All Episodes

May 5, 2025 21 mins

The walls around us tell stories, but sometimes they need a fresh chapter. That's where professional painting comes in, transforming spaces with expertise that goes far beyond simply applying color to a surface.

Christopher Hagen, owner of Paint It All Professional Painting Services in Fair Lawn, NJ, joins us to share insights from his 11-year career in the painting industry. Having recently relocated from Florida to New Jersey (partly to pursue his midlife passion for snowboarding!), Chris brings a wealth of knowledge about both the technical aspects of painting and the dramatic transformations it can create in homes and businesses.

One of the most valuable revelations from our conversation is that vinyl siding doesn't need to be replaced when you want a color change. With proper bonding primers and surface preparation, vinyl and aluminum siding can be beautifully painted, saving homeowners thousands compared to replacement. Chris explains the importance of thorough cleaning and preparation before any painting project—whether interior walls, exteriors, or specialized materials—as these steps determine how long your paint job will last.

We also tackle the overwhelming world of paint colors. Remember when homes had just primary colors on their walls? Today's hundreds of options (including countless shades of white alone) can create decision paralysis. Chris offers practical advice for choosing the right color, emphasizing the critical role lighting plays in how colors appear. His professional recommendation: apply two solid coats of sample colors and view them throughout the day under different lighting conditions before making your final decision.

The transformation that comes from a professional paint job brings joy not just to homeowners but to Chris himself. "Taking something older or damaged and making it aesthetically pleasing again" drives his passion for the craft. With proper preparation and application, paint can completely rejuvenate a space for a fraction of the cost of full renovations. 

Ready to transform your space? Whether it's interior rooms, exterior surfaces, vinyl siding, or even a playground set needing restoration, professional painting might be the cost-effective solution you're looking for. Listen now to discover how the right approach to painting can breathe new life into any environment.

Paint it All LLC

Christopher Hagen

201-742-3000

christopherhagen24@gmail.com

paintitall.biz

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
this is the good neighbor podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Here's your host, doug drohan hey everybody,
welcome to another episode ofthe good neighbor podcast
brought to you by the bergenneighbors media group today.
I'm joined by christopher hagen, and he is the owner of painted
all professional paintingservices based out of fairlawn,
new Jersey.
Chris, welcome to the show.
Hi, thanks for having me Doug.

(00:26):
So Paint it All.
That's the name of your company, so you guys paint it all,
paint everything.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
So what does that mean?
Interior?

Speaker 3 (00:40):
exterior office space pretty much anything you can
think of, we can paint it.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Can you paint my portrait?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
No, I don't do that kind of painting.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Not that kind of painting.
No, sir, not that kind ofpainting, right, okay, and when
you do an interior residentialjob, do you do just one room or
does it have to be like uh, youknow, an entire floor, or how
does it usually work either?

Speaker 3 (01:08):
way, uh, whatever.
Whatever the client's needs are, whether it's one room, several
rooms, the entire home doesn'tmatter.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Got it, got it.
So what is it?
Um, I mean, I would think sincecovid, there's been a lot of uh
you, an explosion of work athome and home offices.
Have you seen a lot of workbeing done?
I mean, I know you do officespace, but you know, home office
space is probably something youdidn't think of five years ago,

(01:37):
six years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Actually, when COVID hit, I was still in Florida.
Then I just moved here.
Last year.
Okay, when COVID hit, I wasstill in the same.
Then I just moved here lastyear.
Okay, when covid hit, I wasstill in the same profession.
There we got busier.
We never missed a day of work.
We got busier if anything.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, yeah, sitting at home looking at their walls
and you know yeah, it's funny, Iuh my magazine in 2020 actually
was the march of 2021.
We did a kitchen renovation,like spread, and uh, it was
basically you know, quoting paulmccartney stuck inside these
four walls, stuck inside forever, and it was, yeah, a lot of

(02:16):
people were like looking attheir house or their rooms and
saying, man, I need an update.
Or, you know, they're doing azoom meeting and they're like
look at my walls, oh my god,they're awful yeah, so I could.
I could totally understand whyyou guys get really busy.
Yes, so now that you know, thatwas five, four or five years
ago when it started, what has itbeen like recently?

Speaker 3 (02:35):
uh well, like I said, I just moved here last july and
the winter was a little slow,but things are picking up again
now.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
So are you from Florida or are you from New
Jersey?

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Like what brought you to New Jersey, painting the
exteriors, and you know,100-degree weather with a heat
index of add 20 degrees to the100 takes a toll on you after a
while.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, yeah, what part ofida are you from,
jacksonville?
Oh okay, I'll be flying therein a couple weeks.
My parents live in palm coastoh nice.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, I love that airport.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
It's easy in and out yeah, I tell you I used to love
when I could fly into daytonafrom newark because it was a lot
easier going from daytona andit was a nice way, you know, up
a1a about a half an hour to palmcoast, right, you know now I
gotta get on 95 for a bit ofover an hour, but you know it's
okay, um, so all right.

