The Proper Painter LLC.

10/18/2026

We sanded the railing down, stained it and put on 3 coats of varnish. It should last at least another 100 years. The shutters were original also. They got sanded, primed and painted two coats.

10/18/2026

We got the opportunity to work on a historic home on the north side of Pittsburgh. It was built in 1849 the style is Richardsonian Romanesque. The original owner was an Italian craftsman who carved the stone outside the home and did the stone lion on the archway. I am not sure if he did the mosaics, but they were beautiful.

We took our color inspirations from the mosaics around the house. We chose a color from the SW historic collection… SW studio mauve. The color for the office was SW natural linen. We discovered that the trim on this home was always painted or faux painted. The wood is pine and does not stain well. The fireplaces are faux finished on granite. Our team spent days prepping for paint. The space needed plaster work and some wood stripped from years of bad paint jobs. The railing in the servant stairs was sanded, stained and varnished to last another 100 plus years.
I have a sneaking suspicion we will be back in this home again soon.

10/06/2026

With FrogTape – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

10/04/2026

What a great day at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art! We got to meet the artist and then paint a canvas to be displayed in the museum. Native American inspired mural artist takes her I separation from her culture’s textiles. She uses a lot FrogTape we do, it was fun to talk shop with her about exterior paints that can handle the intense UV rays. She is working on a mural on the rooftop of a new museum in Memphis, can’t wait to see it.

09/30/2026

Smart strip did the heavy lifting of getting this varnish off! If you try this and need to scrape, please use a plastic scraper. The wood is soft from the stripping agent and it will gouge the wood. Always scrape with the grain not against the grain.

09/29/2026

09/29/2026

Commercial project with Essig Renovation & Design, living space above commercial space.

09/29/2026

Look what made it to the shop to be worked on. It will sit like this for a few days.

09/27/2026

My name is Lizzy and I am very busy! 😝 We get a lot done in the world of restoration pretty quickly. These window sills and built in bench have been neglected for a long time. The polyurethane was worn off and the wood had started to split in many places. We used the stain color matching service from and as always they nailed it! Now, as the new homeowner continues their renovation they have plenty of matched stain to use.
Check out the before images. We used a color matched wood putty and a homemade wood putty to fill the holes.