Interior Painting SU Colonial

This week Donigan Painting worked on an older home in the SU area.  This customer needed their living room and master bedroom repainted.  Due to sensitivity to paint odor we used no VOC paint from Purcell's Paint's.  If you are allergic or irritated by paint odors this is the way to go so you do not smell anything.  No VOC means there are no volatile organic compound's floating around as the paint dries.  They chose a dark grey low sheen color for the living room and a light green low sheen paint for their master bedroom.  The product used in both rooms was Benjamin Moore's Ultra Spec 500 No VOC interior paint.  We used the same product to repaint the molding in an ultra white semi-gloss finish.  All molding was taped out for clean straight lines, walls were sanded to smooth, dings and dents were floated out with joint compound, floors were protected.  Here are some pictures of how it turned out. 


Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
Syracuse NY
315-313-3254

Interior Painting Fayetteville NY-Syracuse NY

Donigan Painting worked on a whole house interior repaint this past week in Fayetteville.  This newer colonial needed to be freshened up before being put up for sale.  The 4 bedrooms, living room, dining room, entry hallway, stairway and office were two coated.  The master bedroom was a light green and one of the bedrooms was a dark blue with a blue ceiling so three coats were needed in each for optimal coverage.    The original colors were yellow and beige through out and changed to Classic Ivory from Sherwin Williams in their low lustre finish Cashmere Paint .  For the uninitiated low lustre is a combination of eggshell and satin sheens.  It's more or less satin.  As usual all furniture was centered and covered with plastic, switch/outlet plates were removed, all the natural wood molding was taped out and drop clothes were put down on finished floors.  The walls dings-dents-holes were filled with joint compound, sanded to smooth and cleaned.  The ceilings were coated twice with SW's Eminence Ceiling Paint in a flat bright white.  In addition to painting we also refinished a bunch of the wood windows that had faded due to sunlight.  Here we removed the mutin's, sanded the old polyurethane off and three coated them with a satin oil polyurethane.  The pictures below show the entry hallway after painting, the master, the blue room before-after and last the master before.

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
Syracuse, NY 13208
315-313-3254
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com/

Deck restain-Skaneateles NY

This week Donigan Painting had the pleasure of refinishing a deck and rails in beautiful Skaneateles on the lake.  This job was a referral from another deck and smoke house we did down the street last summer.  Joe's restain included all the railing-spindles-stringers-joists.  Before we stained everything was hand scraped, sanded, washed-scrubbed to remove mold-dust-dirt and screwed secure.  After preparing the surfaces we applied two coats of Sherwin-Williams Super-Deck Solid White.  Here is how it turned out.

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
Syracuse NY 13208
315-313-3254
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com/

Exterior Painting Syracuse NY-Tudor University

These past two weeks Donigan Painting had the pleasure of restoring and repainting a 1920's tudor located in the Syracuse University neighborhood.  These customers chose the A-Plan which included extensive sanding to feather out old buckling alligator skinned paint, thorough caulking and two coats of high quality Benjamin Moore Paint.  Since it is an older home built before 1978 lead safe practices included wet scraping, high mil plastic ground cover, specialty sanding tools and extensive cleaning with a hepa vacuum .  The prep work for this older home included washing dirt-dust off gently due to its stucco façade, hand scraping-cutting back loose paint, specialty machine sanding to feather in the scraped paint edges, oil priming bare wood, caulking seams-gaps, wood putty filling holes, glazing older windows.  A boom lift was used to reach peaks and other high points on this job.  Once the prep work was completed we applied two coats of paint that matched the existing colors in a low sheen and flat sheen.  The homeowners were very happy with the results and led to us staining their 100'+ of deck rail-spindles-stringers. This job also led to another repaint we will be doing around the corner from this home in a few weeks. 

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
224 Ross Park
Syracuse NY 13208
315-313-3254
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com/

Strathmore California Bungalow Repaint Syracuse NY

Last week we had the pleasure of restoring a 1920's Syracuse gem on the west side.  The home had not been painted since 1980 and needed a lot of tlc.  Extensive prep work was needed in order to get the surfaces ready to accept primer, caulk and paint.  Most of the paint came off in large sheets and crumbled away.  Oil primer was applied twice to many areas that were down to the bare wood.  After priming we caulked gaps and seams with a 25 year latex siliconized caulk.  All areas were extensively protected to contain lead and thoroughly vacuumed to remove fine particles.  Loose clapboards were nailed down and some of the soffit molding was replaced(in the first pic the soffit mold was replaced after this shot was taken).  Two coats of high quality paint were sprayed and brushed into all the nooks and crannies.  On the two dormer soffits alone we used 3 gallons to super coat them.  The owners have lived here for 50+ years and said they couldn't be happier with the results.  This repaint came as a referral for work done on another home up the street.   

