Painting

Almost every painting failure traces back to preparation. Paint peeling off a wall, a line that wanders, a colour that goes patchy, a finish that scuffs off a door within months — these are prep problems and primer problems, not paint-brand problems.

We paint as part of full renovations and as standalone work. Either way the sequence is the same: fix the surface, protect everything that is not being painted, prime what needs it, then paint.

Preparation

Surfaces get washed where they need it, because paint does not bond to grease, dust or the film that builds up on a kitchen wall over years. Glossy existing finishes get scuffed so the new coat has something to key into. Nail pops, dents, cracks and old anchor holes are filled and sanded flush.

Caulk lines at trim and along ceilings are cut out and replaced where they have split. A crisp caulk line is what makes trim look sharp, and a failed one makes even fresh paint look tired.

Everything not being painted is masked or moved. Floors are covered. This is unglamorous and it is the majority of the labour.

Priming — and when it is not optional

New drywall must be primed; the paper and the joint compound absorb very differently and unprimed board produces visibly patchy sheen. Bare wood needs primer. Water and smoke stains need a stain-blocking primer or they will bleed through however many topcoats go over them.

A dramatic colour change, particularly going light over a saturated colour, is far better served by a tinted primer than by three coats of finish paint.

Choosing the right sheen

Sheen is a functional choice before it is an aesthetic one. Flat hides surface imperfection and is hard to clean. Eggshell and satin are the practical middle ground for most living space. Semi-gloss on trim and doors takes handling and cleaning.

Kitchens and bathrooms want a washable finish. And the higher the sheen, the more every ridge and hollow in the wall shows — which is why sheen and drywall finish level are the same conversation.

Exterior work

Exterior painting lives or dies on preparation and on weather. Failing paint gets scraped back to a sound edge, bare wood gets primed, and gaps get caulked so water is not driven behind the finish.

We watch temperature and dew point rather than just the forecast — paint applied too late in the day in cool weather can fail to cure properly even though it looked fine going on.

Homes built before 1978 may contain lead paint, which changes how the surface must be handled. We will raise it if it applies rather than sanding into it.

Choosing colour, and testing it properly

Colour behaves differently in the room it is going in than it does on a chip under showroom lighting. North-facing rooms pull colour cooler and greyer. Warm artificial light pushes it the other way. A colour that reads as a soft warm white in one room can read distinctly yellow across the hall.

We recommend large samples painted on the actual wall — not the little chip — and looking at them at several points through the day before committing. Repainting a whole room because the colour was chosen under the wrong light is an expensive way to learn this.

Ceilings, trim and walls do not all have to be different colours, and trim painted the same colour as the wall in a lower sheen is a quiet, modern look that also hides a lot of imperfection in older trim.

How we leave the site

Furniture is moved and covered rather than worked around. Floors are protected for the full run of the job, not just where someone is standing. Hardware, switch plates and vent covers come off rather than being cut around, because cutting around them is what produces a wobbly line.

At the end, everything goes back, the site is cleaned, and we walk the rooms with you in daylight so anything you are not happy with gets corrected while we are still there with the paint.