Remnant Restoration Painting Co

01/19/2026

Being a business owner of a painting business, with a mind of a craftsmen, means it is easier than not to make yourself a glutton for punishment, especially when "an idea" sets in.

The goal for this boy's bedroom was to create an "wow" effect that would genuinely be loved, and hopefully never be "grown out" due to phases and fads. With great dismay, the inescapable and obvious answer was to do a full gloss ceiling. Great dismay, because attempting anything full gloss, without having a neurotically dialed in prep process and ex*****on with the finish, means that there is a high likelihood that you will end up with one big, shiny mistake.

This ceiling, which originally had a texture in the plaster, needed multiple full skim coats to try to get the ceiling as reasonably flat as possible. After which, it went through the rounds of priming, skimming and sanding. For such a small ceiling, a comical amount of work in the prep work to get the ceiling surface acceptable for a full gloss finish.

For a full gloss finish, a product with a gloss index over 90, and as close to 100 as possible, is needed to get the desired effect. A product like Fine Paints of Europe Hollandlac, which is most obvious candidate for high gloss, was not selected. This ceiling was finished with Full Gloss in the color Hague Blue. With a gloss rating of 95/100, along with friendlier dry times, application requirements, not to mention being water based coating (AKA the entire house would not stink to high heaven in a house with young children), this seemed the more sensible choice.

The built-ins and trim had all of the offensive, heavy brush strokes sanded out and went through the process to give the built-ins and trim an actual cabinet grade finish. Walls had numerous repairs and retextured with matching texture before getting painted with Benjamin Moore Scuff X in the color Toque White.

The trim, walls and even ceiling now can take crazy abuse that only young boys bring, while having a ceiling that looks stunning day and night (especially with night sky projections)

09/26/2025

Earlier this summer we had the opportunity to completely transform this Marshall Township exterior that our client has absolutely been itching to have painted since moving in several years ago! This exterior previously had a pitch brown solid stain that was heavily weathered, along with heavily faded red accent trim that was turning more of an orange than red as time went on.

After a thorough washing and prepping, we painted the siding and trim in Oyster White, low luster on the body, soft gloss on the trim. We painted porch ceilings and doors in Tar in a gloss finish.

In Pittsburgh, not all wooded lots are equal or pleasant to look at because of invasive species and human activity (i.e. the yinzer neighborhood dump pile for decades). But on this spacious wooded lot, both the house along the clean landscaping and wholesome woods around the house stand out in the best way possible. This exterior was tremendously improved and is set up for success for many years to come!

P.S: yes there is a chicken coop and yes we did paint it to match the house and yes it is amazing

09/04/2025

Time to play catch up on some of what we've been up to this summer! We kicked off our exterior season with this Sewickley limewash and repaint that turned out to be quite spectacular!

This home was an ideal candidate for
Classico lime wash. The brick is not only attractive as a standalone feature, it is also absorbent and a fantastic contrast color for limewash. While from the street this home looks like it all has the same brick, it actually has at least three different brick styles, very similar but subtly different in texture and color (The core of the home is from the late 1800's and started off attached to the house across the street. Eventually it was separated and moved across the street, having at least two different phases of additions over the years since). Limewash brought a cohesiveness between all the different brick while making this home truly stand out in the best way possible.

Limewash can be a challenging product to use. It requires a bit of an artistic eye and some finesse. With this house, trying to achieve consistency of appearance between three different types of brick, among changing weather, and challenging moves made this project never have a dull moment!

03/14/2025

Earlier this winter, we painted this Edgewood home first and second floor, but were asked to leave out this dining room fireplace mantel, where stripping was started but not finished. Earlier this week, when we returned to paint the third floor of this home, we were asked to take over the stripping and refinishing of the mantel and tile.

After enclosing the back section of the dining room, we stripped back the layers of paint (thankfully not that many and fairly recent) to bare wood. This not only revealed a gorgeous old growth white oak with rich wood grain, but it also uncovered this lovely green tile.

While we were originally planning to stain and varnish, we put a sample of Rubio monocoat next to our stained and varnished sample and found the color identical, minus the difference in sheen.

After sanding and cleaning, we applied in Walnut to this mantel, which now makes this fireplace a standout focal point in the room and pairs well with the rest of the furniture in the room. This finish will be easier to maintain, not to mention it looks and feels amazing!

02/11/2025

01/17/2025

One of the most rewarding perks of being a painter is looking at a freshly cleaned and painted room for the first time (bonus points if we get some rare Pittsburgh sunshine through those windows). Seeing rooms with dated colors, scuffed trim and damaged walls turn into something new, solid and sound, in relatively a small amount of time, is gratifying to say the least.

