Painting in Partnership, from the Chicago area, is currently involved on a green house painting project where a kitchen is being remodeled. The remodeling involves the use of new plywood for the sub-floor and new drywall for parts of the ceiling and walls. Our client being highly environmentally sensitive, a critical step in ensuring the success of this project consists in the careful selection of only the greenest of materials for the project.

Primers that Seal In Toxic Outgassing in Plywood and Drywall

The Project Coordinator and Interior Designer for the project, Ginny Blasco, specked green primers by AFM Safecoat for both the plywood and the drywall. The product of choice for the plywood is called Safe Seal. It penetrates deeply into the wood surfaces, seals in the exterior plywood surfaces and prevents future toxic outgassing of formaldehyde. The sheets of plywood are sealed with two coats of this product on both sides and all edges. The cuts are also sealed in the same manner. Since the Safe Seal product stays a little tacky when dry, we substituted the Hard Seal product as a second coat on the top face of the plywood sheets.

For the drywall, there are two products. One is a heavy-body primer called Primecoat HPV and is intended to seal in toxic outgassing in new drywall. The other, called Transitional Primer, is much thinner and is intended for previously painted drywall. Among Primecoat’s ingredients are limestone, calcined clay and calcium carbonate.

Doing green painting is more demanding. It requires a willingness to do research on alternative products, experiment to see which product will achieve the best result and, on occasion, develop new application techniques. Helping to produce a healthy environment for our chemically sensitive clients is part of what we do at Painting in Partnership.

Refinished Garage Doors

Stripping wood is a time consuming process. The idea is not to have to do it again for a very long time. Thirty two hours of labor went into stripping and sanding those two doors. We also carefully inserted brown caulk in cracks that had developed in some of the door components to reduce water intrusion and increase the longevity of the finish. We used three coats of a mahogany Sikkens varnish which is specially designed for doors and windows. We much prefer this varnish because, contrary to spar varnishes, it is flexible and does not readily crack like spar always does.

The challenge for garage doors, especially for a Southern exposure like this, is to stay ahead of the effects of weather on the coating. We recommend a two-year maintenance program, which consists of checking the surfaces, touching up of the stain on the lower two rows of the panels’ bottom rails and an additional coat of clear Sikkens varnish. The maintenance is a small cost compared to the cost of refinishing the whole door. By following such a maintenance program, you ensure that the doors will stay looking like new and not require stripping again for a very long time.

Other Refinished Garage Door

The other exterior wood refinishing project presented a different challenge. Originally, the garage door had been stained and varnished. Years later, the previous owner gave up doing the required maintenance and had had the door painted. The door continued to peel anyway, so the next owner decided to have us strip the old paint and varnish and bring back the natural beauty of the wood. Here is the final look!

Exterior wood refinishing is one of the specialties of Painting in Partnership, an award-winning house painting contractor from the Chicago area. We love to bring back the natural beauty of wood and find ways to extend the life of the coatings we apply to exterior surfaces.

Art Deco Adirondack Chair

The passion flower was used as the central motif of our painting. There are about 500 species of passion flowers (Passiflora) and are found all over the world. There are nine species that are native to the United States. The plants generally grow as vines, although there are shrub varieties as well.

The passion flower got its name not from reference to love, but to the Passion of Christ. Legend has it that a Jesuit scholar living in Italy in the early 1600’s, upon viewing drawings of the flower, had a vision likening the parts of the flower to the elements of the Crucifixion.

Incorporating “period” motifs into contemporary settings is part of Painting in Partnership’s commitment to historical restoration and preservation. Art Deco is one of those period design styles. It originated in France in the 1920’s and flourished in America through the end of World War Two. The Art Deco style influenced architecture, industrial design, decorative finishing, graphic arts, film and even fashion.

Stone and Wood Montage

Once in a while, I go to my favorite lumbar yard. It carries a wide array of the most awesome exotic woods in the Chicago area. On a visit, several months ago, I stumbled upon a piece of figured, burled walnut. In my eyes, the obvious defects of this piece of wood added to its beauty. I had to buy it!

A few months later, I had the opportunity to visit Taliesin West outside of Phoenix, the former working studio of one of my heroes, Frank Lloyd Wright. Walking around in the fields surrounding the property, I came across four stones. Two of those stones had triangular shapes, which attracted me because of the triangle theme at Taliesin West. The fourth stone was totally black and was perfectly smooth. This was indeed a one-of-a-kind stone in this arid landscape!

The final element of my montage was given to me many years ago by a carpenter. He had cut red hearts out of a plastic material for a class he was teaching. For some reason, I hung on to this heart. I placed it next to my montage. One day, in passing, my wife suggested inserting the heart in the upper cavity of the wood block. I said OK.

