Grosse Pointe Farms, MichiganHouse painters for Grosse Pointe Farms’ period-revival homes

Guiffre’s Painting Co. paints home interiors and exteriors in Grosse Pointe Farms, from the streets around the Hill business district on Kercheval Avenue to Lake Shore Road, the Grosse Pointe War Memorial and Pier Park along the water. Period-revival houses here carry a lot of trim, and trim decides how long a paint job lasts.

Bob Guiffre has been painting for more than 37 years and has painted more than 1,800 homes across Grosse Pointe and Metro Detroit. His son, Bobby, works beside him on every project, and Guiffre’s paints with Sherwin-Williams, inside and out.

Two things set a Farms exterior apart: the exposure of houses closest to the lake, and the sheer amount of millwork on older homes. Both come down to the same question: where does water get in?

Where does exterior paint fail first on a Farms home?

On a detailed period-revival exterior, paint rarely fails first on the broad walls. It fails where water sits or sneaks in:

• Horizontal surfaces: window sills, the tops of cornices and railings, and column bases hold rain and snowmelt longest.
• Joints in millwork: dentils, brackets, pediments and built-up cornices have dozens of seams where caulk fails and freeze–thaw opens gaps.
• End grain: the cut ends of trim boards and the bottoms of columns soak up water like a straw, and that’s where rot starts.

Houses nearest the water along Lake Shore Road take the most wind and wind-driven rain, so their lake-facing sides usually weather fastest. Farther from the lake, the bigger enemy is shade: mildew on north walls and under deep eaves.

Good exterior painting on these houses means patient prep: probing for soft wood, repairing it, priming bare wood and end grain, and caulking the joints that should be sealed. If peeling keeps coming back, our guide to why exterior paint peels traces the usual causes.

What do trim-heavy Farms interiors need?

Inside a period-revival home, the walls are often the easy part. The work is in crown moldings, wainscoting, paneled doors, built-in bookcases and staircases with turned balusters.

A century of repainting leaves trim with many layers, often including oil-based paint, so test before latex goes on and plan for deglossing and a bonding primer where needed. Where built-up paint has softened the crisp profile of a molding, careful scraping and sanding can bring some of the detail back.

Sheen matters more on trim than on walls. Semi-gloss is tough and easy to wipe but shows every dent and brush mark; satin is more forgiving on old, slightly wavy woodwork. Formal-room walls usually look right in a matte finish, which hides the gentle unevenness of old plaster (many mattes are now washable; check the label).

This detail work is the heart of interior painting in an older home. Our guide to painting interior trim and doors goes step by step.

Which colors suit Georgian, Colonial Revival and French Eclectic homes?

Each of these period-revival styles has its own traditional palette, and on many of them the brick or stone should set the tone.

• Georgian brick: Alabaster SW 7008, a warm, creamy off-white, softens trim against red or brown brick more gently than a stark white.
• Colonial Revival clapboard: a white body and trim, with shutters and door in Indigo Batik SW 7602, a rich, deep blue.
• French Eclectic: quiet, refined color suits these houses. Gauntlet Gray SW 7019, a deep warm gray (charcoal-taupe), works on shutters or doors beside soft white trim.
• Inside: Agreeable Gray SW 7029, a light warm greige, is an easy wall color for formal rooms with white trim.

A sample on a sunny, lake-facing wall can look like a different color on a shaded side, so view samples on more than one elevation. Screens and chips mislead; test real samples, at a generous size, on your own house. Our color studio is a good place to start.

How should a Farms painting project be planned?

On a period-revival house, carpentry often sets the schedule. Soft sills, rotted column bases and split cornice boards have to be repaired or replaced before paint goes on, then primed promptly.

1. Walk the house in early spring. Press an awl into sills, column bases and the lowest trim boards. Wood that gives easily needs attention.
2. Line up repairs first. Schedule any carpentry to finish before painting starts, with time to prime the new wood.
3. Book exterior work early. Michigan’s exterior season runs roughly from late spring to early fall, and repairs can push a start date.
4. Save interiors for the cold months, when trim-heavy rooms can be done without competing with the outdoor season.