Thank you both so much! Stairwell look awesome. I would definitely recommend.
Many thanks.

Daniel L.
Vancouver, BC

Over time, your wooden furniture may lose its shine and beauty due to wear and tear, frequent cleaning, or other physical damage. If your favourite wooden furniture has become an eyesore, you might want to consider refinishing it yourself, to banish that worn out paint and perk it up again.

Refinishing used and distressed wood furniture is not all that tough, but choose your battles, as they say. Try some simple jobs on your own at home, and hire professional painters for more extensive and involved projects or to restore valuable antiques.

Wood Refinishing: Simple as 1, 2, 3

In spite of what many people think, refinishing old wood furniture is actually pretty straightforward. The entire process consists of only three main steps: Strip, Sand, and Paint. Read on for helpful hints.

1. Strip
To change the colour of your wood furniture, or simply redo the original colour, first you need to strip away the old paint to make way for the new. The fresh coats of paint will adhere much better to the wood if you take the time and care to remove any previous paint layers lurking beneath the surface.

To strip the old paint, place the furniture in an open area away from children and pets, so they won’t come into contact with the chemicals from the stripper. It’s best to perform wood stripping in an area where you have access to a hose or heated water source because the stripper needs to be rinsed off with hot water.

Before applying the stripper, make sure you put on safety protection, such as rubber gloves, to prevent the chemicals from damaging your skin. When you, the area, and the furniture are ready, apply the stripper and wait at least 15 minutes. To remove it along with the old paint, use a scraper and scrubbing pad. You can also rinse the stripper off your furniture using hot water.

2. Sand
To even out the stripped surfaces on your furniture, sand them using medium-grade sandpaper with an orbital sander or a hand-sanding pad. Medium-grade sandpaper effectively removes flaking paint and other debris from the furniture that you may have missed earlier with the scraper and scrubbing pad. Sanding dust and other residue can easily be wiped away with a damp cloth.

If there are dents, gouges or scratches in your wood furniture, fill them in using a putty knife and some wood filler. Allow the wood filler to dry and set thoroughly before applying paint.

3. Paint
Once the prepping is complete, you’re all set to paint. Apply a coat of primer first, before applying your chosen color. Don’t forget to allow each coat to dry well before applying another coat.

After the final application of paint has dried, cover the painted surfaces with a clear coat of polyurethane topcoat for added protection to the painted finish.

Just a Starting Point!

Again, make sure to take on the refinishing process in an open area with plenty of ventilation and well away from children and pets. A spacious, well ventilated work area will also help you breathe easily while applying the stripper and paint, both of which can have fairly strong odors. You can even choose to wear a mask, for extra protection.

Once you’re done, the furniture will look so great you’ll want to consider having your walls restored to their former glory by skilled and efficient professional painters with an eye for colour and design. The winning combination will truly rejuvenate your home.

“PETER BYRNE is the owner and hands-on manager of Kassel Painting Limited. In the last two decades he has run over 1500 painting projects totalling $5.5M. There is little that can go right (or wrong) on a job-site he has not seen, solved, and lived to talk about.”

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Kassel Painting and a clickable link back to this page.

It’s easy to think of colour as simply a design element to make your home look interesting. Painting a room in rainbow colours might be seen as a novelty at first, but in the long run, too many shades do nothing to make a home feel like—well, a real home. This is particularly important for the part of the house where family members gather and guests are entertained: the living room. Colour affects mood, and residential painters in particular will help you achieve the room’s best look and feel .

The Study of Colour in Residential Painting

Different colours can trigger certain moods and feelings. Red, for instance, invokes alertness, while some people find themselves feeling a little extra hungry or motivated. Blue tends to make people feel calm, and yellow often induces happiness. A specialist in residential paint projects knows how vital the play of colours is to a living space.

