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MG Midget and Sprite General - Im painting a teenage sucide room...not joking

Guys im in a real moral quandry,

I never like to talk about my work sa far as the homes im in or the people I work for....

But this bedroom im painting has me really conserned, and im not sure, how to approach the situation

This is a high upper middle class family and the 2 children rule the house ... And the parents have no say,,, the boy is 17...which is where the issue is

Im painting the the 2 childrens rooms and bathrooms, the boy choose some really heavy colors lite gray cieling, charco gray on 2 walls and black for the other 2 walls with a navy under tones and a dark charco in the bathroom then there will be black carpet with gray fleck

I ve got the 1st coat of paint on, and omg, the room is so freaken heavy with dispear...with this kids goth life style, there is no way this kid will be alive a year from now, this room will defintly make him blow his brains out....its the worst emotional room ive ever done, ive been in it about 2 houra with these colors,and im really feeling the effects

So my dilima.... No matter what I say or the parents say its what ever the kid wants.... I tried directimg the kid to something less hopeless during the planning stage...but no give, I knew this would be a heavy room, but I had no idea, it would be this bad

So im wondering if I should keep my mouth shut and do my work, or say somethimg to the mother, im wondering if I do say somethimg and we dont make any changes and jr does tak himself out, will I have any liability, if I dont say any thing and the kid goes splate, im definatly in the clear....but its a young kid that will have taken himself out...

If the kid was a little mentally stable.... I would be so conserned, or if the room wasnt so emotionally dead, and lost

Any ideas....

I guess no matter what I do, I really have no influance over what ever will happen, so im leanimg towards keeping my mouth shut, as thata always been a good policy in the past when working in peoples homes and lives.....in the end, im thinking saying something will have no effect, aand just puts me in the hot seat if th
Prop

Interesting quandary. When my sister was 15 or 16, she wanted her room to have two dark gray walls and two dark maroon ones. Black ceiling. Since my dad was doing the painting, she got a white ceiling but her choice of wall colors. She's now 62, still weird and still with us.

So, you can't really tell what a person will do in the future. And part of the reasoning by the kid for his choices (Goth, colors) is probably that even though the kids rule the roost, he knows that his choices irritate the daylights out of his parents so he'll go as far as he can.

Saying something to them won't change anything. They have to work out their own problems. You're the painter not the shrink. Even though you'd like to knock some sense into all of them.

And who knows, you might get some good referrals.


And it pays for the garage that you store your Midget in.
Martin Washington

Damn... Im,good!!! Haha

Well that was interesting, the mother came home saw it and was really freaked out....and was vary conserned, I took advantage of the opertunity, to express my concern over the color and then expressed the effect colors have on everyday life and used example of why prisions use pink jump suits, and resterantss use reds and and greens to influeance hunger....i kept it vary vague, amd just expressed as a suggestion if her son starts appearing depressed and tempermental, ti try having him sleep in another room....and that was the magic phrase, she saw right off that this color was not a good choice for her son, she opened up and said her son is in threapy for depression, anxioity and .... Wait for it ....STRESS....HAHAHA, yeah I coyldnt cough fast enough to cover my laughter....needless to say, the mother us going to invite the therapist over to see his new room for his weekly session and have the therapist convince him of an alt color choice.....

tHe bottom line, I happy with what ever happens .... If this kid pops himself off 6 months later, I will not be caring any guilt or 2nd guessng for not saying anything....no matter what happens ive got a clean conscionse.....

To be honest, observing the mothers initial response, I really didnt have to say anything as the downer god I wany to die feeling in the room spike loud and clear all by its self, and really I didnt say much, just enough to back up the gravity of what was already there

I wish I had recorded what I said, cause it was good, nothing like what id say on here,,,, more pastorial without ....without every saying...your kid is toast

But yeah, the mother was able to match the effect of the room with the issues of her son, and im sure she came to the fast conclusion as well .... This not going to work


So if it stays fine, if we change it, great, now ill be able to maybe afford deb evans aluminum front hubs with the bonus cash


Needless to say, im glad this day is over, and this is a dead issue

Thanks guys

Prop


Prop

Hi Prop

Glad you solved your dilema.
Reminded me of when I was at college all those years ago, sharing a house with some other lads. One was a goth and painted his room black with some red paint runs to represent blood pouring down the walls!

Last I heard he cut his hair bought a suit and joined the exciting world of banking. No harm done. Except for the landlord doing his nut when he saw the room.