(03:37):
So what got you into, uh likethe painting business?
Like what was it?
Uh like how old were you whenyou decided?
uh, I've been in the stainingindustry for 11 years now.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Uh, subcontracted for the same.
Uh, prime sub there for 10years.
Uh, raised my sons, brought mysons up in the business.
They would go to school, dotheir classes and then come work
.
And they're doing the samething.
And I wanted to be closer tothe snow.

(04:13):
I took up snowboarding when Iturned 40.
Nice, and got tired of going toNorth Carolina to ride.
Yeah, so I figured I could doboth there.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean the nice thingabout northern New Jersey.
I mean not that we have greatski here in New Jersey, but you
can drive up to Vermont.
You could go to the Catskillsin a couple hours, yeah.
Or if you want to drive up toCanada.
A six-hour drive to Canada,it's not too bad yes sir, yeah.
Yeah, you don't hear too manypeople taking up snowboarding

(04:47):
when they're 40 but umespecially if you're from
florida.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, definitely.
It's just so hot there, thehumidity is so hot, it's yeah
it's just, you know, after,after a decade of it, it just
wears on you, yeah, yeah so whatis it?

Speaker 2 (05:01):
so you also offer pressure washing.
Yes, so is that something thatjust came out of?
Like you meet with a client.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
No, and you painted my exterior a few years ago.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Could you recommend somebody to pressure wash it?

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, no, not actually.
The surface needs to be cleanedand prepared correctly first
before you paint.
Oh, right, so that the coatinglasts longer.
But then, once the coating'sapplied, then yeah, if you use a
good quality product and it'sapplied correctly, then you can
just rinse it off for a fewyears and it'll still maintain

(05:40):
the same nice luster and shine,right?

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Now a lot of houses have siding right Vinyl siding
up here.
Yes sir, can you paint that you?

Speaker 3 (05:53):
can actually Vinyl siding, aluminum siding.
It can be painted.
You just have to use more of abonding primer process.
Okay, make sure that all theoxidation is off of it first.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
so the painted years correctly got it so that, um,
but it can be done.
I mean, you do a lot of it, yes, sir yeah that's good to know.
So if you had a, you know youbought a house.
Or maybe you're living in yourhouse and you're like I don't
like the color, or you don'thave to change all the siding,
you can just get it paintedexactly.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yes, sir, I think that's a big misconception,
because I think a lot of peoplefeel that you can't paint it
actually, or that the paintwon't stick, or that it'll get
more easily, but that's actuallya misconception got it, got it
all right.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, I didn't know that, because usually you think
I just have to replace mysigning, but but right, it's
good to know.
So what have you seen in interms of, um, like trends?
And then let me also talk about, uh, competition, because, um,
you know, there's a lot of guysI see, these valve packs that I
get, and certainly with pressurewashing is one thing, but

(06:59):
paintings, you know, a littlebit more challenging, I think,
maybe not as easy to get intothat business as maybe pressure
washing is, because I've seenhome cleaning businesses get
into pressure washing, I've seenlandscapers.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Nobody does do that.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
They just buy the equipment, and now they're
offering pressure washing.
I know there's a lot that youcan do harm to your house if you
don't really know what you'redoing.
Yeah, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Break windows, break concrete, anything you know wow,
you're talking about 4 000 psi.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
That can do a lot of damage if it's not done
correctly yeah, I bought alittle pressure washer thing
from harbor freight and Ialready put some gurus in my day
.
I didn't mean to yeah crap, ohwell, um, going back to my other
question, so what are youseeing trend-wise when it comes
to painting?
Certainly paint colors.

(07:50):
You look back at photos fromthe houses from the 70s and for
some reason, people likedoranges and greens.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Well, back then actually, doug, there was really
only primary colors used forpaint choices.
There was only blue, green,yellow, red, and now there's
hundreds's, hundreds of colors.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
How many shades of white are there?

Speaker 3 (08:16):
A lot.
There's a couple of verypopular staple colors that seem
like you know, that are veryelegant and classy and really
make the trim and doors pop.
You know they're the go-tocolors I always recommend to
clients if the space allows forit and the design.