Let Residential Painters Match Living Room Colour with Function

What does your family do most in the living room? If it’s where you have good conversations or bond on weekends, specialist residential painters would recommend hues such as tans, beiges and light browns. These earthy colours help keep the feeling light. In contrast, if you choose darker versions of these shades, such as chocolate or mocha, the mood becomes a little more serious.

If this room is where you receive guests, keeping the shade too subdued lowers your “entertainment value.” Choose colours that are on the lighter side, and accent the room with a contrasting focal piece, an ice breaker that gets the conversation flowing. If you’re unsure of what colours mix well without looking too extreme, consult an experienced residential painter. Take advantage of tried and true experience with various kinds of paint projects.

Remember, the look of the living room can make or break a visitor’s impression of your house. If you’re going to invest a little more on a particular part of the home, this is the place to do it.

The All-Purpose Living Room

If your living room is where most activities happen, residential painters and specialist paint contractors might tell you that white is the safest. Simply complement the room’s neutral palette with interesting pieces of furniture and colourful accessories. Highlight the fresh, light feeling of a white room with large windows, so that it feels less confining and more spacious. Accent white walls with quirky paintings and have fun rearranging them periodically. This way the living room becomes a chameleon that can easily transform according to the occasion at hand.

Your creativity merges with your residential painter’s recommendations for a truly personal look.

Living Room Paint Colours and Shared Space

There’s no clear-cut rule when it comes to choosing paint colours for the living room. It all boils down to who you are, what your taste is and how your room will be used. Paint all your walls red, if you want—but since this is the living room we’re talking about, you should also consider how other people in the house will feel about such a brightly coloured space. Experienced residential painters are your best ally in making your house feel like a home and only specialist paint contractors can successfully make your unique ideas a reality.

“PETER BYRNE is the owner and hands-on manager of Kassel Painting Limited. In the last two decades he has run over 1500 painting projects totalling $5.5M. There is little that can go right (or wrong) on a job-site he has not seen, solved, and lived to talk about.”

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Kassel Painting and a clickable link back to this page.

Why do we live in an area like Vancouver? If you’re one of those people who revel in the look and feel of the local scenery, being on the coast is integral to your way of life. Let’s face it: you love being near the water, and all that it evokes.

After a relaxing walk (or a hair-pulling day at the office), you don’t have to lose the serenity of the nearby beach when you step inside. Your bathroom can keep that refreshing feeling alive, and become a place for real rest and relaxation. Let the coastal atmosphere of your bathroom be appealing enough for you to linger a bit longer in the tub.

What are Some Ideas for Bathroom Design?

If you don’t have a clue about painting and design options for your bathroom, consider getting some fresh and fabulous ideas from a reputable Vancouver painter. Give them one peek at your existing bathroom, large or small, and you’ll be awash with great options to get the look and mood you’re imagining, plus the expertise to paint it for you perfectly.

Tips on how to add some seashore fun to your bathroom:

1. Choose natural colors for the walls. For a “beach blanket bathroom” experience, choose rich, natural wall colors like aqua, sand or sea green. These shades can be toned up or down, depending on the size of the room. An experienced Vancouver painter may suggest gorgeous colours you’ve never even thought of to keep the ocean close by. Getting the perfect background colour to build on is often the toughest part. Just close your eyes and imagine the ideal mood—you’re more than halfway there.

2. Choose pastel colours. Okay, so you might want to contemplate somewhat warmer water. Think Hawaii. Or the Bahamas and those wonderful pastel shades typically found throughout the Caribbean. Have a mini-holiday in your very own home, sans the expense. You can enhance the tropical atmosphere by adding some complementary accent tiles in blue, purple or even hot pink. Experiment with some samples first, and have fun figuring out what combinations catch your eye.

3. Go for seashells and sand. Okay, maybe just the colour of sand, but even the smallest details can add real panache to your indoor beach theme. Painting companies have interior designers that can help you decide on what accessories and other touches to use. A few sand dollars look great tucked into a corner of the countertop. How about a woven sea grass waste basket, a basketful of ocean motif hand towels and loofa sponges , or a glass starfish candle holder?

