Sadly, my experience with Southern Painting has left me sitting in a house with mismatched paint,…read morepoor patching and $5000 less in the bank.
My mother and I contracted with Zachary from Southern Painting to paint my 2200 SF home. Looking to save a little money, as I'm a single, working mom, I elected to have only the walls painted, leaving my existing white ceilings and trim untouched. Naturally, color matching and expertise around that issue was critical. I wanted to transition my home from a tan wall/white ceiling & trim to a clean white all-over look.
Zachary recommended a white (Snowbound) that he claimed would easily work in all areas and would not cause a visual disconnect between my ceilings, doors and trim. My mother and I trusted his very clear statement that the color would work. Was a test wall painted? Yes. Did we approve the color based on that? Yes. Unfortunately, the test area was not a good representation of how the would look applied across the house, against doors and in less naturally-lit spaces. The recommended color is blue in undertone while the rest of my painted surfaces are yellow in undertone. If you understand undertones, which I now do, this is a big problem.
Caveat emptor always applies and I know this as a consumer, but when you hire an "expert" painting service, ask the right questions about color matching and pay thousands of dollars, one does not expect to have the simplest issue of blue or yellow undertone in a white application be a problem. When my displeasure and concern over the very obvious color incongruence was shared with Zach, his offer to repaint my home at the same price was hardly a satisfactory response. I simply could not afford that option.
I see now that a correct white color choice, for someone unable to paint ceiling and trim, would be to match the ceiling color (yellow undertone) and apply that across the walls. It would have created the desired white effect without the terrible color mismatch. I've learned this the hard way after one experience. I would have expected my expert painter, with years of experience, to be able to identify such a simple solution. To the contrary, I was assured multiple times there would be no issue or visual disconnect between my existing white and the white recommended.
To add insult to injury, the patches made to my walls where photos hung prior to painting, are terrible. Overall a very poor experience and I cannot recommend Southern Painting or Zach based on the outcome of my home. It's taken me this long to write the review because I've been so depressed about the overall look of my home. I hope this review can spare someone else an outcome they just have to live with and that, if you do choose to go with Zach and Southern Painting, I would strongly recommend the additional expense of a decorator that understands color matching.
