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Knowledge Hub

The painting library. For anyone who wants to understand it.

Painting By Lee believes customers should understand the work before hiring anyone — including us. This is the library that makes that possible. Plainspoken articles on products, prep, repair, color, surfaces, and process.

Why we write this

Education first. Sales second.

Most contractor websites exist to sell. This page exists to teach. If you read an article on water-stained ceilings and decide the fix is straightforward enough to do yourself, that’s a good outcome. If you read it and decide you’d rather have it done right the first time, that’s also a good outcome.

The customers who hire Painting By Lee, hire because they understand what they’re paying for — not because they got pitched.

The library

Six categories. Six articles published.

The library is organized so you can jump straight to what matters for your project. We’re publishing one foundational article per category to start — more depth follows as customers ask for it.

01

Products

Why we use specific Sherwin-Williams products on specific surfaces — and when something different is the right call.

Read → 02

Prep

The work nobody sees. What we do before any paint goes on a wall, and why the prep is what determines whether a paint job lasts.

Read → 03

Repairs

Drywall, plaster, water stains, peeling paint, popcorn ceiling damage. How we diagnose, how we fix, and what gets sealed before paint.

Read → 04

Color

Lighting, undertones, sample testing, picking colors that age well. How to decide before paint day, not during.

Read → 05

Surfaces

Drywall, plaster, fiber-cement siding, brick, raw wood, previously-painted wood. Each substrate has its own prep, primer, and finish.

Read → 06

Process

What to expect during a Painting By Lee job — from day-one protection through final walk-through and close-out.

Read →
01 · Products

Products

Why we use specific Sherwin-Williams products on specific surfaces — and when something different is the right call.

Products 5 min read

Choosing the right interior paint

Cashmere is our workhorse for most interior walls — low-VOC, washable, soft low-luster finish that hides minor imperfections. SuperPaint goes in hallways, ceilings, and high-traffic rooms where scrubbability matters more. ProMar 200 is the call when toughness matters most — busy households, kids’ rooms, hallway scuff zones. Emerald is reserved for the highest-demand interiors — rich color, premium hide, longer life. We pick the product based on the surface and how the finish has to hold up. Not the price tag.

Read full article → Or ask Lee™ about this →
02 · Prep

Prep

The work nobody sees. What we do before any paint goes on a wall, and why the prep is what determines whether a paint job lasts.

Prep 6 min read

The work nobody sees

Prep is roughly 60% of a real paint job and almost none of it shows up in finished photos. Surface washing, sanding glossy paint to give the next coat something to grip, filling nail holes flush, caulking gaps where wall meets trim, masking floors and fixtures, dust control during sanding, spot-priming any stains or repairs before topcoat. Skipping any of it changes how long the paint actually lasts. The cheap estimate gets cheap by skipping prep — and you can’t tell which corners were cut until the paint starts failing a year or two later.

Read full article → Or ask Lee™ about this →
03 · Repairs

Repairs

Drywall, plaster, water stains, peeling paint, popcorn ceiling damage. How we diagnose, how we fix, and what gets sealed before paint.

Repair 4 min read

Water-stained ceilings, sealed properly

A water stain on a ceiling needs more than fresh paint. The yellow-brown discoloration is dissolved tannins and salts that will bleed right back through a waterborne primer within days. The fix: shellac-based primer (we use Zinsser B-I-N) which seals permanently and chemically blocks bleed-through. Then patch drywall or texture-match if needed, then paint. Done right, the stain never returns. The leak source has to be fixed first — paint over an active problem and you’re just hiding it temporarily.

Read full article → Or ask Lee™ about this →
04 · Color

Color

Lighting, undertones, sample testing, picking colors that age well. How to decide before paint day, not during.

Color 7 min read

How to pick a paint color you’ll live with

Lighting changes everything. A color that looks warm and creamy in a south-facing room reads cold and gray in a north-facing one. Undertones — the subtle blue, green, pink, or yellow base hiding inside what looks like “just white” — shift dramatically depending on adjacent floor colors, trim, and time of day. Our recommendation: get Sherwin-Williams peel-and-stick samples, put them on your actual wall, view them at multiple times across one or two days, then commit. Color rendering apps (including the one in Ask Lee™) get you in the neighborhood. Sample tests on your actual surface get you the final answer.

Read full article → Or ask Lee™ about this →
05 · Surfaces

Surfaces

Drywall, plaster, fiber-cement siding, brick, raw wood, previously-painted wood. Each substrate has its own prep, primer, and finish.

Surfaces 6 min read

Painting different substrates

Drywall, plaster, fiber-cement siding, brick, raw wood, previously-painted wood — each substrate has its own prep, primer, and finish call. Plaster doesn’t take patching the same way drywall does. Fiber-cement needs a specific primer for adhesion. Brick that’s historically unpainted is usually a bad candidate for painting — brick that’s already been painted often needs full re-coating to hold up. Identifying the actual substrate is step one, and sometimes the substrate isn’t what the customer thinks it is. Getting it right matters more than picking the most expensive product.

Read full article → Or ask Lee™ about this →
06 · Process

Process

What to expect during a Painting By Lee job — from day-one protection through final walk-through and close-out.

Process 5 min read

What to expect during a job

Day one is protection and prep — floors covered, fixtures masked, surfaces washed and sanded, repairs made and primed. Day two onwards is paint, usually two coats with appropriate dry time between. We clean up at the end of every day, not just the end of the job. We communicate when something changes — a wall takes more prep than expected, a color isn’t behaving like we thought. End of job is a walk-through with the customer where touch-ups are identified and fixed before close-out. Then we leave you with a finished space and a written record of what was done.

Read full article → Or ask Lee™ about this →
Library status

More depth follows what customers ask about.

Every category above has its foundational article published. The next layer — deeper specifics, less common scenarios, advanced techniques — gets written based on what readers actually ask. Every category is also staffed by Ask Lee™, the AI advisor trained on Painting By Lee’s expertise. If you have a specific question on any topic above, ask it directly and get an immediate answer.

Have a topic you’d like written up in full? Drop a note through Contact and we’ll prioritize what readers are actually asking about.

Two ways to start.

If you’d rather have a conversation, talk to Ask Lee™. If you have a real project ready to submit, use Project Assessment™.

Ask Lee™ insteadStart Project Assessment™