New Years Resolution

Are you in need of a change? Then perhaps it's time to ring in 2011 with a new look to your home or work space.

In the fine act of balancing color, usage of natural light, and architectural elements, finding complementary colors and finishes can really transform an environment to elicit the response or emotion you've been looking for.

Farrow and Ball recently released a terrific guide to helping you get closer to the right color for your space. Take a look!

Once you're ready to start 2011 off on the right foot, give us a call (802.917.1780). We look forward to working with you!

Claybrook at Sugarbush Ski Resort

Vermont Pro Painting was brought in by Labrador Builders to improve the appearance of units at the Claybrook Hotel. As you can see, the high level of craftsmanship in combination with an excellent paint job left these units looking great. The project included selective painting of ceilings, walls, and trim. Vermont Pro Painting did a good deal of feathering to blend new and old colors.

Please note: The above image of the hotel exterior was not taken by Vermont Pro Painting.

Maclay Architects

Vermont Professional Painting is very excited to team up with Maclay Architects who are leading the way in the push for "Net Zero" housing and design in Vermont. Maclay Architects works with old Vermont homes to create a Net Zero building by installing highly efficient solar energy, along with other energy-efficient design elements. These houses can actually give excess energy back to the grid!

The project, above, included installation of large solar panels, new 12 inch deep walls with blown insulation, new window casings, and a lead-safe siding replacement and paint job provided by Vermont Professional Painting. Maclay demonstrates that it is quite possible to transform highly inefficient Vermont housing into family safe and sustainable living. The siding was done in Ben Moore Philadelphia Cream and the trim in Brilliant white.

Ty & Maud: Home Makeover Edition

Ty and Maud came to Vermont Pro Painting in need of an interior home makeover. They were in search of cool and calming colors that would bring new life to their home, as the previous colors (very reflective of late 80's painting) were dark in tone and carried a heavy feel to them. Above: "Before" pictures showcase the older colors.

After a couple days of color consulting, we came up with an amazing color pallet. The majority of the living room and kitchen was done in Edgecomb Grey and for visual effects we utilized accent walls done in Phelps Putty to make the living room and kitchen feel larger, and bring an added dimension to the space.

The master bedroom walls were painted Nimbus Grey with off white ceiling and trim, while the adjoining bathroom was coated with Chalk White. The real beauty of this project was the fact that Ty and Maud left for 10 days. They simply packed their bags and let Vermont Pro Painting take care of everything. The entire house was packed up, floors were covered in resin paper, extensive wall repair was done, priming and painting was completed, the house was put back-together and detailed, and our traveling family returned to a brand new home! Thanks again Ty and Maud!

Harwood Union High School

Harwood Union High School had Vermont Professional Painting revive one of their extra-curricular learning buildings (HCLC). The project entailed replacing rotted clapboards and sills, extensive grinding and sanding, caulking and priming with a mixture of Ben Moore "Fresh Start" and Mad Dog, and finally two coats of siding and trim paint. All and all, a very successful transformation that we were proud to leave for the students and teachers to enjoy.

Robin and Marty

Robin and Marty have a gorgeous home that received an extensive paint job and floor styling/staining to match. Interior walls are mainly comprised of Farrow n Ball (oil, high gloss, and satin finish) while furniture antiquing was a combination of various Ben Moore Oils (lots of sanding, scratching, and buffing for a distressed look). But most intriguing, from a paint and environmental standpoint, was the barn. The barn was painted in an imported Swedish Organic paint that came in three parts (pigment powder, oil, and soap) which all had to be measured out and mixed properly. Thanks again Marty and Robin!

Hasta La Vista Navho White!

Mark & Alice headed to Iceland for a week, giving the Vermont Pro Paint team the keys to their house and the go-ahead to rid their house of its old and beat-up Navaho White interior - personally my favorite shade of dirty white (Note: the hint of dramatic sarcasm). Unfortunately, a small earthquake a few years ago had cracked some of the sheet rock, but after some fresh tape, mud, and patching, the rooms were looking like new again and ready for paint. After returning home, Alice was so excited with our work that she instantly wanted to know how soon we could paint the exterior of the house. Thanks again guys and we look forward to painting the exterior soon! Master Bedroom - Ben Moore Aura "Sage Green"flat, flat ceiling white, and Aura white trim Bathroom - Sherwin Williams "Electric Blue" semi-gloss, flat ceiling white, and Aura white trim Bathroom - Sherwin Williams "Coral Pink" semi gloss, flat ceiling white, and Aura white trim Entrance - Sherwin Williams "Summer Rain" semi gloss, flat ceiling white, and Aura white trim

New Lead Removal Gear

Recently Vermont Professional Painting took new steps towards offering our customers the highest standard of lead safe removal, by investing in a series of HEPA Vac Packs. These HEPA vacs allow us to remove 99.97% of particulates from the air at a rate of .3 microns. This allows us to give our clients the ease of mind knowing that through nationally certified lead safe removal practices you and your family won't have to worry about lead contamination and can enjoy a great paint job.

