Guides on paint, wallpaper, plaster and color from our painters and paperhangers, edited by Clementine Thayer.
A practical turnover checklist for Quincy-area landlords painting a unit between tenants, from choosing the right scope tier and sheen to fitting the work between move-out and move-in.
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Grasscloth is a natural product with natural quirks. Here is why seams and color shifts show, how to avoid water spots, how to clean it and where not to hang it in a Quincy-area home.
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Peeling paint on a Quincy-area house is a symptom, not the problem. Here are the moisture sources, ice dams, failed details and old oil layers behind it, and how a repaint deals with each cause.
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A style-by-style guide to exterior color schemes that suit Quincy's Colonial Revivals, Wollaston Hill Victorians, bay-side shingle cottages and two-families, plus how to research and test one.
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A plain comparison of painting, refacing and replacing kitchen cabinets in Quincy-area homes, with the cost logic, the finish systems that last and the cure times nobody mentions up front.
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How solid stain, semi-transparent stain, bleaching oil and paint behave on cedar shingles in Quincy Bay salt air, and how often each one needs another coat.
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Old wallpaper on plaster comes off cleanly with patience, the right amount of water and a wide blunt scraper, and the real work in an older Quincy house is what you do to the wall afterward.
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Counting wallpaper rolls by square feet alone almost always comes up short, so here is the strip-by-strip method our paperhangers use in Quincy-area rooms, with the pattern repeat math included.
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Old plaster walls in Quincy and Norfolk County houses are wavy, cracked and patched, and the choice between paint and wallpaper decides how much of that you'll see once the room is done.
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Eastern Massachusetts gives you about five good months to paint outside, and the best weeks inside them depend on temperature, dew point, humidity and wind off the bay more than the calendar.
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If your Massachusetts house was built before 1978, a painting or wallpaper job should look different from day one: containment, misting, HEPA cleanup and a final check before the room goes back to you.
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A full exterior repaint on a Quincy triple-decker usually takes three to six working weeks, and most of that time goes into staging, prep and waiting out the weather.
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