Prep work is a critically important part of any painting or refinishing project, and cabinet refinishing is no exception.  If you’re planning to refinish your kitchen cabinets, be sure to get your project off on the right foot with these important prep work steps:

1. Remove all contents. The first thing to do when prepping for your cabinet refinishing project is to remove all contents from all cabinets.  It’s best to box all contents by cabinet, label each box, and then compile all boxes in another room, away from the work site.  This is a time-consuming step, but don’t be tempted to cut corners.  Anything left in the cabinets can encumber your ability to work, or can fall and break, and will certainly get covered in dust as the project progresses.
2. Clean the cabinets. Wipe away all cobwebs, suction out crumbs using a shop vac or vacuum attachment, and remove as much dirt and debris as you can from all cabinets.  Then wipe them down with a damp cloth, wiping all crevices of each cabinet face, and all other edges and details to remove any grime.  You may need to use a grease cutting cleaning solution on certain cabinets, if needed.  The cleaner you get the cabinetry, the smoother your coatings will go on, and the better your finished product will look!  You’ll also remove the hardware from each door and drawer, unless you’re planning to install all new hardware when your project is complete.  Place the hardware in a plastic bag so that no screws or knobs get lost.
3. Cover all other surfaces. Cover the countertops, appliances, and other areas that you want to protect.  Chairs, smaller appliances, and other such items can be taken out of the work area to protect them and to give you more room to work.  Cover everything else using drop cloths or painter’s plastic and secure it with masking tape or painter’s tape, and position drop cloths along the floor.

Once you’ve cleared out your stuff from inside the cabinetry, cleaned the cabinets thoroughly, and covered the surrounding surfaces, you’re ready to apply the paint or stain you’ve selected!  Cabinet refinishing is a satisfying and exciting DIY job, but it’s also a challenging and time-consuming one, which is why most Southside, Ponte Vedra, Atlantic Beach, and Jacksonville homeowners choose to call on a great local painting contractor to do the project for them.  The Painting Craftsmen is the best Jacksonville FL painting company and the team to trust with your cabinets.  Give us a call and let’s get started on your cabinet transformation!

Here in Northeast Florida, though the temperatures rarely fall below freezing, many customers ask how to know if it gets to cold to paint outdoors.  Here’s what you need to know about painting your home’s exterior in cold weather.  Paint goes on best in warm weather, and the weather in Mandarin, San Marco, Jacksonville, and on the beach seldom dips low enough to cancel your house painting project.

If you do need to paint your house in winter, here’s what you can do to make sure your painting project is a success:

• Check your product labels. Read the labels on all types of coating to be sure they are formulated to be applied during low temperatures.  Many common house paints and stains are applied best when the temps are 50 or above, but the label on the material will indicate whether it can be applied successfully in colder weather.
• Use the right applicators.When you purchase the paint for your house, check with the paint experts to find out which brushes, roller covers, and other applicators they recommend for applying the specific paint.  Though it’s a good idea to do this whenever purchasing house paint, you’ll especially want to do it when there’s a risk of cold weather.
• Work in the warmth. Plan your project so that you’re painting from midmorning to midafternoon, when the day is typically at its warmest, and follow the sun as you work.
• Call the professionals. Avoid all hassle whatsoever and call on a great professional painting company to do the project instead!

There are many great Jacksonville FL painting contractors, but The Painting Craftsmen is the best painting company Riverside, Sawgrass, and Southside homeowners call on for their painting projects.  Our teams specialize in interior painting, exterior painting, cabinet refinishing, and more, and our technicians are trained and coached to be the best in the field.  We believe you and your home deserve the BEST—the best in customer service, quality work, and an end result you’ll love.

Don’t let your fence become an underappreciated element of your home and yard!  A great fence is important in providing privacy, safety, and aesthetic appeal, and helps set the tone for your home and property.  One of the best ways to maintain you fence is to refinish it routinely or call on a great painting company to refinish it for you.

