Painted Ladies contest brings out buildings' beauty

Paint is the one thing eight recently honored homes and businesses have in common.

In some cases, owners used paint to highlight certain features on their houses.

In another, paint helped breathe new life into a once-neglected house.

And in yet another case, paint helped give a new business a fresh start.

As part of its 25th annual “Chicago Finest Painted Ladies and Her Court” beautification contest, the Schaumburg-based Chicago Paint and Coatings Association has handed out eight awards to both professional and nonprofessional painters alike.

“The idea of the contest ... was to show people that you can use paint and color to bring out the beauty of your home, improve your neighborhood, improve the area which these homes are located in and draw attention that people can use multiple colors,” said Bill Heiden, the association's publicity chair.

This year's crop of award winners hails from Elgin, Schaumburg, St. Charles, Cary, Belvidere, Chicago and LaGrange.

They were recognized at a banquet Thursday that featured Lou Manfredini, a home expert known as “Mr. Fix-It.” The dinner was held at Maggiano's in Oak Brook.

The association distributed two grand prize awards, as well as six smaller honors. Joshua and Julie Harris of Elgin snagged one of the grand prize awards for the way in which they painted their 1886 Victorian house, which is located in the 500 block of North Spring Street.

The couple of 13 years bought the house in 2004 as a fixer-upper. They spent five years making it historically accurate by rebuilding its wraparound porch, removing its siding and restoring its original exterior to what it would have looked like in 1886. The paint job, which took three years to finish, was the final step in that long process. The bright colors draw the eye's immediate attention to the columns and windows.

“We're humbled by this but at the same time, we know we worked hard for it,” Julie Harris said of the contest win.

It was a similar story for Jim and Jan Gayton of Schaumburg, the married couple of 30 years who won for best monochromatic combination of color for nonprofessional painters.

It was a true team effort.

Jan Gayton is an interior designer and the couple decided to repaint the house's red shingles so it would have a more sophisticated look.

After much trial and error that involved looking at 40 shades of gray, they came up with the perfect light gray, medium gray and dark gray shades that would make the house's dovetail wooden shingles pop.

Once that process concluded, Jim Gayton rented a cherry picker to paint the highest shingles. The entire project took 85 hours.

“I'm the monkey that does all the work, she does all the planning,” he joked.

Their painting project was the culmination of other work they'd done that included building a new Victorian-style porch and adding a two-story addition that features a turret. Both projects added 1,400 square feet to the 29-year-old house.

The painted lady contest wasn't limited to homes.

In Cary, Swanson Painting took honors in the category for “best use of color for a business professionally painted,” for its work at Buddha Bean, a coffeehouse that set up shop four months ago in a space formerly occupied by the Coffee Station.

The new ownership was interested in revamping and brightening the building's look.

“We just wanted to go with a new feel in here,” Manager John Plazak said. “It's been the same place for a long time and it's had that same old green awning, the same old paint job.”

Swanson made the building stand out by selecting paint colors based on the color of its bricks, said Bob Swanson, the company's owner.

“It's a business and we're trying to attract people to get in there and so we want the building to look the best it can and be attractive and attract attention,” Swanson said.

Other contest winners were:

Ÿ Homework Construction in Elgin won in the professional division for “best craftsmanship of paint application” for gutting and repainting a city-owned foreclosed house in the 100 block of Summit Street that was in pretty bad shape at the start. “It was becoming an eyesore and a blight of the neighborhood,” said Carlos Rivera, president of Homework Construction. Later on, Rivera worked with the city to create the house's unique palette. Today, the house has a new look and features all-new plumbing, roofing and wiring. And it has since become a jewel on the block. “It enhances the neighborhood as a whole,” Rivera said, adding that he lives right around the corner.

Ÿ Gene and Vohny Moehling of St. Charles won in the nonprofessional painting category for “best use of color for detail.” Their home is in the 900 block of Ash Street.

Ÿ Phillip Bernard of LaGrange was the other grand prize winner. He was recognized in the professionally painted division for best use of color for the style and material of the home. D. Dallio Decorating painted the house.

Ÿ Gary Zeman of Belvidere, who hired Perennial Painters to paint a home in the 400 block of West Lincoln Avenue, scored the win for best painted home to fit the geographic location in the professional painted division.

Ÿ Mary Bridge O'Toole of Chicago won in the category for best use of color on a non-Victorian in the non-professionally painted division.