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When the job is done right, you stop noticing the paint and that’s the point. No uneven sheen catching the afternoon light. No brush marks along the trim. No peeling at the corners six months later because someone skipped the prep. You just see a home that looks the way it should.
For homeowners in Kensington’s historic district, the stakes are higher than most. These aren’t modern homes with vinyl siding and simple flat surfaces. Queen Anne facades, decorative millwork, original wood clapboard they require more prep, more patience, and a crew that actually knows what they’re looking at. Done right, a professional exterior paint job on a wood-sided Victorian holds up through Kensington’s freeze-thaw winters and humid summers for years, not months.
The math matters too. With average home values in Kensington ranging from $789,000 to well over a million dollars, a professional paint job that adds even 2–5% to your home’s value represents a significant return. Interior painting delivers an average ROI of 107%, according to Angi. In a market like Kensington’s, that’s not a small thing.
We were founded in 1973 by Gordon Franks not as a corporate venture, but as a craftsman who needed to pay his tuition and found he was genuinely good at transforming homes. That was over 50 years ago. We’re headquartered in Bethesda, about five miles south of Kensington along Connecticut Avenue, and have been serving the homes between D.C. and Montgomery County ever since.
That longevity matters here in a specific way. Kensington’s housing stock the Craftsman bungalows near Warner Circle, the Colonial Revivals tucked off Howard Avenue, the mid-century homes in Kensington Knolls these aren’t cookie-cutter suburban builds. They have history, and they have quirks. A company that’s been working in this corridor for five decades has seen them all.
We hold a Maryland MHIC license (#28145), are fully licensed in D.C. and Virginia as well, and have earned 300+ recommendations on Washington D.C. Consumers’ Checkbook a paid-subscription nonprofit review platform that D.C.-area homeowners have trusted for decades.
It starts with an estimate detailed, written, and clear about what’s included. You’ll know what surfaces are being prepped, how many coats are going on, and what paint products we’ll use. No verbal agreements that shift later. No surprises at the end.
Before any paint goes on, the prep work happens and this is the part that most people don’t see but that determines everything about how long the job lasts. On older homes, which make up a significant portion of Kensington’s housing stock, that means scraping loose paint, sanding rough surfaces, caulking gaps around trim and windows, patching any damaged areas, and priming before the finish coats go on. If your home was built before 1978 and many in the historic district predate 1940 lead paint is a real consideration. We handle lead paint removal as part of our service offering, and that’s not a detail you want to overlook when working on a pre-war home.
One thing worth knowing if your property sits within Kensington’s historic district: exterior changes may require a Historic Area Work Permit from Montgomery County. We flag this early rather than leave you to figure it out after the fact.
Once prep is complete and conditions are right spring and early fall are the optimal windows for exterior work in Kensington’s climate the finish coats go on. The job wraps with a walkthrough to make sure everything meets expectations before the crew leaves.
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We handle the full range of residential painting services interior painting, exterior painting, cabinet painting and refinishing, deck staining, ceiling painting, door painting, decorative and faux finishes, and lead paint removal. For Kensington homeowners dealing with older homes, the lead paint removal and exterior painting services are often the most consequential, and both require the kind of prep discipline that separates a job that lasts a decade from one that starts failing in two years.
Cabinet painting is worth a specific mention for this community. Kensington is home to Antique Row the D.C. metro area’s largest and oldest antiquing district and the aesthetic standards in this town run high. If your kitchen cabinets are dated or worn, professional cabinet painting delivers a smooth, factory-quality finish at a fraction of the cost of full replacement. Cabinet painting typically runs $900–$3,600, compared to $3,200–$20,000 or more for cabinet replacement, and the results last 7–15 years when the prep is done correctly.
Beyond painting, we also handle drywall repair, carpentry, hardwood flooring, and broader remodeling work. For homeowners managing a larger renovation on a historic Kensington property the kind of project where painting is just one piece of the puzzle having one contractor who can handle multiple scopes eliminates a lot of coordination headaches.
It depends on your specific property and what work is involved. Standard exterior painting cleaning, prep, and applying new paint does not typically require a building permit in Maryland. However, if your home is a designated historic site or sits within Kensington’s historic district, exterior changes may require a Historic Area Work Permit from Montgomery County. This applies to alterations that affect the character of a historic property, and the definition can be broader than most homeowners expect.