Here’s why you should refinish your wood fence:

1. Keep it in good repair. Refinishing your fence properly ensures the boards don’t splinter, split, or start to rot. When refinishing your fence or dock or other wood surfaces on your property, you have the chance to watch for nail heads, holes, rust or mold growth that may be starting, insect infestations, and other issues and correct them.
2. Keep it from warping. Sealing and refinishing your fence helps protect it from water damage.  Wood is highly porous and when it’s not adequately sealed it will absorb water and eventually begin to warp and rot.
3. Keep it looking good. You are selective about the color you paint your house, the landscaping you plant around the yard, and the specific shingles on your roof, and the fence, pergola, and wooden deck deserve the same attention to detail.  A fresh coat of stain applied by a highly rated painting contractor can give your fence a new life and can bring up the curb appeal of your entire property!

Fence refinishing can be a simple and satisfying DIY project, but it can also easily get out of hand and end up taking more of your time and resources than you’d like.  More and more homeowners choose to call on a highly rated professional painting company to refinish their fence and give it a fresh look, completely hassle-free.

The Painting Craftsmen is the best Jacksonville FL painting company homeowners trust with their home and landscaping. Our technicians are trained to apply the best coatings thoroughly and efficiently to keep your home, fence, dock, and deck in great shape.  Our Riverside, Southside, Avondale, and Atlantic Beach customers rely on our quality work, and we’d love to provide you with the same outstanding service!

Cabinet refinishing is a popular service that seems get more and more popular!  Homeowners love the idea of giving their kitchen or bathrooms an entirely new look without the cost and hassle of a renovation.  Once you decide to find a find a great local cabinet refinishing company and embark on your project, how do you decide what your new look will be?

As the best Jacksonville FL cabinet refinisher, we’re the experts at applying custom finishes to kitchen cabinets throughout San Marco, Southside, Riverside Avondale, and Atlantic Beach.  Here are our top 3 most popular cabinet finishes:

• Accent Glaze Finish– An accent glazed finish can be applied over either a solid, opaque finish or a natural toned finish. In this process, the customer chooses the underlying finish as well as the accent glaze, which is applied in a way that highlights the natural grooves and lines in the cabinet’s construction.  The finished product is sophisticated and timeless.
• Antique Finish– Similar to accent glazing, antiqued finish on cabinetry is achieved by applying glaze to the finish. Prior to that, however, custom details and accents are added by hand, using a number of specialized tools.  The finished product is a high quality, antique and aged-to-perfection appearance for your kitchen cabinetry.
• Artisan Distressed Finish– Similar to the antique finish, the artisan distressed finish adds additional depth and character. Custom details are again hewn by hand.  The most popular detailing includes faux cracking and burnishing.

When an accent glaze finish, antique finish, or artisan distressed finish is applied by highly rated cabinet refinishing service, you’ll fall in love with your home all over again.  The best painting companies Jacksonville FL homeowners call on for their cabinet refinishing services are able to use their skills and experience to customize the client’s dream kitchen, right down to the hand detailing.  Trust your home to the best Jacksonville painting company – The Painting Craftsmen.  Our technicians are trained, experienced, and ready to transform your cabinetry into the new look you’ve been dreaming of!

The colors that you choose for a room have a significant effect on the mood and feeling of that room.  Many homeowners choose cheery, bright colors for the kitchen, and warm, welcoming hues for a cozy family room.  But what hues and tones do you bring into a bedroom?

We believe that the bedroom walls should be a color that invites you to rest and relax.  Pale blues, cool greys, and softer tones encourage a calm feeling and can help you to relax, unwind, and rest.