(08:38):
You know, every year the paintcompanies come out with their
quote-unquote new colors for theyear, with their quote unquote
new colors for the year.
I think one of the colors forthis year is cinnamon slate,
which I've actually used on aninterest?
Yeah, it's a, it's a.
It's an interesting darkburgundy kind of color.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, yeah, you have to have the right.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
That'd be like a living a living room.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
I'd imagine Right, yes, yeah, it all to have the
right That'd be like a living, aliving room, I'd imagine, right
, yes, yeah.
It all depends on the space.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
You know the color has to fit the space as well as
the client.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
You know, for a while we were into Monroe bisque we
liked in my old house that I had, and then you know, then when
we but that tends to get alittle yellow and dry looking,
but at the time we loved MonroeBisque and that's the thing
about colors, I think you know.
It's great to have choice, butthere's a.
There is a book written by asociologist called the Paradox

(09:42):
of Choice and how consumers arehuman beings and we're faced
with too many choices.
It makes us anxious and stressedI agree, and you know when you
go into a paint store and youlook at okay white and there's,
like you know, turn to, I turn awider, pay it uh, shade of pale
.
And I walk in and I see like,oh my god, can I just get white?

(10:04):
Uh, yeah, it, not just thewhite, it's.
Do I want eggshell?
Do I want satin?
Do I want flat?

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Yeah, on and on and on.
Too many choices.
I agree they are overwhelmingand it does appear it can be
easily overwhelming for theclient as well, especially if
you're not familiar with it,because it is just a bombardment
of information and choices.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
So what do you recommend?
So you know, you could buy yourlittle.
They give you swatches, butthat doesn't really give you a
great representation, right?
If you put that swatch on yourwall at different times of day,
do you recommend?

Speaker 3 (10:42):
My recommendation is the lighting source.
It's all about the light.
You know a lot of people, a lotof homes, uh, still have that
classic yellowish light bulb.
You know soft glow.
Yeah, you actually need the,the natural light bulbs that

(11:02):
have the more it's more similarto daylight to get the true
color of the color, because inevery different lighting aspect
the color is going to showdifferently right and then yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
So do you recommend that people put a little tester
paint on their walls and justlet it dry and come back at
different times a day?

Speaker 3 (11:24):
yeah, you should.
You should make sure that thesurface is clean.
Um, you know, apply two coatsat least so that the paint
appears solid, not see through,okay, uh, some people recommend
checking it with the phone light, which some sources say that's

(11:46):
adequate.
Some sources say it's not atrue representation.
But then you know, you shouldview it at different hours of
the day, different times, andit's really about what you're
trying to achieve for the spaceyeah, yeah right if you want
something calm and more um,serene, versus you know kitchen,

(12:08):
where you've got to be.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
You know it's usually brighter Right, exactly.
It's interesting.
I think that's one of thehardest things to choose when
you're redoing a room or evenjust painting a room is the
paint color pink color, and mywife recently did her office and

(12:31):
you could buy, you know youcould put four or five different
brush strokes of you know adifferent shade of pale and it's
like, okay, which one do youlike better?
I'm like holy cow, I don't know.
You know I never did two coatsof a test.
I always, we always, only didone coat.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
It's on top of the paint.
That's already there, yeah wellthen also, you run the risk of
whether the underneath colorshows through if it's not.
Because paint should be appliedin a number of millage, how
many millimeters?
Especially for exterior paintwork, there's set

(13:03):
manufacturer-regulated millagelimits so that the paint shows
and also performs to what theysay it's going to perform to
right right.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
So in your professional opinion, what paint
uh manufacturers do you prefer?

Speaker 3 (13:24):
I hate that question, okay, uh well.
No, it's fine really becauseyou know, the best two are
obviously benjamin moore,sherwin-williams.
I'm a sherwin-williams guymyself because, okay, we use a
lot of their product and it alsodepends on the area because,
like in Florida, we have acompany that manufactures paint

(13:50):
more gear-driven specificallyfor homes in Florida for
exteriors that have more mildewsides, more pesticides and stand
up longer to the ultravioletrays.
You know, got it got it but forhere.
Benjamin Moore, shermanWilliams, definitely.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Okay, okay, and you just mentioned pesticides, and
so are there things in paintsthat people like to.
You know, I don't know ifthere's anything called organic
paint, but are there paints thatpeople are asking about that
are less toxic, if if it istoxic there?

Speaker 3 (14:25):
are actually now there, are they?
They changed the specificationson the paint a couple years ago
so that all the voccs are less.
You know, lead's been gone fora long time, but also there
there's.
There's a lot of chemicals inthe stuff, right?
You know it's, it's definitelynot good for you, but they do

(14:48):
write things now that are moregreen, acceptable, less harmful,
less harmful to the environment.
Right, but I guess in yourmouth and swallow it, and right.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Back in the day when you used to paint the room and
I'm talking about, like myparents era, let's go back to
the 1960s, 70s.
It took a long time for paintto dry.
You know, it's like that term,it's like watching paint dry
right now.
But you know the I guess youcould say that the good thing
about vocs or volatile organiccompounds is that they evaporate
quickly, right?

