Sometimes it takes an unexpected set-back to help you appreciate how fortunate you really are.
Such is the case with Kevin McCarthy of Brockport.
Four years ago, the now 58-year old McCarthy nearly died following a serious fall which occurred while he was painting the exterior of a home he owns at 41 Park Avenue in the village.
He was working on the east side of the house when he fell head-first from a spot near the roofline to the ground, hitting the roof of an attached garage on the way. After months of recuperation, he resolved to begin the job again the following spring.
“It’s a huge undertaking to paint a house of this magnitude (more than 3,000 square feet),” McCarthy says.
Returning to the job was not easy, however, he explains. “The first time back was very emotional … I cried.”
But McCarthy was determined to complete one side of the house each year until the painstaking job was finished.
He soon found an unexpected source of encouragement which he says proved to be invigorating.
“It has been inspiring having several passers-by greet me with great comments on how the house was progressing, helping me complete this project,” McCarthy says.
“I got to meet a lot of people and got a sense of the neighborhood,” he explains of the time spent working on the exterior of the home. “It was a labor of love … a lot of work … and a lot of fun,” McCarthy says.
The house sits at a prominent spot in the village, on the corner of State Street and Park Avenue. McCarthy says some people have even called to him from their cars at the 4-way stop to express how much they like the job.
McCarthy kept a daily record of his work and totaled 647 hours of scraping, sanding, priming, painting and replacement of siding. His friend, Steve Lavender, helped out by painting the high peaks using a lift truck.
“My total paint usage was 53 gallons of primer and finish coats, along with 35 tubes of caulk and two gallons of window putty,” McCarthy says.
His fiance, Valerie Ciciotti, helped pick out the color scheme which she says was inspired by a home the couple saw during a trip to the Thousand Islands.The siding is a light, almost teal blue and the trim is cream-colored. Yellow and deep purple are used to bring out the Victorian architectural details around windows, doors and in trim at the peaks.
McCarthy and Ciciotti say they rent the home to college students and work hard to be sensitive to neighbors who live in single family homes. “We want this to not look like a rental, but an owner-occupied home,” they say.
“As landlords, Val and I try to do the right thing,” McCarthy notes.
“We like the college students and want to provide a comfortable place and a safe place for them to live,” Ciciotti says.
Next year, McCarthy says he plans to replicate the skirting around the porches to match those from an original photo taken in the early 1900s. He will also replace railings to match the originals.
With Thanksgiving and the holidays upon us, McCarthy says his accident and the painting project have taught him he has much for which to be grateful.
“I’m glad I did this project as it made me appreciate all the ornate details of this beautiful turn-of-the-century Victorian,” he says. “Upon completion of this job, I could not help but reflect back on the day of my accident just over four years ago, being very grateful to be alive and healthy. As my mom once told me – you will someday long to do the jobs you cannot do anymore,” McCarthy says. “I learned that lesson during my accident and recovery. Mostly, I am glad to have met many positive people that live in and around the neighborhood who greeted me daily while I worked on the job.”
K. Gabalski photos.
