The painters were top notch. They worked very efficiently, courteously and extremely cleanly.
- Jack Bernauer, Inverness
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Illustrating the Possibilities of Painting and Decorating on Pinterest

Painting in Partnership’s Pinterest Profile

Painting in Partnership has joined Pinterest! For those of you that don’t know about Pinterest, it’s a social media site that is basically a collection of educational, fun informative and inspiring pictures that link to great websites.

As Chicago area painting contractors, our goal is to create an outstanding, stress-free painting experience for you, every time, every craftsman. We know that it can be difficult, frustrating and time-consuming when seeking out colors for your paint project, as well as general decorating and home design ideas. Therefore, we have created a Pinterest profile with a collection of home ideas to help inspire you. There, you’ll find more than 150 images of kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms and bedrooms meant to inspire and guide you to great ideas for your next home decorating project.

Here are some of our home improvement boards that you will find on Pinterest:

• Color Inspiration
• Color Psychology
• Color Splash
• Decorative Finishing Ideas
• Holiday and Seasonal Decorating Ideas
• Ideas For Your Home
• Period Colors
• Mural Art
• Wood Refinishing
• Unique Lighting Ideas

Be sure to come join us on Pinterest . We update our boards frequently with new ideas for your next home project so be sure to come back often! Leave your Pinterest URL in the comments section below so we can follow you back. Happy browsing!

Unique Chicago Paint Restoration Project Wins Three Awards in 2012

In the Fall of 2011, our painting and decorating company was chosen to execute a historical paint restoration project on the metal façade of this 1889 building, in the busy Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. We knew from the outset that was a very project. However, we had no idea it would earn our company three top painting awards.

Chicago Historical Paint Restoration Project

The project involved a complete reinvention of a historical color palette for the building, which the ten owners had to approve. The execution of the work presented major challenges. They included meeting several layers of regulatory requirements, from City of Chicago ordinances, to OSHA and RRP rules, since the building was situated next to the sidewalk, power lines and required the use of five layers of scaffolding and a boom. The work involved the removal of a majority of the old coatings from the metal surfaces, the reproduction of many missing metal decorative ornaments and custom wood moldings. Having completed that work, we then primed the surfaces and painted them using a six-color historical palette. Painting the detailed metal elements of the two large bay windows was a little bit like painting by numbers. To ensure color placement accuracy, we had to number the color breaks from top to bottom.

The most prestigious award was the Grand Prize of the TOP JOB Awards from the American Painting Contractor magazine. We also won the Commercial Exterior Restoration Award in the competition organized by the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA). We also most recently won the Grand Prize of “Chicago’s Finest Painted Ladies and her Court” competition, which the Chicago Paint and Coatings Association has organized for the twenty-sixth year.

As specialist in historical paint restoration, our biggest reward is to know that our clients were delighted with the result and that their building is now an inspiration to other owners in the area for restoring the original beauty of their own buildings.

Maintenance Painting Is Critical, Especially for Multi-Color Victorian Houses.

As Chicago area specialists in historical restoration, we were called this week, by the new owner of an Oak Park, 120-year-old, 4-color Painted Lady, to inspect the property for any painting restoration needs it might have. The owner was being proactive in protecting the value of his investment and being a good custodian for his piece of Chicago history.

Victorian Painted Lady

and expensive paint job many years ago. From a cursory inspection, the paint job looked fine – there were no signs of peeling paint on the house. However, a closer inspection revealed failing caulk issues, as well as rotting wood in some areas. The issues were mainly confined the front porch area.

In an old house (or any house), the most vulnerable areas are the window sills, the lower part of the casement molding which meets the sill and porches. Trouble begins when the caulk starts to fail, creating an entry point for moisture to infiltrate and begin the rotting process. It may take a while for the paint to fail, but the problem keeps on growing and becomes more and more expensive to correct, especially if the owner waits for the whole house to need a complete paint job.

Rotting Wood on Victorian Porch

In the case of Victorian houses, especially the painted lady versions, the problem is compounded. The previous owner of this house exemplifies the predicament owners of Victorian Painted Ladies find themselves in. Painted Lady porches have a lot of detail to them. Because it is expensive to do such a paint job on a porch and because owners are most commonly only thinking in terms of a complete repaint, the problem shown in the second picture does not get rectified early enough and the wood continues to rot. From the time the caulk starts to fail, it may take 3 years for the wood to deteriorate to this point.

The good news for the new owner is that that rotting porch area can be restored with epoxy and made sound again. Good thinking on the part of the new owner of this old Victorian house. That kind of thinking saves money and preserves antique wood surfaces.

Refinishing a Wood Front Door? Sometime, it is too late!

Rotting Wood Front Door – Outside

Rotting Wood Front Door – Inside

As house painting contractors, we get several calls a week to refinish wood front doors and wood garage doors, from all over the Chicago area. Wood doors are very vulnerable to the elements. UV rays attack the finish and cause it to fade and sometime get milky. Changes in temperature play havoc on the door surfaces, stress the joints and cause the coating to crack. Moisture is the next villain. It looks for any entry point, like a break in the coating, or a crack in the joints to infiltrate the door components.

The demise of a wood door is sometimes caused by something less evident: the bottom edge of the door is often left unsealed at installation time, thereby allowing moisture to get trapped between the weather stripping and the raw wood. When that occurs, the moisture quickly causes the wood to rot away. Let’s look at an example of this problem.

On a recent visit to a potential new client, I was asked to inspect the wood front door. The door had a Southern exposure and showed extensive coating failure, even though the door was only six years old. On the bottom right corner of the door, I noticed that the wood had shrunk and had developed a twelve-inch vertical crack. Upon that visual inspection and touching the surfaces, I concluded that the wood had dry-rotted. On the inside of the door, even though the finish looked intact, the wood in that same corner had begun to grow mushrooms from the decay. Regrettably, I had to inform the client that the door was damaged beyond repair and had to be replaced.

I told the client to make sure the bottom edge of the new is properly sealed before installation. I also told him that I would contact him in two years to inspect the door and do any necessary maintenance. On wood doors, periodic maintenance is essential to preserve the wood and its good looks

Professional Help with Color Selection Gives Peace of Mind!

As painting contractors in the Chicago area, we offer color design consultation to our clients. Today, we had a vivid experience of the true value of this service for our clients. At 8:15 this morning I get a frantic call from someone who had just found us on the web. Bonnie said: “ I have a paint color problem. There are three painters who just started painting my house and one of the colors does not work for me and I do not know what to do.” Having agreed on a fee of $75 for a thirty-minute consultation, I was ringing her doorbell at 8:55.

Color Fan Decks Are Intimidating

It turns out that both her and her husband are quite sensitive and attuned to color. However, both of them get shell-shocked when looking at a fan deck. Bonnie was happy with the siding color they had selected. The trim color was the one at issue, which is where we focused our attention. I then brought up the idea of painting the front door a third color. They both liked the idea.

After we selected a door color they both liked, Bonnie’s husband voiced the concern: “what will we do if the door color turns out a little too dark?” First of all, I recommend that they ask the painter to do some samples of the three colors on the actual surfaces. Additionally, I recommended that the painter gets a quart of the door color and a quart of a medium base of the same paint, so that he can lighten the door color if need be. The client felt very comfortable with my suggestions.

At the conclusion of the color consultation, Bonnie hands me a check for $100 and tells me: “ I added a bit more to the check because you gave me Peace of Mind today.” Those were golden words for me, since it is an integral part of the promise we make all our clients. She was absolutely delighted and so appreciative of the color advise she had received. I asked her to call on us any time she needs painting and decorating services in the future.