(15:25):
So that makes the paint dryquicker, right?
But then you know, I guessthere's a yin and a yang and you
know to everything.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
So, yeah, it makes it dry quicker.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
But I guess those are the compounds that people might
find unpleasant.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, I mean, I'd say that maybe the smell has gotten
a little better over the yearsand it and it doesn't last as
long.
You know, sometimes that's aquestion of the clients.
You know, how long is my homegoing to smell like a paint?

Speaker 2 (15:58):
can I?
Mean is it?

Speaker 3 (16:00):
toxic If I breathe that.
Is it going to affect thechildren?
Yeah, nowadays it's.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
It's a lot, a lot more safer than it used to be
yeah, I mean, you're somebodywho paints every day, so if it
was, yeah, well you got to makesure to have your ppe on.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
You know you definitely need that mask on it,
especially if you're sprayinggloves, you know yeah so what is
it that you'd like people toknow about paint at all?

Speaker 2 (16:26):
um, obviously you paint it all, right, you know.
You say painting is yourpassion.
So yeah, I get.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
What point in your, in your career did you say, man,
I want to do this, I lovepainting I think it's the fact
of taking something that isolder or damaged or just doesn't
look as aesthetically pleasinganymore and doing it the right

(16:55):
way, painting it the right way,preparing the surface correctly,
applying the product correctlyto the manufacturer's standards,
to the manufacturer's standardsand then giving the client
something where they're like wow, I love this you know when?
yeah, when the client's justsatisfied and they're amazed and
happy it makes me happy, youknow yeah, yeah, no, it's true.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
When you, when your room is transformed, it it is
this um, you know, there's'slike certain things that people
describe happiness, like thesmell of a new baby, the smell
of a new car Right, but also thefeeling of walking into a newly
either your new home or newlyrenovated room.
And it's amazing what paint cando to you know.

(17:40):
Oh, I didn't have to spend allthis money in redoing my entire
room.
I just changed the paint colorand maybe some light bulbs,
exactly For a fraction of thecost, completely transform
everything.
And I think that's, you know,there's a reason why painting
and painters, if you will, are,you know, are timeless in a lot
of ways.
So I get it, it's cool.

(18:01):
So what's the best way forpeople to reach you?
And and you met, so you're infairlawn, do you cover, like,
mostly bergen county or are youall over new jersey?

Speaker 3 (18:13):
we, uh, I try to stay up here.
You know, probably about 20, 30mile radius, stay okay in the
area.
Best way to reach us201-742-3000.
Uh, text call, whatever works.
Uh, right, always freeestimates.
And you know we try to providethe customers with reasonably

(18:40):
priced paint, not so much likethe big box paint stores where
you're going to end up with thesame product but for an
astronomical price, because youknow we want to.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
We want to be the people that you continue to call
back for whatever needs youknow, right means you know not
just the one and done, and wenever see you again yeah, yeah,
and that's a good point, becauseyou know, like with my wife, it
was just her office this time,but you know, now it could be
the basement, it could be this,it could be that, so you never
know.
Just yeah, excellent.

(19:15):
So, chris, thank you very muchfor joining the show.
And again, let's, let's repeatthat number it's 2, 0, 1, 7, 4,
2, 3,000 number, it's two zeroone, seven, four, two, three
thousand, painted all exterior,interior, residential,
commercial, office space, uh,and also offer pressure washing,
fence and fence deck andconcrete standing as well, which

(19:35):
we didn't talk about.
Yes, it's the trend right now.
Oh, how does that?
So?
What is that?
So you're?
You're restating well, I see,when you have a playground and
I'll call it a playground aswing set, and they're expensive
, and if you don't keep themmaintained, that wood goes
pretty quickly.
Do you guys do any of thatstaining as well?

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yes, sir, we do.
We actually just did one for aclient last week.
Came out beautiful.
They make so many choices instain nowadays that you know you
can, can.
You can apply a solid bodystain and it takes old wood that
looks like it's about had itand just completely restore it

(20:14):
to new again.
Do you need?

Speaker 2 (20:16):
to pressure wash the playground.
You know the swing sets first,or because they're usually cedar
.
Yes, sir, yeah, okay, good toAll right.
So then it's residentialinterior, exterior, commercial
interior, exterior office spaceand pressure washing fence, deck
, swing sets and concretestanding as well.

(20:37):
Chris, thank you very much forjoining the show.
We are going to be right back.
Chuck is just going to saygoodbye to us.
Thanks, doug All right.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Thank you for listening to the Good.
You right back.
Chuck is just going to saygoodbye to us.
Thanks, doug, all right.
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