Mark
M Adams

LOL Prop - you must be about the ONLY person who didn't want their room painted black at around that age - which might possibly explain why you are what you are now :P!!! It's a pretty normal stage to go through, it's just that, well, most parents wouldn't allow their kid to paint it black because of all the hassle of re-painting afterwards - I would have suggested papering the walls with wallpaper, and then painting THAT black - then the kid has a couple of months before they realise what a twit they've been - and it's easily removed afterwards ;)
rachmacb

in 1976 my mate painted his walls black and ceiling purple, on the black walls he painted the heartbeat prism light spectrum from the Dark Side of the Moon album artwork

we were, and still do, listeners to Pink Floyd and Deep Purple records

as far as I know it remained like that until his parents moved out around 2001 (he was 'God's gift of a son')

he's had a sucessfull life and set up and run his own company from his mid-20s

so don't worry Prop as rach put it's just a stage that indulgent parents allow
Nigel At

I've sold flats where the owners were goths (well it is Camden after all). I had to ask the one set of owners to remove the real cobwebs which they had carefully nurtured over the proceeding six years. The walls were all very dark, the curtains crimson red velvet and the furniture was medieval looking. He was a specialist cardiac nurse and she was a solicitor for 6 months of the year, and the other six months of the year they lived in the Alps where he was a Ski instructor. They were both absolutely delightful people and the goth lifestyle was simply the way that they lived.

On another note I sold a top floor (into the attic) flat to a young girl and when she first put a nail into the wall to hang a picture, the wall bled real blood. She freaked, as you would. It turns out that there was a cavity between the stud wall and the roof where a pigeon had been nesting and the nail went right into it causing the blood to seep out of the wall!
After 25 years of selling property in London I have had some interesting experiences.
Gary & Gaps

I wanted black but there was no way may parents would let me.
Prop it sounds like your customers need to stop treating their children so leniently and do some real parenting instead of sending the child for "therapy"
This over reliance on counselling and therapy is creating people who will always find an excuse for their failings or blame their unhappiness on someone or something else. Get out of the house, kick a ball, get a job, and grow up! (and that applies for the parents too- I know of an apparently sensible middle aged middle class women who has had three years of grief counselling because her father finally died at the age of 85! I ask you what did she expect?)
I have the same problem with all these ghouls who leave flowers at the side of the road for people they did not know. If I was the parent of a child who was killed on the road or worse I would be livid if some total stranger thought they could partake of my grief.
Same goes for all those people who wept at Diana's death!

See- I'm getting more tolerant every day!
Matt1275Bucks

So what was the quandry again, either do the job you were asked to do, or paint it, then after it's done convience the customer it's not a good colour and get them to pay you again to paint it a colour you should have suggested they painted it in the first place.

I can't see caring and considerate in there anywhere, just an opportunistic way of getting some extra money to spend on the car. I suppose it's ok though because the money will go to a worthy cause like more gauges for the car :)

Greg H

Prop, I understand your concern, but as already mentioned a lot of young people in their late teens want rooms painted dark colors. I wanted that, but certainly didn't get it, my parents said no to the black walls, but I did get the black furniture and orange curtains and linens. No, it didn't look like Haloween!
We bought a house in St. Louis that actually was the scene of a teen age suicide and there were no signs of anything like you describe, very normal looking rooms. But their teenage son shot himself in his room. Several years later when cleaning out the closet I found a small leather bag of .22 ammunition stuffed into the dark corner of that closet. That was a bit creepy.
B Young

Matt,
I'm with you that some that parents and grandparents need the seat of their trousers dusting with a boot

however, I believe grief is for the benefit of the living and you can not monopolise grief

a lot of these shrines have contributions from the relatives and people that knew the deceased if only vaguely or people who feel they want to, or should, express something in this manner

to me these shrines are no more or no less illogical than a burial plot or other rememberance

looking after people and expressing your feelings to and for them whilst they are alive helps them and you, after their death it helps you and others not them

oh I hope I'm not turning into a Lawrence
Nigel At

Nigel,

Your comment about memorials reminds me of a line in a song by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, "Gravestones are for the living, they're no use to the dead." The song is "Buy for me the Rain".

Martin Washington

"LOL Prop - you must be about the ONLY person who didn't want their room painted black at around that age - which might possibly explain why you are what you are now :P!!! ""


Eh no, he isnt the only one!


"It's a pretty normal stage to go through,"

No its not, not everbody grows up thrue a stage as a dark depressed child/wannabe-vampire.
I think Rach you should talk about this, not to us(as we only are a bunch of lunies) but to a professional.
It could have something to do with why you hang on to black rubber bumpers and get upset when others remove them ... LOL!!

Arie de Best

>>not everbody grows up thrue a stage as a dark depressed child/wannabe-vampire<< no but at that age particularly we want to be different and individual to those around us and at the same time fit in with a group of like minded people

later it's web forums :)
Nigel At

Prop
I thought you might have suggested Rhino Liner!!!!

Carl
C Bintcliffe

HAHA - perhaps, if Arie is joining Prop on not wanting a room painted black - it must be something common to those who go on and become painters .... not traumatised enough or something :P
rachmacb

The bedroom my (now) wife and I shared in our first house we painted red and black, with a big red dragon on one of the black walls. We'd do the same now except we own the house and plan to sell it in a year or so! Some of us like dark colours and themes, doesn't mean we're going to off ourselves.
AndrewF

"HAHA - perhaps, if Arie is joining Prop on not wanting a room painted black - it must be something common to those who go on and become painters .... not traumatised enough or something :P"


Not traumatised enough?
How about not traumatised at all!!!

You black-room people are all freaks!!!!
LOL!!!
Arie de Best

This thread was discussed between 15/08/2011 and 18/08/2011

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