With the stroke of a... Paintbrush?
“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” – Edgar Degas
While he was not talking about painting walls, there is a ton of truth in what he says. I think we have all heard the horror stories of someone who hired a company to come freshen up their walls and ended up with much more, or sometimes less, than they bargained for. Many times this is because people often believe painting is easy, but do not realize that there is an honest art that goes into every stroke put onto walls, ceilings, cabinets and more.
Painting is not as simple as buying paint. I believe most people know the difference between interior and exterior, but what about oil versus water and why one needs to be used at certain times over the other. What about the difference between the hundreds of different primers on the market. Believe it or not, there are primers to stay completely away from. Certain brushes should never be used with certain paints. And oh boy...the joys of teaching how to properly apply tape. What types of tape to use. How long can they stay on a surface, and how to take it off without removing parts of the paint to. Who knew something as small as tape could raise so many questions? Guess who...a professional painter.
True professional painters take pride in our work. For the owner of a company, there is no such thing as a 40 hour work week. The time spent learning about products, researching techniques, training on our trade, and perfecting our skills are mostly things that come outside of the normal work week. Staff are always trying to find ways to improve. There is nothing that upsets us more than a customer we have not completely satisfied. We strive for perfection, and we lose sleep at night when we feel we are not achieving that. We are the harshest critics of our own work than one can imagine.
Customers and I often laugh together when they say "I hate to paint" and I answer with "That's okay because I call that job security." And while we do call it job security, we understand why many people hate painting. Now, I love it. A brush in my hand feels natural, and if you watch my staff paint you will see the same is true for them. But, we have the proper tools, we know the right techniques, and we know the order to paint areas to make it as easy as possible. At the end of the day we are tired, and sometimes feeling both physically and mentally exhausted, but we still enjoy getting up the next day to do it all over again.
My goal with this blog will be to showcase not only our work, but also our profession. I want to educate on the true professionalism that comes with taking pride in what we do. So please, take a look at our site, read the blog, and send questions you may have. I will discuss color, techniques, trends, and more. I may share ideas on how to provide a beautiful update on a small budget. The topics we could discuss within the paint industry in limitless, but I look forward to sharing all that I can with you!
Wishing you a brightly colored day!
Kathy