4. Lighting fixtures that add drama. Don’t underplay the importance of effective, dramatic lighting, which can transform your bathroom into an undersea world. There are fabulous fixtures available these days. Try a penlight hung with a beach glass covered shade. If you have some counter space, choose a small lamp with a nautical theme. Even a carefully-chosen seashell nightlight that plugs directly into an outlet can add some real flair—as well as soft, appealing light.

Just a few small changes to your bathroom can help you escape the chaos of the working day, and remind you why you live in such a beautiful part of the world. Hiring a respected and innovative Vancouver painter with built-in interior design services can do wonders to bring the local coastal feeling inside, as well as out.


“PETER BYRNE is the owner and hands-on manager of Kassel Painting Limited. In the last two decades he has run over 1500 painting projects totalling $5.5M. There is little that can go right (or wrong) on a job-site he has not seen, solved, and lived to talk about.”

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Kassel Painting and a clickable link back to this page.

Inside: Well for inside paint it is very simple – it will last until you get tired of looking at it. And if you bang the vacuum into the baseboards and kids grind muck into the walls and so on well then, a little less. But outside paint is a much, much different story…

Outside: Inside the home there is no weather, which is the biggest factor damaging paint. What do we mean by weather?

SUN

Well sunshine burns away at the paint. Imagine if you stood outside in one spot year-round with one coat of sunscreen. How much Ultra Violet (UV) radiation would you be exposed to in a year? 5 years? 10? The sun breaks down the paint over time and as we know, radiation doesn’t just hit the surface but goes t-h-r-o-u-g-h things and this affects the wood underneath to some degree, breaking up those cells. The heat from the sun also dries out the oils and glue that hold the wood cells together. (Ever seen an old grey barn? It’s sunburned.)

RAIN

Fortunately it is not sunny every day in Vancouver, which cuts down on UV exposure. But then that means rain! Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon in Arizona? That was created by running water over millions of years. And one of the biggest ways that rain affects paint is it gets underneath. How?

STRESSES ON PAINT

Well if there is any structural or design defect in the roof it can permit water to get in behind the siding. As well if you look at a rough board like a cedar siding board or any wood trim you will see it has sharp peaks and valleys or at least has a 90 degree (‘L’ shaped) edge. When you paint over a sharp edge you are counting on that thin layer of paint over the edge to protect. Now imagine the sun burning away at the paint and then trucks or busses rolling by outside or even tiny movements of the house from seismic activity or the kids bouncing off the walls inside. Any little movement could cause a hairline crack in the paint on that sharp edge and you can bet water will try to work its way in behind that microscopic gap.

Now the water is in there and later it warms up and wants to evaporate (expands) so it pushes against the paint. With oil paint this is a real problem because oil paint doesn’t breath. With latex it is less of a problem but to some degree will challenge the bond between wood and paint.

(By the way, I mention wood as it’s the most dramatically affected but stucco and other cementitious building materials are affected too.)

FREEZING

Another factor is freezing. Any moisture in or behind the paint will expand when frozen and contract when warmed. This is another motion that challenges the integrity of the paint. It is part of our Canadian climate and nothing we can do about it except move to Florida and why would anyone want to do that?

“I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE, UNDER MY FEET”

As I mentioned earlier there is a thing called seismic or earthquake activity. We experience minor tremors all the time. Vancouver is on a fault line and the government tells you to keep extra bottles of water and granola bars in your trunk. Maybe they should tell you to keep paint and a brush too! Although in a big earthquake paint would be the least of your problems, you can see how paint is affected by all these environmental factors.

MICRO-ORGANISMS

This is not part of weather but is weather related. Our temperate Vancouver climate is a breeding ground for mould and mildew. These persistent little organisms will find purchase to grow on any surface imaginable that can support life. A little city dirt settles on your outside walls, add a little fresh rainwater and presto! You have a science experiment growing on your house. This is most prominent on the north and east sides of homes as direct sunlight on the other sides kills the spores. These little plants do root into the walls and this is further penetration of that first layer of protection – your paint.