In the picture above Vermont Professional Painting employees Chirs Alberti and Brad Storey prep MaClay Design's office building for a new painting job.

Fred & Chris's Roof Painting

Last year Fred and Chris Pratt came to us in need of help with their failing roof paint on their beautiful standing seam roof. Over the past years they had worked with several previous companies and never seemed to make any real progress. In order to best serve the Pratt's Vermont Professional Painting and a Ben Moore Regional representative analyzed and sampled the roof.
The extensive prep process included a thorough power-washing, very aggressive sanding, and shop-vacing the entire roof. Next, we applied two coats of Ben Moore, Low Luster, Iron Clad metal roofing paint, allowing 24 hours of drying time in between coats in order to insure that each coat fully bonded and cured to the metal.

Power-washing and sanding in progress.

Bardes Residence

A quick Iphone shot of a day in action at Vermont Professional Painting while working on prepping and painting David Bardes home in Lincoln, VT. In order to make the detailed architecture standout more, we changed the color scheme from Brilliant white siding and trim to Owls Gray (Ben Moore Color) siding and Brilliant white trim, a subtle and classy contrast.

Moore Design Builders

Moore Design Builders of Waitsfield, Vermont brought in Vermont Professional Painting to cap off this impressive newly designed and built mid-western influenced ski home. With this being our second project collaboration of 2010 we went to work detailing and painting trim work, siding, and an extensive overhaul of all the gorgeous beam work.
To bring the full and natural color out of the wood beams Vermont Professional Painting bleached and scrubbed every spec of mold, conditioned with a wood brightener, extensively sanded, and finally stained and sealed the beams with a Cabot 3000 Natural stain. This process would ensure that the beams look their best over the coming years while standing up to the harsh weather of Vermont.

As you can see in the above image no detail was over looked, every nail and screw hole was puttied and sanded for a smooth and flawless look to the siding.
Thanks again Bill and Chris!

New Signs

The new company road/site signs recently arrived thanks to our talented graphic designer, Brett Seymour, thanks Brett!

September?

September kicks off with an incredible heat wave in the Valley.

Company employee, Corbett Tulip, replaces old siding with new tyvec and clapboards as Vermont Professional Painting looked to improve the Clayton family home by not only giving them a great paint job, but also allowing the building to retain more heat. Temperatures on the work site hit 110 degrees.

The Inn at the Round Barn: Phase Two

The Inn at the Round Barn Farm contracted Vermont Professional Painting (formerly GMP Painting) to overhaul the exterior of the Inn over a three year period. Currently we are in the second year and have focused on transforming the main entrance, the Sterling room (a section of the rear side of the Inn), and section of the barn along with the Cupola.

This detailed process has included extensive replacement of cracked and rotten clapboards and trim, thorough grinding and sanding to remove almost all old paint, screen and window repair, along with stripping and staining the decks. In the above shot company employee, Chris Alberti, details the entrance steps to remove building up and old paint from the stairs to leave a clean and historic looking entrance with a professional touch. Sikkens SRD Natural Decking Stain was used on the decks; a highly durable product that has a subtle orange tint which brings out aged wood grain nicely.

Product Note: In high moisture areas where multiple roofs meet and drip lines converge we have had amazing success using Mad Dog Primer. Even though this glue like primer is a little tricky to work with, and rather expensive at $60 per gallon, the results are amazing and it has proven to us over the past 5 years that is can with stand maximum moisture while protecting wood siding.
The barn's lower entrance. We are currently prepping to overhaul the Cupola.

Jenny's New Look - Boston

Jenny's Boston apartment recently had new green insulation blown in the walls, which left the place toasty warm, but in need of some work. The previous color had been a pale bright yellow (semi-gloss) that quite honestly had a little bit of dull feel, due to the colors lack of pigment.

After patching the wall holes, left from blowing insulation, and a fresh coat of primer we had a new canvas to work with. We were all very excited with the final color choice, "Winter Medows" from the California Paint Company's historic line. This particular color was done in a ceramic matte finish that was bursting with pigment and subtle character.