Interior Painting

Our go to choice for ceiling paint is Duration by Sherwin Williams and our standard choice for color is SW7006 “Extra White” in a flat sheen. Extra white is a very neutral, very pleasant white that does not veer toward pink or blue, but remains neutral despite time of day or light variance. We use a flat sheen because a ceiling should not necessarily “pop,” but rather exist as a pleasant, clean & soft extension of the room. It is also a good idea to use a flat sheen on ceilings because it can be touched up very easily, without any risk of “flashing” or “shadowing.”

However, if the desired look you want to achieve is different, perhaps you’d like the ceiling to match the wall color, or you’d prefer a different sheen or different color entirely, we are happy to do it!

Before painting any ceilings in your home, everything will be covered with clean plastic & drop cloths to ensure that nothing gets even a single drop of paint on it.

What To Do To Prep:

Prior to our starting the job, please:

• Move all furniture 3 feet away from the walls. This gives us clearance to move our ladders around the circumference of the room easily and “cut in” the edges of your ceiling as we paint.
• Remove any ceiling hooks you no longer want to use. That way, we can patch and repair the hole prior to painting.
• Dust or vacuum the corners and edges of the ceiling(s) to remove any cobwebs within reach.

Our go-to paint for all trim is Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel by Sherwin Williams. This product comes in multiple sheens (although we typically recommend a satin or semi-gloss for trim) and can be mixed up in any color.

Why use this product? Why use that sheen?

Enamel based paints get much harder once they cure and are far more durable on surfaces that get touched or bumped up against frequently. Also, due to the properties in the urethane formula of the Emerald product we use, this paint “lays down” and levels nicely to give a “glass-like” finish, which is an ideal look for trim work.

Transforming Wood Trim & Doors To A Painted Surface:

We get a lot of requests for painting oak trim in homes. If your home was built in the 90’s or earlier there’s a good chance you’ve got some golden colored oak trim in your house, if not all throughout your house! The trend to dispense of all that golden oak is in full swing now and most customers we talk to want to get rid of it. However, to hire a contractor to come in and rip it all out and replace it can be incredibly expensive. So, as a result many people turn to a professional painting company to transform the existing trim to a nice, modern solid color. Although painting will be cheaper than replacing, the process is still costly because it’s a lot of work. Much like painting kitchen cabinets, there’s a critical process that needs to be followed to ensure proper adhesion and a lasting result.

First we go through all the the areas to be painted and prep by cleaning, de-glossing, and lightly sanding all of your trim. Next, a bonding primer is applied. This special formulated primer needs to dry overnight.

The next day we caulk all of the trim and baseboards to the wall to eliminate any gaps or cracks that would be seen when the painting is done. This is a good time to note that if you don’t want your walls painted but only the trim then we have to take an extra step of delicate taping all of the walls above the trim line and then carefully pull the tape before the caulk sets to give you a straight line. It’s a tricky procedure but a necessary one to achieve a professional looking end result. However, doing this raises the cost. So, it’s not a bad idea to consider having us paint your walls in the areas you want your trim painted. The offset in cost might surprise you.

After all of the caulking has dried we then begin top coating all the trim. Most trim transformations require at least 2 coats to achieve a solid, finished look. However, there are some circumstances where the trim must be coated 3 or even 4 times to achieve a finished look. So, when you break it down you have to remember that along with the prime coat we are actually painting all of your trim a minimum of 3 times. That means for every 100 linear feet of trim there’s actually 300 linear feet of painting! When you add up all of the trim in your house you can quickly begin to see why this type of painting project is labor intensive.

What To Do To Prep:

Before we arrive, please:

• Move all furniture 3 feet away from the walls where the trim is to be painted.
• Dust or vacuum any trim work that is being painted (if needed).

Whether it’s a simple color match or you’re going for a whole new look, a professional wall paint job can transform a room to looking fresh & new again. And with hundreds of colors to choose from, picking a new color for your walls can be very exciting! Of course, sometimes it’s a challenge, but if so, not to worry! Just ask us!

With over a decade of color consulting under our belt and the experience of having painted thousands of walls over the years, our estimators can help guide you through the sea of color if you feel like you need a little help.

The Products We Use

Our go-to products for interior walls are Emerald Acrylic Latex and Duration Acrylic Latex by Sherwin Williams. Emerald is one of the best paint products on the market today. It has a beautiful finish, it’s fully washable, and will endure with incredible strength & color hold forever. Duration is also one of the best product choices available today, with the benefit of additional moisture block technology. For areas that tend to receive a lot of steam or moisture, such as kitchens and bathrooms, using Duration can help prevent moisture damage to your substrate. A satin sheen is always our recommendation for painting walls.

*Both Emerald and Duration line paints are fully washable. So, if you have kids or pets that may be bumping into walls, leaving fingerprints or paw prints, etc., it’s nice to know that you can wash your walls without fear of damaging the paint job.

How We Prep

Before we paint your walls, drop cloths will be put down around the entire room to protect your floors from any paint splatter. Your baseboards will be taped off to create sharp lines and protect them from “peppering” as well. And any nearby furniture will be covered. We will remove your switch & outlet covers* (so that they are properly painted around) and put them back when the paint is dry and we are finished.

What To Do To Prep:

Prior to our starting the job, please:

• Move all furniture 3 feet away from the walls.
• Remove all pictures and hanging decorations from the walls. If your pictures or decorations are going back up after the paint job, leave the nail or hook in place and we will paint around it. If you are NOT putting the picture or decoration back up, please pull the nail or hook out of the wall and we will patch the hole(s) prior to painting.
• Dust any dusty walls with a clean, dry rag or duster.
• If you plan to get new outlet or switch covers, please let us know so we don’t put the old ones back on.