SUMMARY

In the end it means this; no matter how good the paint is or the painter or the prep or the application there is a bunch of stuff that is tearing away at your perfect exterior paint job all the time. The only thing you can do is to inspect your house often, touch up where needed and regularly repaint the exterior. The Master Painters Institute gives an expected life span of 6-8 years in the Vancouver area. (For the paint job – not for you!)

Gently cleaning the paint from time to time to remove contaminants also helps. Remember that the paint is the only thin layer of protection between your house and the nasty outside world so maintain it well.

“PETER BYRNE is the owner and hands-on manager of Kassel Painting Limited. In the last two decades he has run over 1500 painting projects totalling $5.5M. There is little that can go right (or wrong) on a job-site he has not seen, solved, and lived to talk about.”

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Kassel Painting and a clickable link back to this page.

Note: This is a busy 24/7 specialist clinic for animals. We had to work on Sunday. But the paint supplied did not match the client colour sample. The paint store was closed. So the crew supervisor stopped work and came back a second time with new paint – no extra charge.

Hello James:
Again, thank you for the excellent work. I am sorry you had to come back but appreciate that you noticed the paint color was not the right one. We will wait until Thursday to put everything else up. It looks fabulous!

Dr. Laurence Braun – Surgeon
Canada West Veterinary Hospital

Whether you’re still choosing what colour to paint your brand new bathroom, or looking to revamp a tired one with a punch of new colour, deciding on the right theme is probably the toughest choice.

Maximize Your Space with the Best Bathroom Colour

In interior design, the size of a room can help determine the most successful colours and themes to experiment with. For the best bathroom colour, think about the available space you’re working with. The bigger the space, the more dark colours and themes you can use.

With smaller areas, the best bathroom colours fall under the lighter shades of the colour spectrum. This gives the illusion of extra space. The great ideas of a company well versed in home interior painting will really get you going.

Themes and Colours for Your Bathroom

Choosing a shade of paint you love is the first step to achieving your dream bathroom. Next is tying everything together—from the tiles down to the accessories—with a theme.

Use your overall colour as the main influence for the room. Periwinkle, yellow, blue, aqua, taupe—choose a base colour, then work in your cupboard and counter colours to complement. Complete the look with great accessories, like compact but useful containers and luscious towels. You’ll be surprised how well those small touches pull it all together.

Go Monochromatic with Bathroom Colour

When looking for a good bathroom colour scheme, make use of a colour wheel, a huge help in finding the right combination of colours.

For a monochromatic or tonal scheme, if you pick the colour green, for instance, you can opt to use dark green tiles, a brighter green paint for the walls, and pastel green for accessories and highlights.

Find Harmony in Bathroom Paint Colours

Using colours next to each other on the colour wheel gives you a harmonious scheme. Choose to use either a warm coloured theme using red, orange, and yellow paint, for example, or cool colours ranging from blues to violets.

Complements Make Bold Bathroom Statements

As the name suggests, complementary schemes take a colour on one side of the wheel, and pair it with a colour from the opposite side. Green and pink are complementary colours, as well as orange and blue. This paint scheme is perfect if you want a bold statement.

White Paint Makes Bathrooms Serene

This motif uses various shades between white and gray—or white and beige, depending on your preference for a cooler or warmer palette. Use lighter shades for your background, and introduce accessories that starkly contrast the bathroom’s light wall colour.

Cool it with Nursery Colours for the Bathroom

Cool colours, such as blue, green, and lilac, not only make relatively humid areas a little gentler on the eyes—they also make it more restful when you’re having a soak in the tub.

Paint your bathroom a soft blue tone with a few white or bright-coloured accents that pop out. These colour schemes can work perfectly for a children’s bathroom. Add some playful rubber duckies and you’re set.

A Warm Cabin Look for the Bathroom—Why Not?

