Do-it-yourself painting has its benefits - but sometimes you need a pro

Want to improve your house, work out, save money, get a physical, raise your self-esteem and feel all lovey-dovey in one easy step?

All you and your significant other need is a gallon of paint.

"I love it. It's so bold," my wife gushes as we apply a greenish-blue paint to the new drywall in our bathroom. We paint our youngest son's bedroom "brioche," another room "antique."

My wife's choice of "coffee" for our bedroom walls could not be better. Working as a team - she with her edger brush, me with my roller - we share a small ladder and an intimate moment while painting "creme delight" on our ceiling.

Who knew painting was so romantic?

But wait, there's more.

Two weekends of painting have saved us money, bestowed upon us a sense of accomplishment, and given us a physical workout more complete than any health club.

"Shhh. We don't want our contractors to know that because they'll ask us to pay for it," jokes Chuck Anderson, secretary-treasurer of Painters District Council 30, the union headquarters for about 3,000 professionals in the suburbs and beyond.

There is a reason painters aren't the butt of "plumber's crack" jokes. Painters generally are in good shape.

"Most people don't realize the physical strength and agility it takes to be a painter," says Anderson, 55.

"It's a demanding job on your body," agrees Brian Dahl, 38, a district council representative for this painters' union, which recently moved its headquarters from St. Charles to Aurora.

Carrying buckets, climbing ladders, bending down, stretching up and the constant movement takes its toll. What wears out first on a painter?

"Usually the shoulders," Anderson says, "shoulders and knees."

"And neck," adds Dahl.

Why spend money on an MRI when four hours of ceiling painting can tell you if you need rotator cuff surgery?

"So much of painting, as you realize, is over your head," Anderson says. He means that literally, but it works figuratively as well.

The new union headquarters (nicely painted, by the way) features a huge training center where apprentice painters, and even journeyman pros, perfect their skills in a maze of practice rooms offering every conceivable challenge with ceilings, windows and trim.

"Most people think it's just 'get some paint, and throw it on the wall,'" Anderson says.

Union painters spend three years in apprenticeship - going to classes and getting hands-on training in everything from figuring square footage and learning how to "cut in" corners, to setting up scaffolding and complying with safety and ethics rules.

Anderson and Dahl politely listen to my story about our bedroom project that took one entire weekend.

A union painter "better have that bedroom done in about three hours from start to finish," says Anderson, whose background is in decorating.

"Did you paint something in tan?" he continues.

I'm thinking he possesses some Yoda-esque, mind-reading powers, until he nods at my watchband, where a dried drop of paint tattles about my breach in neatness. One of his painters would have done the job quicker, neater and without even taping trim.

Their expertise is why union painters take home $37.83 an hour and qualify for other benefits, including a pension that kicks in at age 55, if you have 30 years in the trade.

"We have them as young as 17 and they'll go up to 65 or 66 or older," Anderson says.

But the recession and the drop in construction has cut interest and opportunities for careers in painting, drywall and glazing, Anderson says. He's hoping it will improve in 2009.

We plan to hire real painters to paint our kitchen, which visitors will see. In the meantime, I'll stop talking about how rewarding my wife and I found our lost weekends painting, because I'd hate to cut into the livelihood of those painting professionals.

"I was going to talk to you about that," Anderson says. "After all, we don't write stories and put them in the newspaper."