can it be...? a positive post about my house?????

jack got a call from his co-worker's partner this morning... he's a professional painter, and the co-worker had told him the details of my awful spare room with the wallpaper. turns out what's underneath isn't wallpaper, it's some sort of special paper that people sometimes use to cover plaster walls to make them smoother. what does that mean for my redecorating efforts? not sure yet -- he's coming over next week to take a look and give some recommendations. i'm going to ask him for a quote for how much he'd charge to do it himself... i figure if it's that much of a disaster, i'd rather have a professional do it and do it right (depending on the cost). since i decided not to carpet the room, that's an extra $600 i have to play with, so if he quotes under that i think i'll say yes.

speaking of carpet... empire carpet is evil. maybe not the whole company, but definitely my local sales guy. talk about a pushy sales rep -- he was one of those stereotypical aggressive, "what would it take to get you to sign the contract on the spot" kind of guys. blecch. when i told him i was getting estimates from a few places first, he actually told me that if i went with empire, he wouldn't want to come out a second time to get my contract signed because it would cost him too much in gas. what a jerk.