Look, it's not really a mystery to the painter what goes into painting a new construction home. If they paint new construction homes for a living, then they know their costs and they know their labor times on what it takes to accomplish various tasks. I am pretty sure that a bare bones 2,000 square foot new construction interior with few extras will take me less than 200 hours to paint. So if the painter is charging you 15K, then he is probably shooting for $65-$75 per hour. Is that reasonable? I suppose it is, but around here new construction work is very competitive so most painters in that sector of the industry really make the least. You can easily find someone to do it for $35-$45 per hour. Also, I'm assuming that the professional painters working in new construction are spraying trim. I assume this because it's the year 2008 and there are not many painters left brushing it because it just takes longer and the trim looks much better when sprayed. That said, it takes the same amount of time for me to shoot on a coat of latex as it would to shoot on a coat of oil. If both systems are getting a primer and two coats, then the price difference between the two should be minimal if any. I'm sure there are painters out there charging more for oil, but that could also be because they just simply do not like working with it. I don't like it either, but I'm not into the whole game of nickel and diming people to death really. You are not saving yourself any time by painting the trim before installation if you are going for professional results. After the trim is installed, all the gaps get caulked and all that caulk needs to be painted. If you don't paint the caulk, it will soon collect dust and you will have black lines all over your trim where the caulk was not painted. Also, all the nail holes get filled after installation and two coats should be applied over the nail holes. No matter what, you are doing two coats after installation so painting it before it's hung really doesn't save you anything.

Les, thank you for your thoughtful input. It's really not about voting, at least I don't think so. I just really want to make it all look the best I can given the colors I have chosen. And given the fact that our house has gone through multiple changes through the years. We are trying to take it back, as much as we can, to what it would have been in the late 1880's. Yes there is a disconnect between the back addition and the rest of the house. Just was not sure how to "fix" it. At one time that addition also had a porch where the window is. When the previous owner renovated he removed that porch as it was not original. This picture was taken in the late 1950's He actually removed another porch on the garden side of the house as well. In total (counting the screened porch on the garden side)there were a total of 6 porches on our house! The windows in the addition are actually much smaller by comparison to the windows in the rest of the house. The windows in the brick part of the house are 84" and that's the inside measurement. All ceilings are 12' in the house. Sorry if I get a little carried away. But making our home the best it can be is a passion with me, can you tell? :-) oceanna, that is the same way I felt the first time I walked into our home, and still feel that way today! But it seems to be a never ending process. So much to do, so little time it seems. Actually people do slam on their brakes or drive very slowly past. One lady even ran the stop sign out front because she was looking at the house. (She stopped and told me about it the next week - got a ticket too!) jlc712, thank you. We love it and hope that when we are gone the next caretakers of our home will treat it with love as well.

1. Your house has great bones. It would look beautiful in any color. I'm advocating preserving the brick, though, because using that brick color was integral to the design of the house, is more appropriate for the era, and also because you can't get that brick anymore. It's historic & perhaps even rare. It's a golden color with a lot of depth & character, looks good no matter what the season, has a natural earthiness to it, and makes the house fit in with the land. And when the sun shines on it, it exudes a warm glow that's just so homey and lovely. 2. The Great Painted Brick Debate: caroleoh brings up a controversial post from last year about a house with gorgeous brick that the owner wanted to paint. The issues with that house were different though. The brick was only on the front, with vinyl siding on the rest of the house. The house looked nice...from one angle. The house looked disjointed from all other views. Also, the windows on that house were awful: unattractive vinyl windows, placed badly too (a lot of tiny windows on a massive facade). The owner especially didn't like how the windows were so prominent. The dark brick, though lovely, just made the bad windows jump out at you. She wanted to paint the entire house a soft, light color to unify the sides and downplay the ugly windows. She did, and it worked. There was a lot of heated argument about painting that brick, though. It was beautiful brick, but it's like the builder tried to cut costs elsewhere by using lots of vinyl, and the house ended up looking awkward for it. That pretty brick juxtaposed with all that vinyl didn't work. 3. Your example, snagd, is gorgeous. Your house could probably wear those colors & accessories very well, and I really can understand why you'd want to "update" the look of the house. In lots of cases, that works for the better. But I feel strongly that pretty old houses like yours are a dying breed. People "update" them or tear them down merely because of fashion. Here you have this exquisite historical home with authentic colors and design, all of which are still fabulous & beautiful. But you want something else, and want to make superficial changes that will destroy the historic character of the home, and perhaps the neighborhood too. (I'm saying all this without anger, btw, just trying to present a reasonable case for historic preservation.) Besides, if you clean the brick instead of painting it, you'll have more $$$ for the interior & landscaping :)

You said you don't have all the lighting in yet--wait to make a color choice until you do-- people have good intentions but it is really impossible to make the right choice over a computer monitor w/o actually seeing the room's colors in natural and artificial lighting... when you are close to making that choice--get some white tri-fold science boards from Michael's-- paint them two coats with the colors/sheens you are considering and then move them around the room at various times of day and night to see what really WORKS in your room... just try to ensure the colors you use have the same undertones as the rest of the elements-- don't mix a gray paint with a green undertint of your room has no green-- read Maria Killiam's web page-- great advice on making color choices w/varying types of other colors