Here are a few of our current favorite paint colors for the bedroom:

• Pale gray tones such as “Misty” by Sherwin-Williams can encourage a sense of calm.
• If you’re looking for a darker tone, deeper, warm grays, such as “Sparrow” by Benjamin Moore will create a warm and inviting feel for your master bedroom. Olive green hues, such as “Sap Green” by Farrow & Ball can have the same effect.
• Lavender tones such as “Spring Lilac” by Benjamin Moore, are a way to create a calm feeling in your bedroom. The lavender herb is associated with stress relief, and you may find that the color itself can have a similar effect.
• Pale green colors like “Sea Salt” by Sherwin-Williams can emulate the feel of a spa and turn your bedroom into an oasis.
• A warm white, such as “White Tie” by Farrow & Ball looks great in nearly any type of room, including a bedroom.

Other tips for deciding on a paint for your bedroom:

• We recommend choosing a matte, satin, or low luster sheen rather than a high gloss sheen.
• Avoid using extremely bright colors, which can overstimulate your senses, and think carefully before painting your bedroom walls deep red, bold orange, or other colors that may represent alarm or caution. These colors can have the opposite effect and can hinder your ability to relax.
• Black and extremely dark hues can make your bedroom feel more like a cave than a relaxing place to retire at the end of the day.

Once you decide on the perfect paint color for your bedroom, a highly rated professional painting company can provide a smooth, even coating and crisp lines throughout your bedroom, and in any other room in the house.  If you’re looking for a highly rated painting contractor in Northeast Florida, The Painting Craftsmen is the best painting company Jacksonville FL homeowners call on for their homes.  Our technicians are trained and experienced, with an eye for detail and a passion for customer service.  Ponte Vedra Beach, Ortega, Southside, and Riverside homeowners rely on our expertise to keep their homes beautiful, and we’d love the opportunity to do the same for you!

An accent wall is a great way to bring in a splash of color, particularly a bright or bold color.  Use our list of “dos and don’ts” to help you plan the best way to incorporate additional color in your home!

1. DO consider an accent wall even if the rest of the house is primarily neutral. Countless homeowners prefer to cover their walls in grays, beiges, and whites, and the effect is lovely.  However, don’t be afraid to add a splash of color to an otherwise neutral home!  It may be exactly what the room needed!
2. DON’T avoid bold and vibrant colors. Bright, bold, vivid hues make some of the best accent walls!  Don’t be afraid to take risks where accent color is involved. Instead, see a potential accent wall as an opportunity to display a few of your favorite wild colors or patterns.
3. DO take into account the color of the other walls.Though you should feel encouraged to go bold and select bright, fun patterns or colors, you do need to take into account the other colors in the room.  For example, if the walls are a pale green hue, think carefully before choosing bright orange for an accent wall.  It can be done, but you’ll want to look at a variety of samples first and may want to solicit the advice of a color specialist or highly rated painting contractor.
4. DON’T think you’re limited to solid paint for an accent wall.You can paint stripes, ombre, or faux finish.  Wallpaper is a valid choice as well!  A great professional painting company will be able to create the look you want for your accent wall, regardless of the color or material.

Accent walls can be tricky to paint.  Often the area is small, cumbersome to get to, and you have to be sure you don’t get the accent color onto the neighboring walls. Straight, crisp lines are critical, and you’ll either need sharp skills or extreme patience (or, most likely, both)! Most homeowners call on a great Jacksonville painting company to do the work for them!

The Painting Craftsmen is the best house painting company Jacksonville FL homeowners trust with their homes and painting projects.  Painting is our passion, and it shows – just ask our hundreds of clients throughout Jacksonville, San Marco, Ortega, Avondale, along the Beaches and beyond.  If you’re dreaming of a new look for your home’s exterior or for any room in the house, call on us and let our craftsmen make your dream a reality!