These winter months are the best time to get interior painting done (hands down). We will make it worthwhile and plus, you get to enjoy your room you’ve been dreaming about sooner than later.

Are you unsure about choosing a color? Every project we are hired for comes with a complimentary color consultation with an interior designer. (And no, the designer will not push you to choose a color you don’t love!)

Nervous about potential chaos that can come with a project? We work hard to keep your home clean, organized and functional the whole time we are there (and will help move your crazy heavy furniture too)!

Bad experience with previous painters? Every single painter working for us are genuinely fantastic and skilled human beings, and we make sure we are thorough and communicate in all we do.

12/03/2024

We had the privilege of limewashing this Bridgeville exterior last year (swipe all the way left to see the result!) and were invited to return to work on the garage door. The garage door previously had a stain and varnish over and was really starting to look tired. After the client refinished their front door, they wanted the garage door to match the new finish on the front door more closely. Additionally, they wanted a finish on the garage door that will have a friendlier maintenance schedule and avoid film forming finishes, which eventually flake and peel.

While we have typically used other products, such as Odie’s Oil, on our exterior doors for refinishing, we opted to use the new Durogrit line. First of all, we are big fans of Rubio products, for their durability and maintenance, knowing they will not flake or peel ever. Second, with the client’s wanting to match the dark stain on their front door, their Bison Brown color in Durogrit turned out to be a great match, and other product systems would have been difficult to achieve that deep of a color or would have not looked the best.

The existing finish on the garage door need to be mechanically stripped off and cleaned before apply one coat of Durogrit. This garage should only need a cleaning and a maintenance coat every 3-5 years and will thankfully never flake or peel again!

11/15/2024

As we are moving out of the exterior season and into our interior only season, it is worthwhile looking back at this wild year so far. Remnant Restoration Painting started off as a solo painter in 2020 and has grown to 5 employees this year. While it is worthwhile to show appreciation to the clients that trusted us with their homes (which is a big deal!), it makes it especially worthwhile to appreciate the guys who do the hard work WELL. These guys climb the tall ladders on y’all’s crazy hillsides, and climb around y’all’s crazy roofs to give attention to what’s been neglected. They scrape, sand and paint for hours in the hot or cold. They make sure your home is protected, cleaned and given respect. We’re blessed to have employees who care about their work, their client’s home, and who do what it takes to make it right.

More of our work from this year will be shared, but in the meantime, reach out about your interior painting if you have something you’d like us to look at, so that you can see for yourself the quality painters and humans they really are 😉

10/02/2023

We recently wrapped up these two exteriors in the Mexican War Streets! Both of these exteriors went through our thorough prep and paint process, but we also arranged and completed repairs on various parts of these homes!

On both homes, the front and back dormers were not only neglected, but had significant design flaws that needed to be addressed (which is sadly typical on historic, Pittsburgh homes). We replaced significant amount of trim, siding and added proper flashing on the four dormers, in addition repairing other rotted with matching pieces.

Carpentry is almost always a headache for homeowners to try to coordinate alongside the painting, and this resulted in a smooth, coordinated ex*****on on both projects with help of

This first exterior went through a dramatic color and layout change, moving away from the yellows and reds it had to a dreamy and subtle color palette.

The second exterior kept its timeless black, flat finish on the exterior trim. The sandstone foundation out front was peeling significantly and we prepped and painted it with a matching flat using mineral paint. The back custom garage, which was getting hammered by the sun and elements, received a deep clean, brighten and a coat of Woodland Brown.

08/28/2023

It’s time to play catch up on what we’ve been up to, starting with this elegant Sewickley home!

We wrapped up the exterior last week, focusing on the cedar shake siding and the new custom front door.

The clients initially were contemplating what to do with their cedar shake siding as one side was greatly weathered and approaching the threshold of replacement. Cedar shakes are incredibly difficult to find and expensive, but they also wanted to avoid replacing with a different siding. Thankfully, the siding just needed TLC in prep and painting! We also corrected the inappropriately caulked window trim and sills that was causing major issues and some rotting. The clients took advantage of the painting to do a color change and lighten their exterior color to Modern Grey.

The clients were also looking for painters knowledgeable and comfortable using for their front door, which fits us well! The custom Spanish Cedar door went through three rounds of sanding, priming and prep before getting Eco Brilliant Gloss in Tricorn Black.