From Prep to Final Coat: A Complete Look at Our Process on a Historic Albany Remodel

 By Chad Feagley | Cutting Edge Painting | Interior Painting

In our last post, we covered the most unique challenge of this 1929 MacGregor home restoration: recreating the look of aged, stained wood on brand-new pre-primed baseboards. Today we're pulling back the curtain on the full scope of the project — the prep work, the spraying process, the crew, and the bathroom finishes that really made this home sing.

Starting with Prep: Caulk, Fill, Sand, Prime

Since this house was essentially a complete remodel, we approached it much like new construction. That means no cutting corners on prep.

We caulked all the gaps, filled every nail hole left from installation, and sealed all miter joints to make the trim look fluid and seamless. Then came the sanding — to knock down any lines and create a smooth base — followed by dusting clean, priming to encapsulate the surface, another sand, and finally the finish coats. Sanding between coats throughout. It's a process, but that's what creates a finish that lasts.

The Spray Process: Trim, Ceilings, Walls — in That Order

Once prep was done, we moved into our spray sequence. We always work in the same order: trim first, then ceilings, then walls. That discipline keeps overspray from undoing finished work.

The staircase on this split-level home gave us a great opportunity to show off our setup. We sprayed the risers and the stringers going up, then staged doors vertically — standing them upright on posts — so we could spray them and get a perfectly level finish while still being able to work around the space as they dried.

After trim came ceilings. After ceilings came walls. Each room was taped, coated, touched up, and then cleaned up before moving to the next.

Meet the Crew

A project like this doesn't happen alone. I want to take a moment to introduce some of the team that made it happen.

Ricardo handled rolling the walls on the lower level. Jose was finishing out the hallway. And Cesar was wrapping up the final touches in the downstairs living room. These guys are the reason the work gets done right.

You can see the crew at the end of this video:

The Rooms: A Fun Yellow, a Pop-Up Blue-Green, and a Crisp Monotone

Beyond the woodgrain trim work, each room had its own personality.

Upstairs, a kid's room got a fun yellow — bright, cheerful, and full of energy. You can see the tape peeled clean, the vertical door stands still in place, and the yellow walls complete.

The upper bathroom went with one color throughout — a clean, monotone approach that let the cabinetry, countertops, and faucet finishes do the talking. When you have great fixtures, sometimes the best thing you can do is get out of the way.

The lower bathroom took a different direction. The accessories were more minimal, so they went with a pop-up color — a fun, inviting greenish-blue that draws you in as you approach.

The Final Walk-Through

Here are some of the final photos from the completed project — and they speak for themselves.

This house was a delight for us to work on — to be a part of the process from the beginning to the end stages of painting, to be able to create a facade using different techniques for those stained pieces. The clients were ecstatic and are still ecstatic, enjoying their beautiful home.

This is what Cutting Edge is about. Taking on the challenge, doing the work right, and leaving something behind that the homeowner loves. We look forward to serving others this way in the future.

— Chad, Cutting Edge Painting