A great paint job is the result of great planning, hard work, a lot of prep work, and high-quality tools and materials.  However, there are a few tools that are essential in giving your home a good looking and long-lasting paint job.  Here’s our list of the tools you need to paint like a pro:

1. Good Quality Paint Sprayer– If you’re painting your home’s exterior, you’ll wear yourself out if you try to paint the entire surface with a brush or even with a roller. Instead, a good quality paint sprayer will make the job go smoothly and efficiently.
2. Good Quality Brushes– For interior and exterior jobs alike, a high-quality brush makes a huge difference in how the paint goes on, and how the results look.Trim is neater and lines are cleaner when you have the control of a good brush, and a great brush will hold more paint and won’t leave bristles sticking to your newly coated walls.
3. Good Quality Roller Covers– A high quality roller cover will ensure your walls get coated evenly and efficiently. Just be sure to select the appropriate nap on the roller cover for the type of paint you’re using and the type of surface you’re needing to cover.
4. Extension Pole– By attaching your roller to the end of a good extension pole, you’ll be able to reach those high areas and may be able to get the job done without hauling ladders all around your house.
5. Painters Tape– Don’t just use masking tape when you tape off your work area.Paint will seep underneath general masking tape.  Instead, use painter’s tape that is specifically formulated to keep a crisp line and prevent paint from bleeding through.
6. High Quality Paint– Low quality paint is thin, runs down surfaces, spatters off your roller, and requires numerous coats. High quality paint is thicker, levels well as it’s applied, hides uneven surfaces and patched areas better, and covers primer generally in a single coat or in two coats at the most.

Skip the prep altogether and avoid spending hours of your precious time on a painting project by calling on a great professional painting company to take care of everything for you!  Homeowners in Riverside, Ponte Vedra Beach, Atlantic Beach, Mandarin, and throughout Jacksonville call on The Painting Craftsmen. We’re the best painting company Jacksonville FL homeowners trust for their painting projects, and we’re the best choice for your interior and exterior painting projects too!  Call our office to get started!

A new coat of paint or stain adds tremendous appeal to your home and goes a long way in helping you create the home of your dreams, boost the curb appeal, or simply provide protection against the elements.  Many homeowners don’t fully realize the size and intensity of an outdoor painting project until it’s already underway.  Here are a few reasons you should leave your exterior house painting project to a great Jacksonville FL painting company:

1. Prep– Exterior painting projects require extensive prep work. The house must be pressure washed with a chlorinated mixture in order to kill bacteria and mold, remove debris and insect infestations, and create the cleanest surface possible for sanding and scraping.  Even houses that are well maintained need to be sanded and scraped in areas, caulked, repaired, and more.  Areas must be taped off, dropcloths must be arranged, and all surrounding landscape must be properly protected.  The prep work alone could take an unexperienced homeowner multiple days of labor before the first can of paint is even opened!  It’s best to leave the prep work to experienced and trusted painting contractors who specialize in exterior painting.
2. Skill– It’s easy enough to hold a brush or roller, but only trained and experienced painters know how to hold the tools in order to achieve maximum efficiency and coverage with minimal drips and spatter.Even a homeowner who is relatively “handy” does not have the skill to move through a large exterior house painting project with the efficiency that a skilled painting contractor has.  If you want the house painted fast and well, you’ll need to hire the best Jacksonville FL painting company.
3. Dangers– Certain dangers befall nearly any type of exterior home painting job. The job may require you to climb extension ladders, walk along a hot rooftop, work in and around thick vegetation, insect infestations, and worse.  Surfaces can become slick and dangers, fumes can be noxious, and there is a host of other dangers, risks, and general annoyances that come standard with exterior painting.
4. Weather– Jacksonville FL is beautiful, but it is hot, humid, prone to thunderstorms, muggy and unbearable in the middle of summer, and oddly chilly in winter months. It’s easy to see why countless homeowners choose to call on a highly rated painting company rather than do the work themselves!

The Painting Craftsmen is the best house painting company Jacksonville FL homeowners trust with their homes!  We’ve spent years perfecting the skills needed for exterior house painting, and we offer the highest level of professional painting services in Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra Beach, Atlantic Beach, Mandarin, San Marco, and throughout the region.  Each of our painters has been specifically trained for the job and will provide expert craftsmanship from the prep work all the way through to the final coat of paint. Call today for your free estimate and let our team of professional exterior house painters give your home a fresh coat of paint.

