Salt air is no friend to boats or buildings. Tack on a dozen years, a couple of Category 5+ and Category 1 hurricanes, and villa exterior paint chips, dulls, and quite frankly just looks beat up. We closed our doors for almost 3 weeks last month and retried a proven concept: bring down a couple of professionals from Vermont, house them, feed them, and let them do what they do best.

Mike Tomczyk was the first to arrive to assess the situation, prepare all the materials and supplies, and power-wash the entire exterior of all 4 buildings. We initially purchased 18 gallons of our new refined yellow and green primary colors as well as 5 gallons of trim white and another 3 gallons of our patio colors. After Mike finished scrubbing, spraying, and repairing minor cosmetic issues, Josh showed up on island with a brush and a smile and the 2 of them hoisted the ladders.

Then we had some unseasonal rain. We love free water from the skies, but when you’re hosting 2 professional painters and hoping for 8+ hours a day of work and a few days off, it really puts a pinch on things when it’s wet outside 2-3 times a day.

Mike & Josh made the best of it, planning for rain by cutting in the edges on sunny mornings, and setting up for working under the ring beams and soffits when the showers came.

End result: We got the finished product we were hoping for. The painters enjoyed the pool, sunsets, great room, and a couple of half days (and more than a few nights) of fun around St. John. We have 2 new friends.

We’re already making plans for them to return and repaint the interior of every room at Great Expectations this fall!