And so, the Great Repainting stretches out to the end of its fifth week.  Today was supposed to see the crown molding mounted.  Elden had a friend who supposedly knew how to do this, had a mitre box, and would be able to hang the molding that Elden had already painted.

Instead, I got a call, explaining that Elden had figured out that his friend didn’t really know what he was doing, and that he had hired someone from an agency to come by and do the job properly.  Of course, this sets the whole thing back another day.  And when I got home, I saw what he was talking about.  His friend had indeed mounted one of the pieces – vertically. not at an angle, and coming to an end about 1″ from the corner.  Now, I’ve done crown molding before.  The secret here is that you really don’t even need a mitre for the internal corners.  You can just cope out the pattern, and slide a full end piece right underneath the one you’ve coped out.  Our pattern is simple enough that I could do it myself, except that I’m paying them to do it.

Elden’s reaction wasn’t particularly encouraging, either. Apparently he was so disgusted by the whole matter that he packed up and left at 10:00, with plenty of work left that he could have done.

So because the agency needs to be paid in cash when the work is done, I need to come home tomorrow during lunch, inspect the molding, and then pay (or not).  Which means that not only is the project taking more time than the Sistine Chapel, it’s not starting to devour my own time in the process.

I can’t begin to tell you how ready I am to take an evening and put books on shelves.