by HJ HOLTZ | Jan 31, 2018 | Client Work, Furniture and Cabinetry
Painting your cabinets is a fun way to change the look of your kitchen. But how do you decide what color to choose? Do you want to keep it simple with a classic white, or do you want to spice it up with some color? We spoke with color consultant Keri Tartick of Sherwin Williams for some reasons why it is becoming increasingly popular to choose a color:
- Additional contrast – with white tile and countertops becoming so common, a color breaks things up and adds some contrast. The same is true for kitchens with white or very light walls.
- Off-white appliances – several clients that have moved away from white because they have almond appliances, aged white appliances, or a mixture of appliances & do not like the combination of a clean, new white with them (makes the appliances look old/dirty).
- Function for high traffic families – helps hide fingerprints & dirt a little better…especially with toddlers!
- The color of the crown molding in the rest of the kitchen. Sometimes clients are not happy with an off white meeting up with a bright white trim, but the trim color is whiter than they want on the cabinets.
- Personality – It gives you a unique look and allows you to work in a color that you love in a space that is the heart of the house.
Interior designer Avery Sefick thinks the most trending colors in Richmond right now are are gray, greens and blues. To some, gray cabinets can sound drab and boring, but by accenting them with great tile, flooring and surrounding paint, they will actually pop! Anywhere from light blue to navy lacquer, blue tones are an inviting choice and it can change the feel of an entire space. There are so many different hues to choose from. If you finish a cabinet color in a high gloss it highlights the cabinetry and really brings a sophisticated feel to the room!
We painted the kitchen of our customer, Joanne Katsantonis, Farrow & Ball Hague Blue. It looks amazing! We asked Ms. Katsantonis her thoughts on her kitchen and she said, “I had been looking in a lot of magazines and really liked the colored cabinets and especially blue. Many people told me to do the cabinets in white and maybe just the islands in blue, but I just thought the right blue would be more elegant. The hard part was getting the right blue but H.J. Holtz was incredibly helpful. They will paint samples and even change the finishes to get the exact right color. I wanted a high gloss almost lacquer look. Through the samples we ended up finding the perfect blue with the high gloss finish. It created an elegant and modern look. I can not be more thankful for the high quality work and great collaboration with H.J.Holtz and Son.”
Colored cabinets really boost the interest in the kitchen and become the focal point of the room. They are fun and bring any home to life! Call us today for a free estimate
by HJ HOLTZ | Aug 29, 2017 | Client Work, Furniture and Cabinetry
A stained front door makes a beautiful statement. It represents you and your style and is the first thing most people see when they visit your home. However it also is a big investment that needs maintenance. Doors should be hand cleaned with non abrasive cleaners twice a year to get rid of dirt and any mildew. Depending on how much direct sunlight, water and heat your door receives dictates how often it should be refinished. At H.J. Holtz & Son we can restore your stained woodwork to its former glory.
How often your door needs to be refinished depends on the exposure it receives. Doors under porches or doors that face north in our area tend to get less weather and exposure, so they can go years without refinishing. Doors that are more exposed to the elements or that face south may need to be coated annually. The following is a list of signs to look for when determining if you door needs to be refinished.
- Dull surface
- Dry feeling to the door
- Raised grain of the wood
- Noticeable color changes such as light spots or dark streaks
- Obvious peeling of the varnish
Once you determine that your door needs to be refinished, the first step is to remove all of the hardware and access the wear and tear of the door. Does the whole door need to be striped or just a section? Either way the worn area needs to be stripped and sanded.
This door below shows how the door has weathered over time.
Once the door has been sanded to raw wood, our craftsmen experiment and mix stains to create test samples, ensuring the stain is the color the customer wants. Having an artistic eye is key to the color matching. Once a stain is chosen it is applied throughout the door’s nooks, crannies and crevices.
The final step is applying the varnish – a minimum of two coats. We like the oil based Silkkens, which comes in many different sheens. When the time is taken to be detailed oriented and precise, a beautiful refinished door is produced.
These garage doors have lots of fading in the panels and mouldings due to excessive exposure to the sun and rain.
Once the doors are sanded, stained and clear coated, they look as good as new!
When you have professionals that take their time and use their experience to refinish stained woodwork, the outcome is amazing. Call H.J. Holtz and Son at (804) 358-4109 for a free estimate so we can make your doors look brand new!
by HJ HOLTZ | Jun 6, 2017 | Client Work, Furniture and Cabinetry, Residential Painting
Purchasing a home can be a very exciting time. However, when you purchase an older home that requires a makeover, it can become daunting, especially when the project is of this size and scale. You need to be able to collaborate with a painter that can implement your vision and ideas. Customer Lizzie Cox chose us. Her new home needed a facelift and we were there to help!
Before…
The entrance had neutral walls and trim with a black matte door.
After!
In the Foyer we painted the trim, hung the Farrow and Ball Ranelagh wallpaper and painted the door a high gloss finish.