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting & Remodeling
Syracuse, NY 13208
315-313-3254
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com

Exterior Repaint Syracuse University

Last week we had gorgeous weather which made for great painting conditions in central NY.  This customer was a referral from a tudor home we painted across the street last summer on Berkley.  In this case we needed to fix a previous painters mistakes who did not prime or put enough prep work into the surface.  This caused the paint, which is Aura by Benjamin Moore, to fail faster than it should have.  It was obvious after walking around the house and scraping some test spots there was no primer applied and the cleaning was sub-par leaving chips and dust mixed in with this previous painters finish application.  In order to make it right we hand scrape the failed paint off, vacuum the surfaces, lightly sand, vacuum again, oil prime bare wood and apply two coats of Ben Moore Aura.  We used a lift to access the steeper parts of the houses siding minimizing any wear and tear on the roof and keeping the painters safe.  Here are some pictures of before and after from some rough parts of the home. 

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
224 Ross Park
Syracuse NY 13208
315-313-3254
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com/

How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets Syracuse NY

Painting kitchen cabinets is a common repaint homeowners diy.  Buying new cabinets can be quite expensive so the alternative is to paint them.  Here are professional painting tips for someone who wants to tackle this type of project.  Typically repainting your cabinets will take about a week when all is said and done with dry times.

Right now we are on a kitchen remodel in Fabius NY where we are refacing the cabinets with paint.  Not all paints are created equal so knowing what to buy will save you from applying the wrong product.  Some people think slapping latex wall paint with a sheen on there does the job, it doesn't.  Cabinet resurfacing paint is made up of urethane-alkyd-acrylic components that provide a superior, hard, scratch free surface when applied correctly to specifications.  An example of improper application is using a latex primer and latex paint.  What will happen immediately is the primer will be a soft coat that provides poor adhesion and easily scrapes off with your finger nail.  This type of coating will wear out within the first year leaving you with dingy cabinets and a waste of time.  I will get back to the product side of it later in this blog.  So you're ready to begin now what?

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1.  Start by removing the cabinet doors and hardware.  The best practice is to keep your door hardware with its original door so that everything fits back together.  Or you may opt to update the pulls and hardware.  If this is the case the best thing to do is bring your old hinge to the store with you and compare it with what you are considering.  Pulls or the part you pull on to open it are standard for most cabinets.  In some cases you may have to wood putty fill screw holes to accommodate your new hardware.    Labeling and separating them will keep things organized and make reinstalling go smoother in the end.
2.  Hand clean the cabinets with soap and water to remove grease and grime.
3.  Sand the cabinets. Depending on the finish on your cabinets you will need to use anywhere from 120-200 grit to scuff the surfaces and remove the gloss finish.  This is a critical step that must be done thoroughly so that when you apply your primer it sticks.  If you have ever painted a surface and not sanded you may have already seen this play out, you'll be able to rub the paint off dried.
3.  Clean everything you sanded with a shop vac so that all the dust is removed.  Next go back over all cabinet surfaces with a wet sponge or rag and remove fine dust.  Cleaning all the dust off and out of the cabinets will keep your work area clean and help you avoid dirt and dust in your applications.
4.  Priming:  Depending on the level of the finish you would like to achieve will determine how you choose to apply your primer.  The choice's range from a brush to fine roller to spraying.  Brushing on the primer often leaves brush strokes which means more prep work between coats.  For your typical oak cabinet with a polyurethane finish you will need three coats of primer.  Laying the primer on thick is not recommended.  To achieve optimal results you will need to apply many thin coats until you can no longer see the original wood colors.  By doing it correctly you will save your self from the paint pooling in areas, sagging or drips.  This will also cut down on in between sanding time and mess.
5.  Once the wood is covered with primer you will need to sand again to remove orange peel finish, brush strokes, imperfections.  This time 180-200 grit will do the trick.  The idea is to get the surface as smooth as possible before you apply the finish coats.  Once again thoroughly vacuum and wipe down all surfaces same as before.
6.  Finish coats:  You are now ready to begin applying your finish paint.  In most cases using a fine nap cabinet roller will work best.  This is a roller designed specifically to apply this paint because once you've rolled it on it leaves little to no application marks once it has leveled out and set up.  There is a technique used for the best results when applying the finish coats.  Once you've loaded up your roller you want to roll it on till you no longer can here the paint spreading.  This may take you a little while to realize what you are listening for but once you get it it will provide that mirror like showroom finish. 
7.  Install cabinet hardware and pulls and rehang. 

These are a few tried and true practices that will ensure you get the high quality finish you are looking for on your kitchen cabinets resurfacing.  Keep in mind these are standard practices for the best results in this application.  Depending on your level of expertise and patience results will vary.  Like they say you can't rush a good thing and in this case it holds very true.  Dry times will vary for products so make sure you read carefully what they are and the conditions that must be met to allow the product to work correctly.  None of the steps above can be short cut or left out without a consequence.  So when you go and spend a few hundred dollars to reface cabinets make sure you follow these steps and the product specifications so that you don't waste your time and money.  When you are shopping for primer and paint make sure you buy a alkyd urethane primer and acrylic urethane finish paint.  The components in these type of products will outlast an enamel or latex paint for decades.  Good luck and happy trails with your project!

Bill Donigan
Donigan Painting
224 Ross Park
Syracuse NY 13208
http://doniganpainting.webstarts.com/