A River Runs By Them

While the weather is often warm well before Memorial Day, it's this holiday that heralds the summer season and, in Bucks County, the return of motorcycle enthusiasts. And it was this weekend, more than a handful of years ago, when a New Jersey couple, out for their late-May motorcycling "pilgrimage" to New Hope, decided to ride a bit farther north than usual on River Road.

"We couldn't believe all the 'For Sale' signs, says Joanne. They called a realtor to see a quaint little craft house that was inland - "and likely more affordable," adds Brian; but the next day saw one home after another, including a 1930s fishing cottage off one of the bridge lanes...riverfront. "I took one look at it and thought, Yeah, sure," says Brian. But it was a buyer's market; the seller took a liking to them; and by Labor Day the house on the banks of wild river was theirs.

This spring, to celebrate the anniversary of their "first date," Joanne and Brian decided to dress up. The house.




After sanding the cedar shakes, we applied two coats of solid stain in Cabot Pepperwood.



This was about a month-long job...in one of the most beautiful settings we've ever had the pleasure of working in. While we always look forward to our lunch break, when we eat and "shoot the breeze," below is where we unwrapped our sandwiches and pretty much said nothing, watching the silent and serene Delaware roll by. (We wanted to take off our shoes and dangle our feet...but we didn't.)



We asked what their favorite time of day is. Joanne said that most of the year it's early in the morning, when the river looks silver. But come Labor Day, as the River Valley begins the descent to night, the river, she says, turns golden.

So be on the lookout for our September newsletter when we'll revisit Joanne and Brian and the splendor of the Delaware at day's end. But for now....

Happy Summer and
Peace,

Carla and Ken

Got Peace?

If you read last month's blog, you know that OP has started a partnership with The Peace Center in Langhorne, thanking those who refer us with a donation to TPC and giving a percentage of our profits from every job we do.

What many of you don't know is that with the first tick-tocks of 2015, we made a commitment to build our business. We love what we do. New color makes people happier, and we believe the house is happier too. But during a workshop we attended late last year, the facilitator - echoing a rather famous Simon Sinek TED - asked, "Why do you do what you do? Identify that, and you're in business."

It didn't take long for us to come up with an answer: Home should be the one place we all feel happy and safe.

As Odell Painting approaches its 30th birthday, we can count more than a thousand homeowners and houses we've made happy. Every day during those almost three decades, we've been repairing broken plaster and spackling holes before making old surfaces new again and turning dull rooms into bright ones. But there's work to done beyond the walls of our homes....

We both come from a background of activism, believing that good work begets good work and that giving back is a fundamental cog in the universal wheel. And between the two of us, we've aligned ourselves with some terrific organizations that we will continue to work with, including the Bucks-Mont NARI Community Service Committee, which - with Eiseman Construction (see story at top) - helps put dry and safe roofs over the heads to those who needed better shelter.

But we wanted a partner and a "why?"

What’s different about The Peace Center’s work is that while realizing the need to empower our girls, they know we’re only doing half the job if we aren’t listening to our boys. While The Peace Center works tirelessly in the quest to end domestic violence, they know that the cycle of abuse will continue - with someone else somewhere else – if we don’t address the pain and needs both partners bring to a relationship. The Peace Center believes we can work through intolerance – even when we don’t agree – and promote transformation not through awareness alone, as are most programs’ goals, but through dialogue and questioning; there is no other way to understand and empathize. There is certainly no hope for peace “out there” if we don’t feel or are unable to find peace in our hearts, inside our basic relationships and within our communities. You can find out more about their prevention and intervention programs by visiting www.thepeacecenter.org.

And if you're looking for something Spring-y to do, click on the peace sign below for a list of TPC's seasonal events.

Only a few months ago, we were afraid to turn on the news or pick up a paper. Not anymore. Because when you're in action you don’t feel so scared.

Tribute to Phil Eiseman

On the last Sunday in March, the Bucks County Audubon Society (BCAS) - beneath a six-month-old Eiseman-constructed roof - celebrated the giving spirit of Phil Eiseman, who passed away in early January.

