Manhattan Co-op Painter

 Pre-war buildings in the Big Apple offer some of the most intriguing living spaces melding contemporary lifestyles with historical architecture. In the most general terms, these are mid-rise structures which created the first skyline for the city, 12-15 stories tall, built prior to World War II, mostly between 1915 and 1930. They have endured well due to their steel frames covered with masonry products, specifically bricks some three layers deep. Combine that with thick floors, and the insulating qualities are wonderful. The attraction to NYC residents never fades, and we get excited about jobs in pre-war co-op buildings.

 Some have stringent rules for contractors – insurance, proper licenses, worker’s comp and an EPA lead safe certificate to name a few. We are experienced and knowledgeable about their requirements, the paperwork and all the steps to ensure safety and conformance. This apartment embodied the old and new seamlessly with glass interior French doors and fine trim and molding everywhere – even crown molding on the fireplace mantle. Like all jobs, we prep to the max, mask up, sand, paint and clean up to the highest quality standards in the business. That’s how we roll – on every job, in every home. And did we mention loving to work, scrape, paint, renovate in pre-war buildings? Well, we do.

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Co-op Interior Painting Manhattan

This client called us days before closing on a home in the historic west village area of Manhattan. We love that he chose to go with a light gray for trim and against the off white walls. It’s a nice contrast that is unique. We were able to get co-op approval extremely fast and paint before he moved in.

Finished Master bedroom

Other side of Master bedroom with bold colored doors

The prep stage - Level 4 plastering on walls and ceilings

Jackson Heights Skim Coating and Interior Painting

Jackson Heights is home to many historic residential buildings that are wonderfully built and preserved details. Unfortunately as time goes on and apartments constantly change hands these once fine and beautiful details become lost. Plaster starts to fail, the walls become warped and wonky. Door frames covered in 10+ coats of paint hide the once detailed frame. Good news is that all of this can be fixed. This new homeowner wanted the apartment returned to its original glory and we were happy to help. As professional plasterers and door frame strippers in Queens we immediately knew how to remedy the situation after walking the space. With our Jackson Heights skim coating team in place we began the 4 day process of giving all walls and ceilings of the apartment a Level 4 treatment. Level 4 is 3-4 layers of compound applied to the surfaces to give a smooth look and feel, replacing any current texture. The bottom picture shows a bedroom during the 2nd day of plastering. While the plaster was drying we began the process of stripping all the door frames. Removing years of paint from door frames is an intensive process that takes expertise and patience. Once the paint was removed from the door frames we re-plastered around the frames to make everything look new again. With the plaster dried we sanded all walls and ceilings with fine sandpaper to ensure proper smoothness. We then primed all surfaces to ready them for the finish coats. Using 2 coats of Benjamin Moore Aura we painted the entire apartment. We loved the accent walls and door colors the client chose. Painting the furnace cover a different color from the wall is unique and worked out well. Painting historic Queens Co-ops can be a challenge but it is always worth it. We are thankful for this very involved project and the way the finished place looks.