Catchlight Painting Blog
Boston’s Best Painters Give Back, Again and Again …
I’ve been working through a trenchant biography of Winston Churchill for some months now, The Last Lion, and continue to be impressed by his fortitude and perseverance during the harrowing experience of the London blitz of WWII. Recently I heard a quote that was...
Some Thanksgiving Thank Yous
Two delightful and gratifying testimonials are below, both unsolicited, from two very different projects. The first comes from the remarkable interior designer Kelly Rogers who has been managing the multiple responsibilities of running a business, raising small...
Who Benefits from a Warranty?
Just about every company in the trades touts their warranty. Let’s put aside the question of how many companies actually honor their warranties, because we hear our share of horror stories about unethical contractors. Instead let’s look at who benefits from a ‘real’...
To Caulk or Not to Caulk
A historic homeowner in Chicago has reached out to us twice now for some expert advice after receiving conflicting advice from contractors in his area. His most recent question follows; Hello Nigel, This is James from Chicago. You may not remember me but you were very...
The Devil Is in the Details
Walking through my Brookline neighborhood with Huey the rescue-but-what-have-you-done-for-me-lately dog this weekend, I stopped to admire the rehabilitation of a historic mansion that had been neglected for many years. The developer seems to have done a decent job, at...
A Primer on the Primer Coat
A homeowner Mike in the Chicago area found us via this blog and after checking us out on Angie’s List called to pick my brain about primers. His predicament reminded me of the confusion that surrounds the use and purpose of primers before painting. He had been given...
What Is the Price of Peace of Mind?
I've always considered the residential painting industry a little like the old Wild West - largely unregulated, filled with independent minded, go-it-alone types. In industry parlance reference is made to painters who operate on the margins as station wagon bandits,...
Winter Horror Show: Ice Dams
I won't indulge my desire to moan about how much I've had to shovel this past month, nor the shoveling expected this weekend with the arrival of our next blizzard. Instead, in the spirit of camaraderie and New England stoicism, I offer you this image from a neighbor's...
How Do Benefits Improve Employee Morale?
At Catchlight Painting, we've always put families first. We believe in recognizing and honoring the significant events in our employee's lives. From work anniversaries to birthdays, from paternity leave to bereavement, we understand that to ask our employees to...
Stories in Mahogany Deck Staining and Stripping in Boston’s Back Bay
When it comes to painting mahogany, there is no ‘normal’ color. We stripped a virtually opaque mahogany exterior stain on a clear coated roof deck in Boston’s Back Bay earlier this summer; since the deck was built over an EPDM membrane we couldn’t use any acid washes...
