One Brush Painting: Ebony & Ivory

One Brush Painting: Ebony & Ivory: "Come together in perfect harmony." At our custom paint project in Lawrence Park we re-finished the stairs, a washroom vanity, a...

Ebony & Ivory

"Come together in perfect harmony."

At our custom paint project in Lawrence Park we re-finished the stairs, a washroom vanity, and an entire previously stained library.

To get an idea of the difficulty of spray painting the stairs with black oil paint after painting the entire walls white, imagine trying to poor tar onto a road without hitting the curb!   Since we never sacrifice quality we went with the most durable Rustcoat oil paint to cover both the decorative handrail as well as the treads, risers, and stringers.  First we hanged plastic drop sheets all the way down to the basement.  We then taped off the wall at the risers and stringers and taped it to the plastic.  The next step was to sand all of the varnished wood and metal handrail.  Then we cleaned each stair with tacky cloth removing all dust.  Then we primed, sanded, cleaned, and sprayed 2 coats of finish paint on all, paying close attention not to over-spray with our fine finish Titan Sprayer.

The results were worth the effort when we saw the beautiful and sure to last oil finish.  Our painters and equipment worked overtime to produce but its rewards were bountiful.

Just one of the many benefits of choosing One Brush Painting is we always use the best products to ensure the result is lasting and attractive to the eye, no matter the difficulty.  We aren't afraid to bring Ebony & Ivory together in perfect harmony.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZtiJN6yiik

www.onebrush.ca

One Brush Painting Co.: Why One Brush?

One Brush Painting Co.: Why One Brush?: The short answer is QUALITY, the long one is PREPARATION.  You cannot have a quality paint job without proper preparation.  A lot of paintin...

Why One Brush?

The short answer is QUALITY, the long one is PREPARATION.  You cannot have a quality paint job without proper preparation.  A lot of painting companies will claim to use the best products and apply the best painting methods, but what did they do prepare the surface for painting to give it that lasting quality look and finish?

With new home and custom renovations you are normally looking at all new trim, doors, fresh drywall, new stairs, etc.   That means in order to prepare these surfaces a number of steps have to be taken.

For ceilings and walls it is essential to inspect the mudding to ensure that the surface is smooth and ready for priming.  The next step is to give the fresh drywall a light sand for the primer to adhere, sweep the ceilings/walls free of dust, then apply the primer.  Once the primer has ample time to dry the ceilings/walls are then sanded again for adhesion of the top finishing coats.

The trim is the most notable feature on any paint project and often in the entire house!  Trim can come in the form of crown molding, textured ceilings, door jams, and baseboards.  They come in all shapes and sizes and require a tremendous amount of attention to detail.  The first thing to do is to patch every small nail hole that was left by the carpenter's installing the trim.  Then all of the trim is sanded to a smooth surface, removed of all dust, and caulking is inserted into all the joints to fill the gaps.  Once the caulking is dry all the trim and floors are taped off, trim is primed, sanded, cleaned, a first coat of finish applied, sanded again, cleaned, a final coat applied, then touchups.

PREPARATION is the single most important process for producing a high quality paint finish.  It can make the difference between having to repaint your house in 15 years as opposed to 5 years.  It can save you money in the end to pay the right person in the beginning.  A "bad" paint job will spend next to no time on preparation.  A company doing a "good" job will spend %30-%40 on preparation, a company doing a "great" job will spend roughly %40-%50, and a "One Brush Painting" job will spend however long it takes!  That is why we include all the preparation in our estimates.  We don't want anyone else controlling the most crucial aspect of a superior painting job.  It is all about quality control and quality is number "ONE".

Save Money For Your Painter!

On larger renovations contractors and/or homeowners should save money for their painter!

I can't stress this enough.  Whether or not you are planning on living in the house or flipping it, the first and last thing anyone sees in a home is the paint job, so you should never be cheap on it.  I'm not saying go with the guy who touches up the Sistine Chapel for a living but certainly don't go with the lowest quote.

Often toward the end of a larger renovation the budget is dwindling.  Maybe it's because the job took too long or maybe the budget was inadequate to begin with.  Whatever the reason, a good painter is one that can make previous blemishes go away.  Sometimes the taping is bad, sometimes their are nicks in the wall, a great painter can fix all that.

A great paint job is a mix of speed and quality.  Most painters rely on going fast in order to make their margins.  If the price is too low, however, the quality suffers as the painter will cut corners to avoid a financial windfall.  At the right price a great painter can produce high quality work at a reasonable pace.

Take for instance the disaster One Brush Painting walked into last month.  Walking in to a newly painted reno project it looked like the painter was afraid of a vacuum and didn't own a caulking gun.  There were nail holes remaining from the carpenter, dust pellets painted into the baseboards, caulking missing around the trim, wall paint on the ceilings, and door spines unpainted. It was our job to fix the mess and unfortunately it came at the expense of the contractor/homeowner.  A cost that did not have to be incurred had the right painter at the right price been hired.