Think of how much time you spend in your kitchen – seemingly endless hours are spend cooking meals and cleaning up afterwards, but it’s also a natural area for family members to congregate in.  Your kitchen should not only suit your needs, but should feel warm and inviting and look exactly how you want it to look.

The most important part of any kitchen is the cabinetry, and when the cabinets look old and worn, the entire kitchen will appear old and worn.  Alternately, if you hire a good professional painting company to give your cabinets a fresh coat of stain or lacquer, the entire kitchen will look like you redid it! In this way, refinishing your cabinets is like a facelift for the entire kitchen!

Here’s what to do:

1. Find a good, trusted professional painting company in your area that does high quality work.
2. Meet with the painting company’s owner or project coordinator to discuss your dreams for your kitchen. They’ll be able to work with you to find the right hues, coatings, finishes, and design details to achieve the look you want!
3. Book the service!

If you live in northeast Florida, the solution is simple:  Call on The Painting Craftsmen!  We hand sand each door and drawer front, then hand spray each piece in our state-of-the-art spray booth, so that each door will have a smooth, even, high quality coating.  We even stock the same catalyzed lacquer and conversion varnish that the manufacturer’s use, meaning your cabinets will have the same integrity and look as a brand new cabinet from the factory.

It’s easy to see why homeowners in downtown Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach, and throughout the region choose us for their painting and cabinet refinishing projects!  The Painting Craftsmen is the best Jacksonville FL cabinet refinishing company, and the evidence is in the quality of our work.  Cabinet refinishing is our specialty, and to us, it is an art.  Call on us for your kitchen cabinet facelift!

Part of each painting project planning involves selecting the right sheen level for the room.  You wouldn’t want a high gloss paint on the walls of your bedroom, or would you?  Is matte paint alright for the bathroom?  These are questions that most homeowners struggle to answer, so we’ve put together a quick list of the ideal sheen levels for each room in your home.

The best sheens for interior rooms:

• Kitchen: Eggshell, Low Lustre, Satin, Pearl, or Semi-gloss
• Bathrooms: Eggshell, Low Lustre, Satin, Pearl, or Semi-gloss
• Bedrooms: Flat, Matte, Eggshell, Low Lustre, Satin, or Pearl (TIP: Avoid painting Flat paint in young kids’ rooms – you won’t be able to successfully scrub away crayon marks or other toddler “wall art.”)
• Living Room / Dining Room: Flat, Matte, Eggshell, Low Lustre, or Satin
• Ceilings: Flat or Matte
• Trim: Satin, Semi-gloss, Gloss, or High-gloss
• Doors: Satin, Semi-gloss, Gloss, or High-gloss

The best sheens for your home’s exterior:

• Doors & Windows: Low Lustre, Satin, Pearl, Semi-gloss, Medium Lustre, Gloss, or High-gloss
• Trim & Accents: Low Lustre, Satin, Pearl, Semi-gloss, Medium Lustre, Gloss, or High-gloss
• Siding: Flat, Low Lustre, or Satin

Once you’ve decided on the best choices of paint sheen for your painting project, invest in high quality paint, do the required prep work, schedule the time on your calendar, and let the painting project begin!  Or, of course, you can trust your painting project to the best painting contractor in your area instead!

The Painting Craftsmen is the best painting company Jacksonville FL homeowners trust with their house painting projects. We specialize in high quality paint jobs done right.  Our technicians are highly trained and have extensive experience painting all types of homes.  Our expert Project Coordinator will even help you decide on the perfect sheen, color, and material for your specific project. If your Mandarin, Riverside, Avondale, San Marco, or Atlantic Beach home needs a fresh coat of paint, The Painting Craftsmen is the best local painting company and the best company for the job!