Taking a cue from cabins and lodges with that warm, woodsy feel, this theme uses reds and browns as the main colours. Accentuate the look with white or black accessories, depending on the size of the bathroom. Fluffy towels in a soft beige and some well-chosen baskets complete this look.

Antique and Earthy Bathrooms

Do you have an antique mirror that you’re dying to hang over the vanity? Does your tub have gold-plated knobs that fit the Victorian era style? Mix earthy tones of light yellow and dark orange paint to accentuate an antique theme. Have some fun stepping back in time. These days, there are endless great accessories available in almost any bed-and-bath or department store—choose a great soap dispenser with a burnished metallic finish in a traditional style to pull it all together.

Basic Bathrooms: Modern Style, Modern Colours

Achieve a modern look in two ways. The first is to use a blank slate look, which has clean black or white paint schemes. Paint your bathroom white and install chrome fixtures and black accessories for a great minimalist effect.

For a super bold statement, choose vivid and contrasting colours. Paint the walls orange and pair with a bright bathtub and towels. Or mix yellow-painted bathroom walls with rich purple accessories to feel like royalty.

Bathrooms are almost always the smallest rooms in your home, but prepping and painting them can take an awful lot of time and fuss. Consider the services of a company experienced in home painting to make it happen quickly and painlessly.

With bathrooms, remember that the best design is always one you find easy on the eyes. Because at the end of the day, you’re the one who’s going to use your bathroom the most. The rule in the end: go with what YOU like—have fun and feel inspired!


“PETER BYRNE is the owner and hands-on manager of Kassel Painting Limited. In the last two decades he has run over 1500 painting projects totalling $5.5M. There is little that can go right (or wrong) on a job-site he has not seen, solved, and lived to talk about.”

Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Kassel Painting and a clickable link back to this page.

I really appreciate your staff going the extra mile for us on this project and working within our tight time frame. Sabi did a wonderful job, and both he and James were extremely accommodating.

A. Manville
Maple Leaf Storage

Have you ever wondered why blue is the colour usually used for boys? Colours have their own meanings, and blue is traditionally a gender-specific colour associated with males. We’re all taught early on that blue suggests the masculine, while pink represents femininity.

But have you ever wanted to deviate from the usual? Why can’t we put a pink shirt on a baby boy? Or colour a girl’s room blue? Feel free to break away from the stereotype and go with something different.

Choosing Age-Appropriate Colours for Boys

Residential painters often deviate from the usual gender-specific colours. And with good reason. They know there’s a whole other palette of exciting colours out there to choose from, and something to suit anyone’s personality.

As a child matures, so does his personal preference for the look and colour of his room. For example, a lighter shade of blue is good in the room of a boy from infancy to about age 11.
As a boy grows up, he starts to get an increased sense of masculinity, and darker colours are preferably used for boys ages 12 and up.

But it doesn’t always have to be blue—other good choices include red, deep orange, brown (lots of rich tones in shades of taupe or mocha)—and even grey.

Paint Colour Ideas for a Boy’s Room

Usually it’s easier to choose paint for the room of a younger boy compared to that of an older one. When they’re still young, you get to choose how to paint their room, including its theme and design.

Once your boy grows older, you can let him choose what paint he wants for his room. And let’s be honest—kids in general can be pretty vocal about what they want, especially when it comes to their own space. Let your son’s own preferences, hobbies and interests influence the decision.

Residential painters have experts in interior design and can provide plenty of playful inspirations for boys’ rooms:

For younger boys:

• Blue-colored solar system
• Cartoon character inspired paintings
• Glow-in-the-dark figures (example: dinosaurs, zoo animals, insects)
• Red cars
• Transformers-inspired room

For mature boys:

• Basketball inspired room
• Dark green room and football inspired theme
• Charcoal grey (for boys who love hard metal, rock music)

Paint for Boys’ Rooms: How Your Child Can Help

If your son is old enough to choose for himself, let him pick the colour of his room. Assist him in choosing from a wide variety of colours. Residential painters will likely have books, brochures or other design examples showing theme-inspired rooms. There are plenty of painting ideas your son can get inspiration from. Encourage him to take part in the painting project this way—it’ll give him a better sense of ownership and pride in his room.

