A Master Painter in the Master Bedroom

Sonja was sitting in her study and reading e-mails. She hated reading e-mails, but she loved her study.

Sonja had given the room a makeover herself. She had painted the brown wall panel into pink and covered the rest of the wall with rose-patterned wallpaper. White lace curtains decorated the window. The white, modern desk created a contrast to the romantic decoration of the room.

The house was Tomi’s childhood home. The interior had been horrific before Sonja had started renovating it. The house had been full of 1970s wallpapers, brown walls, and worn-out paintwork.

Of course, Tomi would have just left everything the way it was. He didn’t have a clue about interior design.

The e-mail folder was full of newsletters. Then, Sonja noticed she had received an e-mail from the Lovely Home magazine. The title of the e-mail was “Congratulations”! Sonja got excited and clicked on it.

Congratulations, you have won the reader contest of the Lovely Home magazine. The master painter Mikael Syväoja will paint one of the rooms of your home with his unique style. We will contact you via phone to settle the details.

Sonja had sent her contact details to the Lovely Home magazine’s contest. Then, she had forgotten about the whole thing. Sonja didn’t usually win anything. She had finally got lucky!

Sonja already knew which room she would want Mikael to paint; the master bedroom. Sonja hadn’t done anything about the bedroom walls.

Sonja and Tomi had already lived in the house for three years. The bedroom walls were still covered with ugly, brown wallpaper.

Sonja even knew the color she wanted for the walls: Midnight blue. A soothing, dark color was the perfect match for the bedroom. The deep blue color would give the room a mystic, sensual atmosphere.

Sonja wanted to fantasize about the upcoming painting project. She grabbed the latest issue of the Lovely Home magazine from the bookshelf. There was Mikael’s interview on that issue. Sonja started to read the interview, even though she had already read it twice.

Whether Mikael paints with a paint sprayer, a paint roller, a paintbrush, or a sponge, the quality of his work is never compromised. He brings a new, surprising element to every paintwork. His every paintwork is unique.

Mikael especially enjoys playing with colors. This time Mikael paints a deep brown antique drawer (the color is almost identical to Mikael’s chocolate brown eyes) with a romantic pink color.

When it comes to painting trends, Mikael has never bothered with them.

“I only use traditional paints. A real painter is not afraid of the prep work”, Mikael dismisses the popular chalk paint trend.

Sonja agreed with Mikael. She hated chalk paints! Sonja wasn’t afraid of sanding.

Sonja looked at the pictures of Mikael in the magazine. Mikael was so hot! In one of the images, he was painting a fence outdoors. He didn’t have a shirt on. His abs and chest muscles were covered with sweat and paint splashes.

Sonja couldn't focus on anything while waiting for Tomi to come home from the grocery store. She petted the Lagotto Romagnolo Pilvi and browsed closet organizing ideas on Pinterest. After what seemed like forever, Sonja heard a car driving to the front yard. She went to the kitchen.

“Hi”, Tomi said and started to put groceries in the fridge.

“Guess what?” Sonja said.

“What?”

“I won the contest of the Lovely Home magazine!”

“What contest?”

“You know, the contest where the winner gets a master painter to paint their home. So, we’re finally going to have new walls in our bedroom!”

“Oh, I thought our bedroom already had walls”, Tomi said.

“Haha, very funny. The wallpaper in our bedroom is horrible. Now we’re finally going to get midnight blue walls in our bedroom!”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Mikael, the guy who will paint our walls, is a master painter. I mean, like, an international-level master painter!”

Sonja was annoyed because Tomi didn’t sound excited about her winning.

The following day Sonja got a phone call from the Lovely Home magazine. It turned out that the prep work wasn’t included in the prize. Sonja and Tomi would have to remove the old wallpaper and fill the holes in the walls. Sonja thought that was reasonable enough. After all, Mikael was a painter, not a handyman.

The reporter also wanted to interview Sonja and Tomi about their home interior. That sounded perfect to Sonja; she would get something to write about for her interior blog.

“I’d rather not get interviewed”, Tomi said.

“You don’t need to say anything. But you’re definitely going to pose for the photos with me! I don’t want to look like I’m single”, Sonja snapped.