The safest approach is to confirm your property’s historic designation status with the Town of Kensington and Montgomery County’s Department of Permitting Services before any exterior work begins. We bring this up proactively during the estimate phase it’s one of those details that separates a smooth project from a delayed one.
On modern substrates like vinyl or fiber cement, a quality exterior paint job can last 10 years or more. On original wood siding which is common on the Victorian and Craftsman homes throughout Kensington’s historic district that window is typically closer to 5–7 years, and sometimes shorter depending on the home’s sun exposure and condition of the wood.
Kensington’s climate accelerates this cycle. The winters here regularly drop below freezing, creating freeze-thaw cycles that expand and contract wood siding repeatedly over the season. Combine that with warm, humid summers, and you have conditions that are genuinely hard on exterior paint especially on older wood that’s been through decades of weather. Proper prep and the right primer and paint products for wood substrates can push the lifespan toward the higher end of that range. Skipping prep to save time does the opposite.
Prep is what the paint sticks to. If the surface underneath isn’t clean, sound, and properly primed, the finish coat doesn’t have a foundation and it will show that within a year or two through peeling, bubbling, or cracking. On a well-prepped surface, the same paint job can last twice as long.
For a typical exterior job, prep means pressure washing the surface, scraping off any loose or peeling paint, sanding rough areas smooth, caulking gaps around windows, doors, and trim to seal out moisture, patching any damaged sections, and applying primer before the finish coats go on. On an older home in Kensington particularly anything built before 1940 this process takes longer and requires more care because the wood has more history, more layers, and more areas that need attention. That’s not a reason to rush it. It’s a reason to make sure the crew you hire doesn’t.
For most homeowners, cabinet painting is the smarter financial move by a significant margin. Professional cabinet painting typically costs $900–$3,600. Full cabinet replacement runs $3,200–$20,000 or more, and a complete kitchen renovation can reach $30,000–$60,000 when you factor in everything involved. The visual result of a properly done cabinet paint job smooth, factory-quality finish, clean lines, updated color is dramatic enough that most people can’t tell the difference from new.
The key word there is “properly.” Cabinet painting is a specialty. It requires thorough degreasing, sanding, priming, and in most cases spray application to get a smooth finish rather than brush marks. A general painter who treats cabinets like a wall will give you a finish that chips and peels quickly. When it’s done right, a professional cabinet paint job lasts 7–15 years. In a Kensington home where kitchen quality directly affects resale value, that’s a renovation worth doing correctly.
In Maryland, home improvement contractors are required to hold a Maryland Home Improvement Commission (MHIC) license. This license requires documented experience, financial responsibility, and compliance with Maryland’s Home Improvement Law it’s the state’s primary consumer protection mechanism for homeowners hiring contractors. You can verify any contractor’s MHIC license number through the Maryland Department of Labor’s online license lookup tool.
We hold Maryland MHIC license #28145 a number you can look up and confirm. We’re also licensed in D.C. (#39937921) and Virginia (#2705077763). That matters for a company working across the D.C. metro area. General liability insurance and workers’ compensation are equally important: if a crew member is injured on your property and the contractor doesn’t carry workers’ comp, the liability can fall on you as the homeowner. Always ask for proof of both before work begins, and don’t take a verbal “yes, we’re insured” as a substitute for an actual certificate.
Spring and early fall are the two best windows for exterior painting in Kensington. From roughly March through May, temperatures are mild, humidity is lower, and conditions allow paint to cure properly. September and October offer a similar window before the cold sets in. These are also the periods when scheduling fills up fastest, so if you’re planning a spring exterior project, reaching out in late winter gives you the most flexibility.
Summer is workable for some exterior projects, but Kensington’s humidity peaks in July and August, and high moisture in the air can affect how paint adheres and cures particularly on wood surfaces. Exterior painting in the dead of winter is generally not advisable when temperatures are regularly dropping below freezing, as most exterior paints require temperatures above 35–40°F to apply and cure correctly. Interior painting, cabinet painting, and drywall work don’t have the same seasonal constraints, so winter is a good time to schedule those if you’re planning a broader renovation.
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