that were a cool wood feature.
(35:32):
And yeah, I oh really cool, just a lot of things.
So yeah, it was fun. I mean because money was
an issue. It's just kind of fun to how you
can recycle.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
No, I don't, I'm trying to keep No, I can't
imagine the thing I've ever done. Every time I do
the thing, Yeah, the grocery store in money.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Oh that's awful. Yeah, I know you.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Want so I've got a wayte to go. I can
just live off that.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
A good way to have a diet.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
So if you're talking to anybody, you know you're talking
to a bunch of people who tackle things like this
or have been afraid to tackle things like that. You know,
that's that's a major undertaking what you jumped into. What
would you tell them.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
I would just say it definitely gives you that satisfaction
that you did it. But you have to know your limits.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Well, and that's what it seemed you guys did really
well with you know, from what you're talking about. You
didn't jump into projects that you knew were big budgeted
the money to go cover those things, and you tackle
the things you can do.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Really, you know, it depends on the people. But for me,
I know it would have been smart in the time
I did it with the drywall. It would have been
better for me.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
To hope that yeah all them, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
I did it. I learned how to do it. Yeah,
I got through it. I was never thrilled with the
results because yeah, well I've done it before, and I've
talked to people who let me realize that the price
of having it done was not near what I had
anticipated it.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Yeah. Yeah, you have to pick and choose. And again,
we tried trialed a lot of things on our first
daughter's house, and we learned what we could and could
not do. But what's also been great is it has
given us connections to a lot of good trades people.
And I guess, you know, if someone was going to
(37:21):
do something like this, I say, you know, go for it,
but again, find what is what you want to work
on and what would be best to hire out. But
there are also people who don't even want to pick
out their finishes or anything, and that is what I
love to do.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
You enjoyed that, oh.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Yes, oh yes, I should have gone to school for
interior decorating design and stuff because I absolutely love that.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
But that's the thing. If you're in that boat, you know,
you're you're hiring, you're looking at the big project like that.
There are lots of people you know, yeah, got contact
with painters. Yeah, we've got people that can help with
com I know, you can help with color. I mean,
there's all kinds of people out there who do exactly
what you need done and can do it. Well. It's
worth that conversation.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Right, and sometimes you just need that guidance and stuff,
just a consultation or whatever and yeah, yeah, what you're doing,
yeah exactly.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
So Patty, if people want to follow you, how do
they find you?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
If they're following on social media if they are on
the social media platforms. I'm on Facebook Midlife Revival as
well as Instagram Midlife Revival. But I also have a
website that you know, kind of goes through my background
of where this all started and nice services that I offer,
(38:40):
and that's Midlife revival dot com.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
All right, I'll put links to all of that in
the show notes. Thanks for hanging out.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Yeah, thanks for having me. I really appreciate this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Absolutely, It's a lot of fun. All right, that's gonna
do it. That's all the time we've got really for
this whole episode. Remember what you've just heard with Patty
Bromo was only a small portion of a much larger interview,
And if you do want to catch the whole thing,
just head to rept Coollites YouTube page and it's all
there in glorious full color video, So check that out.
Whatever you do today makes your paints a part of it,
(39:11):
even if it's just a little part. But it really
wouldn't bother us if it was a great, big part.
Whatever it is, makes your paints a part of it.
Have a great weekend, everybody, and I'll see you next week.
I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.