What first attracted me to that piece of wood were the natural wounds inflicted upon this tree. Somehow, those same wounds added unique character and beauty to the wood piece. One day, my I.T. person was over to work on my desktop. Having told him about my montage, he said: “There is a man and a women kissing!” Can you see the two profiles in the wood grain? Then, the full meaning of my montage was revealed.

How can I find a deeper meaning in this assembly of stone and wood? Well, here it is! Man and woman are attracted to one another. With love (the heart) and a strong dose of God’s help (triangles), the wounds inflicted by life that challenge relationship can be overcome and help produce true and beautiful relationship. To stay in balance (black stone) is not easy. Sometime, when things get “rocky”, one loses balance and falls to the ground. With God’s help and the help of others, balance is regained anew, until the next fall. True relationship is God’s intent for all of us.

As a person and as a painting contractor, depth is a quality I bring to my conversations with clients, employees and how I view situations and opportunities in the painting industry.

Peeling Paint on Gables

On this exterior painting project, a quick look at the front gables does not reveal anything out of the ordinary: just peeling paint; another day in the life of a house painter, right? Not so fast. Look closer. Behind the paint that already peeled, there is the original coating. What is going on here? Is there an adhesion problem?

The top coating seems to be delaminating from the original coating. Why? How extensive is this problem? Is there an adhesion problem here? Those are questions Chicago’s Painting in Partnership needed to answer in order to give its client the best possible paint job.

In order to ascertain the answers to these questions, we did some testing. We applied strips of masking tape over what looked like a perfectly sound, painted surfaces and then yanked them off. Oh my! All the paint comes off! Behind the top layer of the paint was a mildew infestation. This is why the top layer of the paint was failing!

Sound-Looking Painted Surface

Mildew Infestation Underneath the Last Coating

How could this have happened in the first place? The house being fifteen years old, we speculate that the original trim was factory stained and then installed on the house. The house probably sat for months with that factory finish, while the house was being finished on the inside. Before tuning it over to its buyer, we think the house was given a quick coat of paint to “dress things up”, without the proper cleaning of the surfaces and killing the mildew spores. The new coating created darkness and allowed mildew to multiply between the two coatings and eventually cause the paint failure.

To properly execute this exterior house painting project, we had to remove the old paint wherever our tests revealed the mold problem. We used scrapers to remove the failed coating. After the removal process, we killed the mildew and power-washed the surfaces. We then had another round of scraping to remove any paint loosened by the power washing. Finally, we primed all bare wood with an oil primer.

This project exemplifies the care Painting in Partnership invests in every project to ensure the long-term satisfaction of our clients with all the house painting work we do.

Stones from Mendocino, California

Upon my return, I had an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of “vacation”. I shared with my Office Manager that I spent two hours looking for stones on a coastal beach in Mendocino. She said: “You did what? You must have had a lot of time on your hands!” She was right!

This section of beach was covered with course charcoal color sand – a most unusual sight! On the sand, or partially covered, laid countless stones that had been polished and rounded off by nature’s handy work. I was fascinated by them and started looking for stones, of different sizes, that could be stacked on top of one another to create a sort of “rocky montage”. I could not wait to get to my office to sort through my stones and create my montage! It is shown in the attached picture.

To me, vacation is about getting lost in what I love, without the constraint of time. As a painting craftsman, I love nature and its handy work. It is an endless source of delight and inspiration for me. The work of nature affirms that patient and steady work accomplishes great things! Those are qualities I strive to demonstrate every day in my painting contractor business.

A painter from Paris, by the name of J. L. Watin, published a book in 1772 entitled: “ The Art of Painting, Gilding and Varnishing” (translation). Among other things, this book graphically describes the symptoms of a disease known as “painters’ colic” or “ceruse”. What was he talking about?

A Painter - Victim of Lead Poisoning, Circa 1772

What Mr.Watin was describing were the effects of lead poisoning arising out of the work practices of folks involved in trades that generated lead dust or lead vapors, like painters, metal workers, decorators etc.. At this point in time, lead was even used to “soften” wines and were called “vins sophistiques” (sophisticated wines). Work practices were indeed unreflective of the actual dangers of lead, such as wetting one’s brush with one’s saliva.

The author goes on to describe the symptoms of lead poising, for painters in particular. First, there is an acute pain in the stomach area, difficulty breathing, anxiety, and vomiting. As the disease progressed, the pain level would grow. I will spare the graphic descriptions given by the author. The picture I made part of this story depicts a victim of “painters’ colic” being hauled out of his house. Next to the front entrance were his ladder and cart.