“Okay, if I have to.”

“Yes, you have to. Are you jealous about Mikael or something?”

“What?”

“I was just wondering because you’re so negative all the time.”

“What do you mean? And why would I be jealous about some jackass painter?”

“Well, he’s kinda handsome.”

“I don’t care if he’s Jesus, as long as he won’t mess up our house.”

“Hello, he’s a professional painter. Of course, he won’t!”

Pilvi woofed her part of the conversation. Tomi took her out for a walk.

Removing the wallpaper took several days. Tomi kept whining about how arduous the job was. Sonja was about to lose her temper because of him. She filled the nail holes herself.

It was the morning of the first painting day. Usually, Sonja and Tomi slept late; they both worked from home. Today, Sonja woke up early and took her time applying makeup. Tomi was still in bed at 8.30. The reporter, photographer, and Mikael were about to arrive at 9 am. Sonja pulled Tomi’s comforter away.

“Get up! You’re not gonna show up in your underwear for the photoshoot”, Sonja snapped.

Tomi scrambled out of bed and went to the bathroom. At 9 am, Tomi was dressed. When the doorbell rang, he was sitting in his room. Pilvi barked.

“Come to the hallway to say hi”, Sonja hissed at Tomi.

Sonja went to open the door. She smiled her “good hostess” smile.

The reporter, photographer, and Mikael were standing at the door. The reporter was a blonde woman in her forties. Mikael looked even more handsome in person than in the pictures. He was tall, dark, and athletic. It seemed almost like painting was a sport that had refined the man into the handsome hunk he was.

“Hello, welcome. Sorry about the dog, she barks a lot, but don’t worry about it. And here’s my husband, Tomi”, Sonja welcomed the group.

The crew entered the house.

“We were thinking that Mikael could start working right away. And while he’s at it, we could have a little chat and take some pictures. Would you be okay with that?” The reporter asked.

“Sure. Please come to the living room. Would you like some coffee?”

Mikael was much quieter than Sonja had thought. The painter hardly said a word. It seemed like he wanted to start painting as soon as possible.

The photographer took the ‘before’ photos of the bedroom, and Mikael got to work. Sonja served coffee and cookies to the reporter and sat next to her husband on the couch. Tomi sat in silence and cleared his throat.

“You guys have a lovely home”, the reporter said.

“Thank you! This actually is Tomi’s childhood home. I, I mean we, have done a lot of renovating here. We’ve painted most of the walls ourselves.”

“But you’re still unhappy with one room, right? The master bedroom?”

“That’s right. We had this horrible 70s style wallpaper in our bedroom. I’m so happy we finally got a good reason to get rid of it. I’ve been dreaming of midnight blue walls for a long time. I’m sure that will completely change the look of our bedroom.”

The bedroom had to be painted with several coats of paint, so Mikael continued the project for two more days. Mikael arrived alone now, but he was as quiet as he had been on the first day. Sonja didn’t get a chance to get to know Mikael. She didn’t dare to disturb the master painter while he was at work.

At the end of the third day, the photographer and the reporter came back to the house. The photographer took the ‘after’ pictures of the bedroom. The reporter asked Sonja and Tomi how they felt about the new look of their bedroom.

The bedroom walls were definitely midnight blue now. That’s all there was to say about them. Sonja had expected something magical. She had to admit that they simply had blue walls in their bedroom now. Of course, Sonja knew she couldn’t say that to the reporter.

“Our bedroom looks amazing! The color is just what I hoped for. It brings incredible depth to our bedroom. There’s a kind of soothing atmosphere now. And the quality of the work is unbelievable!” Sonja praised.

The reporter, the photographer, and the master painter left. Pilvi barked her farewell at the crew.

“I’m glad it’s over now”, Tomi said.

“Me too.”

“So, did you get what you were looking for?”

“Yeah. I mean, the color is nice.”

“But I’m pretty sure you would have been able to paint the walls as well yourself.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Maybe we should test our new bedroom, though? Just in case?” Tomi said with a smile on his face.

It was the same smile that Sonja had fallen for five years ago, and it still had the same effect on her. Sonja followed her husband into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.