 
Phil's wife, Melissa, with their company Eiseman Construction will continue to be the local champions of the No Roof Left Behind (NRLB) project, with which Odell Painting is a proud partner. The plaque, a loving tribute to Phil and inscribed with the words This roof will shelter generations of explorers, children of all ages, connecting with nature at Bucks County Audubon Society was created by one of 2014's local NRLB recipients, Lumberville ceramist Gloria Kosco speaking to guests.   

50 Shades of Grays

So if you read last month's newsletter, you know that we were all about color with the announcement of the Pantone Institute® Color for 2015, Marsala. (If you missed it, you can click and read it now.) And you might remember that for the second year in a row, the Paint Quality Institute predicted that many of you will choose a shade of gray for your interior.

We painted the entire interior of this Delaware Valley home (photo by Brian Krebs/Fred Forbes Photogroupe) in about a half dozen of the more than 150 Benjamin Moore grays. The living room is painted in Coventry and the dining room beyond in Kendall Charcoal. Sherwin-Williams' grays number about 140. So with the release of the much-anticipated movie "Fifty Shades of Grey" (a name in this case), based on the much-talked-about 2012 book by E.L. James, we thought this might be a good time to talk about why gray might be the best choice for you. While these subtle hues can be cooling and calming, they can make a bold "industrial" statement and deliver a big KABANG with assertive accents and courageous complementary colors. But since we're all about Houzz these days, we're going to let the experts there give you the low-down on what's trendy with these neutral shades. By the way, the bathroom to the right that announces our new Tiling service is painted Ben Moore Silver Spring.

And the award for the 2015 Color of the Year goes to...

I remember those Sunday nights when we’d gather in front of the TV and watch Tinkerbell paint the sky above Sleeping Beauty Castle, heralding the start of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. And Dorothy’s entrance into the magical Munchkinland was so much more than her crash landing onto the Wicked Witch of the East. It was opening the door to the splendors of colors she’d never seen in Kansas.

“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. ”
― Oscar Wilde

But when it comes to the color of homes, sometimes we want a meaning and definite form. Color can be practical, like a calming green or blue for a study. Or a crisp white that screams “neat and clean.” How many of you have painted your front door red? There's lots of folklore attached to that: a welcome to travelers, a sign of safety, a vibrant household - a foretelling of abundance. Or perhaps you want to make a statement, as my wife, Carla, did after we returned from Jamaica two years ago, when we painted our house orange (Carla says it’s yellow but when the sun sets on the western face of the house, believe me, it's orange.) We decided to step out and be bold so that we didn’t have to tell people we were the second white house on the right anymore. After all, I am a painter. Now we say, “When you turn the corner, you’ll know which house is ours.” (Even at night.)

We’ve come a long way since our color choices were limited to white washes and earth pigments, and every year since 1999, the folks at the Pantone Color Institute® (the printing people) have been selecting a color for the new year beginning with 2000’s Cerulean Blue up to the just announced (drum roll, please)             
…Marsala (18-1438).
(Interior designers were on the edge of their settees....)

Why Marsala? Well, have a look-see at Pantone’s website, where there’s lots of creative wine-allusion copy about the “full body” and “hearty” richness, and read what their Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman has to say about this year's winner.

But not everyone was on the Pantone Bandwagon: Sherwin-Williams announced its 2015 Color as Coral Reef (6606)...

while Benjamin Moore chose Guilford Green  (HC-116).

And for the second year in a row, the Paint Quality Institute predicts that many of you will choose a shade of gray for your interior.

But if you like Marsala and are looking for its commercial match, consider Sherwin-Williams’ Bolero (7600) or Benjamin Moore’s Maple Leaf Red (2084-20).

Depending on your computer, you might not be able to tell the difference. Well, the Bolero on the left is a little warmer than the Maple Leaf. Then check out the experts’ suggestions for “Marsala Color Pairings.” And contact me to help you make, as Tevya from "Fiddler on the Roof" might say, "a good match."

Have a happy - and colorful - 2015!
Ken and Carla

Thank You for Your Service

Thanks to a boatload of help, over 2 Saturdays in November the Community Service team of Bucks-Mont NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry) gave a personal "Thank you for your service" to Wounded Warrior USMC Sgt. Jessica Clymer of Plumsteadville.