What constitutes a “major” repair? What can or can’t we fix?

• For Drywall: We can generally fix just about any size holes or damage. In some rare cases we may recommend contacting a drywall professional.
• For Flat Ceilings: Hairline cracks or “settling” cracks are fairly typical and easily repaired by us prior to painting.
• For Textured or Patterned Ceilings: Although we can make crack repairs and fix holes larger than a quarter in textured ceilings, matching the pattern of your ceiling exactly is a very difficult task. It is worth noting that after the repair is made and painted, it is usually unnoticeable. However, if you are looking for a perfect match of your particular ceiling pattern, then it is possible a drywall professional may need to be contacted. This type of repair is handled on a case-by-case basis.

We have a simple rule for nails, nail holes, hooks, picture hangers, etc.: If you are planning to rehang a picture after the paint job is complete, then leave the nail or hanger in place and we will paint around it. If you do NOT plan to rehang it, then remove the nail or hook and we will patch the hole(s) prior to painting. Any nails or hooks left in the walls or ceilings will NOT be removed during the job unless specifically noted otherwise.

Any other small dents, blemishes, dimples, etc. in your walls that don’t look like they should be there, we will repair prior to painting to ensure your walls look as smooth as possible prior to painting. Our goal is always to make your surfaces look new again!

Duration is an excellent, high-grade paint product that contains moisture block technology. This makes it ideal for any areas that receive moisture on the regular, such as a bathroom.

By using Duration you can ensure a long lasting finish that won’t be penetrated and ruined by the effects of steam. This product conveniently comes in multiple sheens. We always recommend a flat sheen for the ceilings and a satin sheen for the walls.

*A Special Note About Toilets

If your toilet requires painting behind, not to worry, we have special tools and miniature rollers to get the job done. However, something people don’t often think about is: for us to accomplish this we have to get down on our hands and knees and get pretty close and personal with your commode. If your toilet isn’t clean and/or the floor & walls around your toilet aren’t clean, then this job can get rather unpleasant for us. So, please…clean your toilet areas prior to us painting your bathroom. We thank you! 🙂

What To Do To Prep:

Prior to our starting the job, please:

• Remove all pictures and hanging decorations on the walls.
• Remove any cluttered or free standing items on counters & sink tops.
• Remove any rugs.
• Clean up any dust or hair that may have collected in corners, etc.
• Clean around toilet.

A paint sprayer in my kitchen?! Are you crazy?! Won’t that make a mess?!

No mess. No worries. Because we know what we’re doing. Here’s a quick glimpse at our process:

Before we even begin the job, while still in the estimating stage, we will discuss the option of spraying on site. Typically, what this means is letting us take over your garage for a few days while completing the job.

We completely protect your entire garage area with new plastic sheeting and then set up our portable spray booth, drying racks, and ventilation system. Once assembled, this set up is completely encased, so your garage is 100% protected from any paint and overspray, and it becomes our working area for the duration of the job. Being able to set up this way keeps the work flow running smoother, allows the job to go quicker, and keeps your kitchen down time to an absolute minimum.

We begin by disassembling and labeling all of your cabinet doors and drawer faces. All hardware is removed, labeled, and set aside. The doors and drawer faces are then set up in the working spray area, sanded, and prepped for their first coat of bonding primer or shellac primer.

Next, we meticulously mask off the shells of your cabinets. The “shells” are the parts of your cabinet system that are attached to the walls in your kitchen. After masking, we sand, clean, and prep for primer.

The coating process then goes as follows:

• 1 to 2 coats of Bonding Primer. This primer acts as the “glue” that sticks to your existing cabinet surface and provides a new surface that the top coat will adhere to.  We fine sand and thoroughly tack clean all surfaces between all coatings. *In some cases, depending on the cabinet material, we may use a Pigmented Shellac Primer in lieu of a Bonding Primer. 
• 1st top coat of Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel. This is the finish product that will be mixed to the color of your choosing. This coat requires 3 to 6 hours of dry time, depending on humidity and temp. Once again, we fine sand and thoroughly tack clean all surfaces between all coatings.
• 2nd (and usually final) coat of Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel. This coat requires 6 – 8 hours of dry time before handling, depending on humidity and temp.
• A 3rd coat is required in some cases with certain colors.

Next, we pull all masking, clean and reassemble your cabinets, and reattach your hardware. We also attach new felt bumpers to all your doors and drawers. This allows them to close without any sticking.

This whole process, including dry time, usually takes about 4 days for a standard-sized kitchen cabinet system. Once completed, it is imperative that you treat your cabinets with the utmost care during the curing process.

For Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, the full cure time is approximately 30 days. So, basically we always tell our customers “be careful with your cabinets for the first month.” After that, the coating will be cured (meaning it will have achieved full hardness). It will then be durable, fully washable, and looking good for a long time.

Products: 

For Standard Sealed Oak Cabinets: Bonding Primer is applied, then Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel for the finish coats.
For Previously Painted Cabinets: Light sanding, then Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel for the finish coats (no primer required for previously painted cabinets).
For Cabinets Made With A Melamine Surface: Melamine should not be painted.

What To Do To Prep:

• Please remove any clutter from the kitchen area and clear off your countertops prior to our arrival.
• Empty out all drawers.
• Items inside of cabinets can stay, but note that the openings will be masked off and unavailable for at least a couple of days. So, anything that you might need, please remove.
• Make sure the floor is clean along the base of the cabinets.