A Crowning Example of What We Can Do

The couple that bought this condo unit rented the unit just below it.  I met them in their rented apartment and saw a circus of colors in every room.  The trim was painted with 3 colors which was different in every room.  It was an interesting concept that was applied too heavily.  So, when they bought the unit upstairs from them, they asked me to do something similar.  Their idea was much simpler and coordinated.  I could tell more of a story here, but the pictures speak for themselves.

Following are 3 photos of the foyer:

Foyer Before 1

Foyer After 1

Foyer Before 2 (with homeowner's color test samples)

Foyer After 2

Foyer After 3

 

Foyer Before 3

Following is 1 photo of the dining room as we found it and 3 photos of what we did to it:

The living room was also painted with this kind of detail.  I only have one before and after picture, but it is the most impressive of the room:

 The rest of the condo was simply repaired and painted.  I have those photos here, too:

Breakfast Room Before

Breakfast Room After

Bathroom Before

Bathroom After

Bedroom Before (with homeowner's color sample)

Bedroom After

This job is a crowning example of what my crew and I can do.  The pictures don't truly do justice to what was done, but this was the most difficult trim job that we have ever done.  The homeowners are extremely pleased with the work and thanked us repeatedly.

The Painting of One Room

This is the 4th time these people called me to work for them over the past 5 years.  They simply wanted to change their office into a nursery.  The issues were the trim color, wall color (it's a girl), and the old repair on the ceiling and wall.  It was a rather straightforward job.  Take a look at the difference.

Before

After

Don't Hate Me

I will paint your living room neon green and pink if you want.  You have to live there, and the choice is ultimately yours.  I have found over the years that color is a personal preference, and it is none of my business how you want to live.  However, if you want my opinion, I will be happy to share it with you and steer you towards better options.  The artists that work for me may be able to work with you, too.  In the end, I cannot take responsibility for the work that you choose to be done.  That brings me to this most recent job, which contains a bit of controversy. 

This 100+ year old house was filled with Victorian woodwork that has been preserved over the years.  The problem was the dining room.  Someone stained the 36" high wainscot, window woodwork, door frames, and overhead beams with a terribly dark stain.  There was limited natural light in the room, so it became a dark, cavernous, foreboding, and uninviting room.  To make things worse, the ceiling and walls has a dull yellow hue.  Here are some images of what it looked like.

After taping off the floor, windows, and doorways, I sprayed a Shellac based primer over all of this woodwork.  Then 3 of us spent an entire day emptying 14 tubes of caulk in every corner and between every piece of wood.  We also skim coated the panels with wood putty to fill all the cracks in the wood.  The next day, I sprayed a latex based paint before we painted the ceiling and walls.  Don't hate me for ruining this woodwork.  I gave my opinion of what should be done, but I did what I was asked to do.

The results, however, made the room much more inviting. 

The ceiling was extra white, the walls were a light grey, and all of the woodwork was white dove in a pearl finish.  The homeowners were very excited by the completed project.  It took a day longer than expected, but they can now enjoy their dinner without feeling like they are in a small Gothic space.

A (Major) Cleaning #4

In 1982, gas was $0.92 per gallon, Israel returned Sinai to Egypt, the first issue of USA Today was published, the first CD player was sold, Michael Jackson released Thriller, and this house was most recently painted.  That is, until last week.

The work we just finished in this suburban house included the most prep we have ever endured.  The paint was peeling and cracked just about everywhere.  There were water stains and large cracks on the ceilings, the baseboards were abused, the baseboards and all woodwork was discolored with age, and not a single door closed properly.  My team and I were brought in to spend 9 days bringing this house back to life with a major cleaning.

I had to stop myself from taking pictures of every wall in this 3 bedroom house and posting them here.  Instead, I am summarizing the condition of the house with these selected photos.  Keep in mind that the entire house looked somewhat like the following 3 examples before we did any repairs.

A bedroom before

After

Hallway before

Hallway after

A wall in the living room before

After

Prior to us starting this work, the homeowner had her own preparations to do.  When she took the pictures down from the dining room wall, she realized that the wallpaper had to go.  So, we added it to the list of things to do.  I think it was a good idea.  After painting the ceiling, walls, window frames, chair rail, and cabinets, it would have been a shame to leave the wall paper up.

Dining room 1 before

After

Dining room 2 before

Dining room 2 after

Her screened-in front porch also needed quite a bit of work

Front porch before

After

Front porch detail

After

Finally, we cleaned up her basement walls, which were cracked and stained.

Basement before

After

This is the kind of work that is extremely satisfying for me and my team.  We feel like we gave this crumbling old house some new life.

A Cleaning #3

When I got to this house for the estimate, the homeowners freely admitted that they have been there for 37 years.  They painted it themselves when they moved in and one other time, but they could not remember when that was.  Since they were getting older, I was told, it was time to think about fixing up the house to sell it or live comfortably in it again.  We only contracted to repair and paint every surface of the living room and dining room, but it was a big task.  They didn't want to change the colors of the house too much.  This was just a cleaning.

Below are 2 examples of the condition of the dining room and what they looked like after the repairs and paint.

Dining Room before #1

Dining Room after #1

Dining Room before #2

Dining Room after #2

The living room ceiling had an old water satin and some peeling paint.  The walls did not have much damage, so I don't have any close up pictures.  I am including these pictures so you can see the amount of woodwork we had to paint, the amount of obstacles (furniture) that we had to handle, and the overall cleaning we did.  

Living Room before

Living Room after

Stairwell before

Stairwell after

When we were done and I sent the invoice, the homeowner wrote back to me stating, "I can tell you that we have been very pleased with your efficiency, clear communication, promptness (including swift response to calls/emails), and I have no doubt that we will be pleased with the work itself--once we get everything back in place."

New Molding & Paint

The owners of this house wanted to do some significant detail work to their home before they got married.  The house was in rather good shape, except for a few cracks and a recently plumbing issue, but they wanted a bit more pop in the house.  Plus, they had not painted it since they purchased it.

I know this blog is most effective when you have before and after pictures to see what we did, but I often get to work before remembering to take the picture.  I neglected to take any pictures until we progressed to far into the work.  This post has no "before" photos, but I'm rather proud of this work, so you'll just see the finished product.

First of all, they wanted their dining room to zing a bit more.  The crown molding was small and plain, and there was a chair rail breaking up the wall.  Instead of removing the existing crown molding and adding new and larger pieces, the homeowner came up with a great idea.  We simply added a thin piece of trim below the existing molding and painted the 1" of space between them.  The results make it look like one larger piece.  Then, we painted the walls.

Close up of larger crown molding

The other trim they wanted to add was below the chair rail.  We added the "picture frames" then painted everything from the chair rail to the floor and the newer crown molding to match.  Of course, we painted the walls, as well.

Close up of picture framing below the chair rail

 Here is a photo of the entire space.

Completed dining room

Before we painted their bedroom, we also completed the same extension of the crown molding in their bedroom.  You can see the effect a little better here

Master bedroom crown molding

They also had 2 bedrooms with vaulted ceilings on their 3rd floor.  They were filled with cracks and old beat-up molding.  So we repaired and painted everything in these 2 rooms.

With the final payment, the homeowner sent a note that stated, "The house looks great! Thanks for all of your (and your team's) hard work.  Can't wait 'til we have the $ to finish the rest of the house!"