Take note, if your boy is in his teenage years, he may be more inclined to choose the colour black. Don’t be taken aback by this request. Contrary to what most parents think, a lot of teenagers want black for the colour of their room. It’s a hard one not to veto, but just remember—he’ll grow out of it eventually!

How Much Does it Cost?

Hiring residential painters isn’t as pricey as you think. It saves a lot of valuable time and sidesteps the messy hassle of doing it yourself. To get the best value for your money, hire experienced residential painters that give a guarantee to their customers. Your daughter’s room might be next…!

No matter what colour your kids choose for their room, when they come to their senses a year or so later, it is very easy to update the look by painting over the old colour.

In fact herein is the true beauty of wall colour as a design element – it is the easiest and cheapest to change and makes the biggest difference in appearance.

So give the boys (and girls) their say, and let them express their independence and “rebel” in paint rather than the many more destructive ways kids have access to.


“PETER BYRNE is the owner and hands-on manager of Kassel Painting Limited. In the last two decades he has run over 1500 painting projects totalling $5.5M. There is little that can go right (or wrong) on a job-site he has not seen, solved, and lived to talk about.”

Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Kassel Painting and a clickable link back to this page.

Well I have told my readers again and again that paint colour is all a matter of your own personal choice, taste and lifestyle. And now this philosophy is becoming more widespread.

For instance a recent article in HOMES AND COTTAGES magazine backs up my view. The writer sought leading Canadian paint manufacturers to get opinions from their own colour experts. In “Colouring the Future”, Abigail Morris states, “A common theme in the inspiration for the collections is the belief that we are increasingly comfortable using home decoration as a form of self expression”.

This has always been my belief. When I visit a client’s home to talk colour, I first look at what they have chosen on their own. I ask myself, “What do they naturally gravitate toward colour-wise?” When I see someone using lots of blue in their home I know blue is a meaningful colour for them. It is one that makes them feel happy or soothed or other positive emotions. It makes them feel “at home”. So I work to incorporate this favoured colour into the new paint scheme.

Our society more and more is embracing diversity in every aspect of lifestyle. This is seen not just in our ethnic or religious backgrounds or relationships. No, this includes everything from taste in music and dress to how we decorate our homes. And our homes are becoming more and more personal.

What this means is there is no right or wrong in terms of colour. There are guidelines and harmonics of colour that we agree work well together and we know certain colours evoke certain moods, but in the end it is a matter of self-expression.

However, if we always played by the rules we would still be listening to Gregorian chants and looking at cave drawings alone for our artistic pleasure. So breaking the rules in art and design is good so please feel free to do so.

But I promised to give the trends for 2012 and so here they are:

NATURE – Undoubtedly the major inspiration for this year’s colours are found in nature; earthy reds, inky blues, warm greens and neutral tones.

REDS – Particularly warm reds, rusty reds and tones found in nature. Often used as an accent due to the strong character of red as a colour.

BLUES – These are the colours of running streams and midnight skies. The deep blues provide a framework for other colours and the lighter blues with grey undertones soothe.

GREENS – Look to the greens of foliage, those yellowy greens in all their various shades.

NEUTRALS – Think of river rocks with the rusty veins of iron ore, the gray of granite, the warm beige colour of sandstone. Think of any mineral known to man and there is inspiration for your neutral palette.

Whatever you chose make sure you love it; as it is you, not I nor the experts who will be living in your home in future years.


“PETER BYRNE is the owner and hands-on manager of Kassel Painting Limited. In the last two decades he has run over 1500 painting projects totalling $5.5M. There is little that can go right (or wrong) on a job-site he has not seen, solved, and lived to talk about.”

Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Kassel Painting and a clickable link back to this page.