Before…
The hallway stairs had wood stained risers and a wooden banister along with monochromatic colors above and below the chair rail.
After!
We painted the risers on the steps white, which contrasts nicely with the newly painted black railing. The additional picture molding gives the illusion of wainscoting, which dressed up the foyer.
Before…
There was a lot of wood stain in the kitchen extending from the beams and carried throughout the trim, the walls and the floors. The cabinets were also wood stained and these elements combined created a closed-in feeling to the kitchen.
After!
We degreased, sanded and scraped, primed and painted the cabinets. Then we used our in-house spray booth to apply this beautiful Benjamin Moore White Dove. The light-colored cabinets, trim, ceiling beams and walls brightened and enlarged the kitchen!
Before…
This area is an extension of the kitchen with a fireplace at the other end.
After!
All of the woodwork was painted white, including the bookcase, panels and ceiling beams. Our craftsman Brian Smith whitewashed the fireplace to create this beautiful, uniform look. The brighter walls also make the floor pop!
Before…
A second fireplace was also updated.
After!
The brick on this fireplace was painted black which contrasts beautifully with the wall color.
Before…
The master bedroom had colonial blue moldings with white walls.
After!
The white walls and white trim created a modern look in this beautiful bedroom.
Before…
The heart-of-pine paneled mudroom.
After!
The mudroom looks fabulous! It is amazing that the knots don’t bleed through the paint. The birch tree woods wallpaper by Cole & Son adds dimension and brightness to the whole space.
Before…
This huge sunroom with plenty of windows for viewing the yard had green trim and an exposed brick wall. It was finished with a flagstone floor.
After!
This sunroom looks amazing with the painted brick and trim! The light color in combination with all of the windows creates such a bright, cheery room and brings the outdoors inside. The walls are Feather Down with White Dove trim.
Mrs. Cox had noticed the quality of our craftsmanship through working for designer Suellen Gregory. When I spoke with Mrs. Cox, I asked her why she chose H.J. Holtz and Son. “While working with Suellen I saw the caliber of your work and I love the way you treat clients. I couldn’t imagine working with anyone else.”
She noted that we “work magic” and that she knew exactly what she wanted it to look like. She knew the skill level of H.J. Holtz and Son could execute what she wanted. There was never any other painter considered and she has not looked back once.
Mrs. Cox also shared that her family loved having our craftsmen in her home. They would joke with the family while they ate breakfast in the mornings and were missed when the project was completed.
Mrs. Cox is very happy with our work and loves the transformation. It is stunning to see the before and after pictures. We are thrilled that our customer loves our work!
by HJ HOLTZ | Jan 4, 2016 | Furniture and Cabinetry
The desire for us to paint furniture continues to increase as our customers are choosing to repurpose their furniture. We’re enthusiasts of this concept so we’re excited to be doing more of it. Some customers are interested in the environmental benefits — getting a second life out of something that is still sturdy, but looking a little worn out or dated. It is also economical to either acquire something used and “upgrade” through painting, or make something last longer than you expected. Either way it is certainly in line with “reduce, reuse, recycle!”
Other customers are excited by the design possibilities that painting furniture allows. Usually, you would have to embrace a room’s decor and you would have to search endlessly for a piece of furniture to compliment the room. By painting a piece of furniture to match your design, you are customizing your vision and life gets a whole lot easier.
In order to keep up with the growing demand, we recently added another spray booth to our shop. See what one of our experts, Mark Woodson, was recently working on below.
by HJ HOLTZ | Aug 26, 2015 | Furniture and Cabinetry
If you cringe at the idea of getting rid of something that is perfectly useful, but desperately want to update your existing furniture or cabinets, you are not alone. More so than ever savvy homeowners are having their cake and eating it too — painting these items to give them new life and/or adapt to an updated decor.
It’s certainly possible to tackle such a project yourself. But if it’s a challenge to get a durable, great looking result for your walls, it’s twice the challenge with furniture and cabinets. We undertake more surface preparation steps, use special paints, and often sand surfaces in between multiple coats — all to ensure a great-looking, durable result. After all, most of these pieces will be touched, sat on, or moved more than any wall ever was.
While we’ve been painting furniture and cabinets for years, we have been working on these kinds of projects even more often in recent months. A portion of the fixed cabinet work must be done in our clients’ homes, but furniture that we can remove and and cabinet doors are best handled in a spray booth like we have at our location.
In order to keep up with demand, we recently installed an additional state-of-the-art spray booth — doubling our capacity. This will allow us to handle more clients as well as complete large client projects faster. Have multiple pieces of furniture or a lot of cabinet doors? We will be able to prepare and paint more pieces in parallel.
If you’ve been considering purchasing new furniture or cabinets, but hate the idea of tossing something that still has a lot of life, let us take a look. We’ll give you an honest assessment of what’s possible and even be able to show you some examples at our studio. For more information about furniture and cabinet painting, follow the link to that page on our website, or give us a call at (804) 358-4109.