Fortunately, times have changed. Knowledge and awareness have grown and lead poisoning of the intensity described in Mr. Watin’s book have all but disappeared. The work practices of the painting industry are now regulated by EPA lead rules known as RRP Rules. Contractors now have to be “Certified Lead Safe Firms” and the painters have to be certified as well. I am happy to say that Painting in Partnership, from the Chicago area, is a “Lead Safe Firm” and that several of its employees are certified as well.

Aqua Building on Chicago's Lakefront

One of the Condo's Many Views of Chicago

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a good client: “We just purchased two condos in Chicago. Please help us with color selection and the interior painting.” They purchased a 3-bedroom unit on the 69th floor and a 1-bedroom on the 73d floor. The condos’ floors are stained

Color Scheme for 73d Floor Condo

Color Scheme for 69th Floor Condo

a dark brownish/blackish color and the bedroom carpeting is a sandy color. The smaller unit is to be occupied by the grown son and the other by the parents and their guests.

In contrast to the traditional décor of their suburban residence, our clients wanted an “urban” look to their condos. This is where the paint color consultation came into the picture. After four hours of consultation with the owners and the son, two different color schemes were arrived at. The son’s painting of John Lennon inspired a “Retro” look for his color scheme, as shown in the picture, with chartreuse, gold and gray as some of his colors. The parent’s condo took on a more “Urban Chique” look, with a rich brown to match the leather couch, taupe tones and gray shades.

Painting in Partnership, a house painting contractor located in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, stands ready to meet the sophisticated needs of its clients in the both the color selection process and the impeccability of the craftsmanship of its interior painting.

Gold Leafing over Venetian Plaster

Gilding is an ancient decorative painting technique. Romans were particularly found of it during the time of Plinius Secundus, around 50 AD: even the ceilings of their temples were gilded. In the United States, gilding found a place in the decoration of the interior of public buildings, the exterior of capitol domes, statues and fine residential interiors. To this day, it continues to be a technique of choice for fine decorative finishing.

Gilding consists in the laying of an ultra fine sheet of metal over an adhesive sizer (tacky varnish). Once applied, the leaves are flattened and made to cover every little bit of the surface to be decorated. The portions of the leaves that are not attached to the sizer are then brushed off. The end result looks like a continuous sheet of metal. A telling sign that something has been gilded is that the square shape of the metal leaves used in the gilding process is still visible when the work is completed.

We just completed a most interesting decorative finishing project that involved the gilding of an artful design onto a venetian plaster surface that we had earlier decorated. A wide array of materials can be gilded: metal, glass, wood, drywall, stone and plasters. Although rarely done, venetian plaster is one of those surfaces, as shown in the attached picture.

Ink Sketch for Stencil

Lazer-Cut Stencil for Gilding

How did that project come about? The client wanted some artwork next to the shower area, but was concerned about the moisture affecting the art. I suggested gilding; they liked the idea. They showed me an etched leaf design on a lotion bottle which was on display on the vanity table. I asked our muralist to replicate that design as an ink drawing on a piece of paper, as shown in the next picture. I then asked our sign maker to digitize that same drawing, enlarge it to the desired size (24” wide and 36” high) and create a vinyl stencil. By the way, this is the same technique used in painting a sign, except that , in this case, the subject matter was a leaf design, not letters. Once the vinyl stencil was perfected mounted on the wall, we were ready to do the gilding process. Before removing the vinyl, we applied a coat of varnish over the metal leaf to protect it from oxidization.

This was a fun project for both the client, our decorative finishing people and our company. It is always a pleasure for the folks at Painting in Partnership, from the Chicago area, to combine the talents of many people in creating a result that is artful, creative and long lasting.

Lightning Strikes on Tip of the Roof

Fire Damage to Roof Beams

Lightning struck on the highest point of the house (as shown by the blue tarp) on a Sunday morning. The owners were unaware that the house had been hit. Fortunately for them, neighbors saw the lightning strike. Shortly thereafter, they noticed smoke coming out of the roof and called 911 immediately. The fire department rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire.

In spite of the neighbors’ vigilant eyes and the fire department’s quick response, the house suffered significant damage from fire, smoke and water. All things considered, the damage could have far greater if the response had not been so quick.

The restoration work will involve structural work to repair the roof beams, carpentry, new insulation, replacement of damaged drywall and paint restoration to a number of rooms affected by smoke and water, including about 1,000 square feet of a decorative painting finish in the foyer and halls. During the restoration process, the owners’ belongings will be in storage and they will be living in a rented house.

When lightning strikes, Painting in Partnership, from the Chicago area, stands ready to assist in all aspects of paint restoration, from the repainting of surfaces to the replication of existing finishes.