On November 15th we built her a new deck...

and on the 22nd we installed new kitchen cabinets.

Odell Painting is proud to chair the Bucks-Mont NARI Community Service Committee, and we couldn't have done this project without: Joe Ryglicki of Wehrung's Specialty Lumber; Kyle Adamczyk and Mike Stanwick from K&M Home Enhancements; John Gray of Gray Contracting Services; Peter Mergen of Mergen Co. Remodelers; Rick Conrad, Brett Rudolph, Sean Peck and Will Kiersch, all from Archadeck of Bucks/Mont; Sean MacKowski of Keller Mack Insurance; James VanLoon, H2O Medic; Laura Hawley, Ambiance Design; Peter Cardwell of PGP Group; Jamey Weisberg of JWeisberg Custom Builders; and Joe Wright and Terry Greco of MasterCraft Kitchen & Bath; and our NARI "captain" Kate Meadows. Lunch was provided by Project Hope and much appreciated.

'Tis the season... Happy Holidays!

~Ken and Carla

The Haunting of Helen House

The Haunting of
Helen House
 

It looked like a regular old house when we pulled into this New Jersey driveway in late spring for a wallpaper-removal job. The owner, a woman named Helen, had been a widow for a few years and her children were long grown and on their own. But Helen was not alone in the house.
   We all felt a little different in that front room, as if the molecules were somehow different. And there was an unidentifiable something in the air. From the threshold, Helen's dog watched us work day after day, removing the old wallpaper, repairing the original plaster, then painting as she prepared to put the house up for sale. "None of the dogs we've had over 30 years have ever gone into that room," she said.

   So here's how the story goes: In the summer of 1978, Helen and her family moved into the 1912 arts-and-crafts house that sat on the edge of a large municipal park, after the former owner, an elderly surviving twin, had been moved into a nursing facility. The realtor told the family that the sisters, whom he described as diminutive and isolated, had no family, only each other. After one passed, the other sister's health declined rapidly. The realtor was uncertain whether she was still alive since the house had been listed by the sisters' attorney.
  Almost immediately, the happenings...happened. Paint cans were piled up to the ceiling while the family slept, doors and windows left open were shutting and locking...and then there was the scent of perfume and cigar outside the front bedroom. Maybe latches or springs were worn or one of the kids or a prankster neighbor was up to no good. Perfume and cigar? Maybe it was a scent carried on the wind...
  They'd been in the house two years when Helen, watching the park department mowers getting dangerously close to her just-seeded rose bushes, walked out the back door and down the steps to halt the advance.
  "Excuse me," she said, "but last year you mistakenly mowed our new roses. We planted again so please watch out."
  "I know," the park worker replied. "Last week the little lady told me to be careful."
  "What little lady?" Helen asked.
  "I don't know. She came down the back steps and told me to be careful and said, 'The people in this house love their roses.'"
  He then went on to describe a short elderly woman with white hair pulled back in a bun, wearing a house dress.
  So for the rest of their time in the house, the family always included "the little lady" during holiday blessings. They talked to her as if she was at the breakfast table. They bid her "good night" when they pulled their covers up to their chins. While the pranks stopped, the scents were always there. Especially upstairs. Year after year.
  Eventually, Helen brought someone in - a "house healer" -  to help the little lady leave and find her way across. And eventually there came a time when Helen, now in her 80s, decided the house was too much to care for and that it was time for her to leave and move to a senior community. The day finally came for the kids, after finishing the packing, knew it was time to say their good-byes to the family home and have their photo taken at the very spot where the only person - ironically an "outsider" - ever saw their former ghostly resident.

  How do I know this story so well? I took this picture above. See the three "kids" on the back stairs? The woman on the lowest step is my wife, Carla, and she's flanked by her brothers. Helen is my mother-in-law. And the tale of the "little lady," a gentle kind of ghost story, is now part of our family lore.

Happy Halloween,
Ken

TIP: For DIY wallpaper removal, do these three things: saturate, saturate, saturate. Use a garden sprayer (better than a sponge) to thoroughly and quickly cover the surface area. Don't forget a plastic drop cloth. What doesn't pull off with your hands can be removed with a PaperTiger®, which can be purchased at any paint or hardware store.