So the moral of the story is save money for your painter because getting it done right the first time saves on headaches and makes all the difference between a quality looking job and a poor one.

Save money for your painter because your painter saves you money!

Higher the best.  Higher One Brush Painting for the rest. www.onebrush.ca

                                    

Venetian Plaster

One Brush Painting recently completed work on a small home for a young soon to be married couple. The project involved returning a Venetian Plaster living room/dining room wall back to being painted, repainting the washroom, kitchen, and Mstr. Bedroom from dark colors to more soft neutral ones.

Venetian Plaster is extremely smooth with a wax coated finish (almost like marble) .  It is important to remove this coat in order for the primer to adhere to the wall.  Protecting the rest of the house from dust with plastic sheeting, we used a very rough sandpaper and palm sander to meticulously remove the wax surface.  After that we went around the entire room again with a finer sandpaper to ensure a smooth painted finish.   Not done yet we cleaned the wall with mineral spirits and hot water to deny any chance of the wax being left behind.  

The next step was to prime the walls.  We used an Alkyd/Waterborne convertible primer called SuperStix by Para Paints.  This primer is super adhesive and accepts the latex Benjamin Moore Regal Paint that we used for the finish coats.  After priming we again sanded the wall and applied two coats of the finishing paint.  The results were amazing!

Painting the kitchen and Mstr. Bedroom involved taping a straight line on the ceilings as the wall paint continued roughly 3 inches onto the ceiling.  We used blue tape as it creates sharp lines and is easy to remove.  The results again were very pleasing to the homeowner, the new lighter colors opening up the room from the former dark ones.

 

In the washroom we used a higher Pearl sheen to ensure a smooth and cleanable surface since washroom get a lot of traffic and dirt on the walls.  We also used a tough silicone based caulk to eliminate any gaps around the door jams, trim, and vanity.

A lot of homeowners are curious as to why painting can take so long.  Though One Brush Painting is fast compared to some, I like to explain to them that most of painting involves the prep work.  A properly prepared surface ensures a solid and lasting finish and is therefore an integral part of the painting process.

Here is an example of a properly prepared surface as opposed to one that isn't:  We sanded the line around the top of the ceiling then taped along the outside of the line with very soft blue tape.  When we removed the tape it peeled off some of the ceiling paint!  In order to fix the problem we then had to tape on our freshly painted line and repaint the section of the ceiling that peeled off from the previous painters job.  Only 2 hours after putting on our finishing coat we were able to tape over it without it peeling off!  So the moral of the story is always prep and only use the highest quality products to get the One Brush Painting seal of approval.

Visit www.onebrush.ca to view our portfolio of work or to book your free estimate! 

"Feet First"

When I was younger my family owned a cottage in Lake Muskoka.  I remember being nervous about jumping into the murky water as I was sure the fish would bite my exposed feet.  I reflect on this phobia now as a metaphor for life.  Jumping into something new is one of the great challenges we face throughout our life.  And it never really stops until it's over. We jump in "feet first", hope for the best, and then we leave by the same way....... "Feet First"

A few weeks back One Brush Painting quoted on a 1,700 sq. ft. condominium in Yorkville.  The project included all the finish painting on the trim, baseboards, walls, doors, and crown molding. I went home after meeting with the contractor to put together a quote for the project.  The quote was accepted quickly and the next day we started.

Within a couple of days of doing prep work I realized that the project was much bigger then I had originally expected.  We were under a tight 2 week deadline and were not allowed to do any work off business hours.  I had anticipated the project taking 160 hours to complete and we only had 102! I managed to convince the homeowner to speak with the concierge to allow me to come in on Saturdays to catch up.  While painting the baseboards in preparation for installation the homeowner and I were speaking about what she wanted.  She mentioned that this was the last place she was hoping to live in and that she was looking to leave the condo "feet first".  

I thought that this project might bury me.  I spent countless nights rolling around in my head how to finish the job while not having electricity, time, and tripping over other tradespeople that were frantically scrambling to have the project completed on time.  The only solution was to hire another painter to make up the hours.  

In the end we finished the project in the final hour as I was literally painting the last door while the carpenter was still putting the trim on it!  Exhausted, I went home to review the project.  We had jumped in head first, gotten our feet wet, and though there were fish nipping at our heels the entire time, nothing bad had happened.  And we were still alive.

Life is a constant challenge where taking big risks are all part of the game.  It isn't always possible to play it safe by simply dipping your toes in.  Sometimes you have to just stare straight into the murky water, with all the biting fish swarming, and jump in head first.  After all, you can't go out "feet first" if you dive straight in!