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Do Most San Diego House Painters Do Special Finishes?

by Jon Ray    3 min read     January 11, 2021

Do Most San Diego House Painters Do Special Finishes?


There are many house painters in San Diego. Some of them have their specialties, while others do all types of painting, including interior and exterior house painting. More recently, some painting companies have focused their businesses on kitchen cabinet painting, as this has become a very popular request from San Diego homeowners.

Special finishes are something that not a lot of San Diego house painting companies do, largely because it takes a different type of skill level than other types of painting. With special finishes, a painter needs to have a certain amount of artistic skill and an eye for detail. They also need to be experienced with different types of paint and stain products.

Maybe I should back up a bit and explain what is typically meant by “special finishes.” A special finish is basically anything other than a “typical” house painting job that involves painting a wall a single color. It could include a faux finish on a wall, such as a paint job that makes a wall look like it is made out of marble, plaster, wood, or some other material. It could also be a finish that gives a surface an antique look or a crackle finish, or a special pattern on a wall, like stripes or a herringbone pattern. In addition, a special finish could involve a certain type of stain or acid wash that gives a surface a unique look, or a special type of paint on a wall, such as elastomeric paint.  A custom wall mural could also fall under the “special finishes” category.

House painting, in general, takes a good amount of precision and attention to detail, but a painter doing special finish work also needs some level of artistic skill, which not every painter has. If they are doing a faux marble finish, for example, they would need to be able to get the veining just right. If you want a realistic mural, the person doing it should be a trained fine artist.

If you are wanting a special finish in your home and you find a San Diego painting company that claims to do what you are looking for, ask for photos and references before you enter into a contract with them. If you can see a company’s special finish work in person before hiring them, that’s obviously even better. 

A special finish project can go very wrong very quickly if the person doing it isn’t skilled or experienced in that type of work. The last thing you want is for your home to be someone’s learning project, or to spend good money on a special finish that makes your house look worse, rather than better, so ask lots of questions and make sure you feel completely comfortable with the painter who will be doing the job.

Do you have a question for the Paint Pro that you’d like to see answered in this column? Send it here and you may see the answer in a future column.

Jon Ray is the Founder of PaintGreen, a residential painting company in San Diego. In an industry where unethical behavior is far too common, Jon built PaintGreen in what he likes to call “an environment of integrity.”

Opinions expressed by contributors are their own.

Topics: Ask the Paint Pro, residential painters san diego
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