Stop and Snap – Modern Masters Exterior Shimmers to Passing Traffic
It hadn’t happened in 35 years of painting – people driving by stopped their car, got out, and took pictures … such was the curb appeal of Modern Masters Metallic. Contractor Tony Severino, owner of Professional Painters in LaGrange, Illinois, won a 2020 TOB JOB award from American Painting Contractor (a trade magazine for pro painters), for his company’s work on a historic home in Riverside, Illinois. Modern Masters Exterior Metallic was featured prominently on the home’s restored exterior.
Severino went into this project knowing his customer wanted “just the right color.” They were willing to work together to get it, no matter how long it took. They had to see it to believe it, but the only way they could be certain it would work was to paint the entire 20-foot section of soffit in front of the house, which they did – several times. They started with a light cream, but when the right color finally came off the brush, it was a dark grey. Then came the task of picking just the right accent, and Severino had his work cut out for him. He had a great idea but needed to get his client’s approval – and it didn’t come easy.
That idea was Modern Masters Exterior Metallic in Treasure Gold, a color the client was sure she didn’t ever want on her historic home’s exterior. Summoning his prior experience and success with the brand, he won her over. “I had used Modern Masters Metallic on some other homes so I had confidence that the client would like it,” he said. “We went through the process of selling her on it by showing her countless other accent colors and proving that none would work as well as the gold.”
It was also a great opportunity to finally try out the brand’s new exterior product, introduced in 2019 – just in time for this challenging project. As his client grew to like the product and color, she kept finding more places for him to apply it. “When the project was over, she admitted that in the beginning, when I told her the possible colors we could use included gold, she thought I was crazy,” said Severino. By the end, though, the homeowners told him he was one of the best contractors they’d ever worked with. “A big part of their happiness was because we used this awesome unique product for them to really fall in love with our finished project,” he said.
The exterior version of the metallic was really easy to use, he reported. “This saved the client a ton of time and money – not having to cover it with exterior varnish. The reason this one worked so well is the trim color was a dark grey and it took something special to stand out against the field of that dark color. I called the top of the house near the soffit the ‘black hole.’ It was permanently in shade. Being dark, most accent colors would just get lost up there. The gold, however, would show up.”
When the sun catches it just right, says Severino, it shimmers just like real gold. “In the past the exterior varnish would alter the sheen and this shimmering effect would not occur. It really is quite magical when you catch it in the perfect light.” No wonder it stops traffic!
Tony sees this product as an “arrow in the quiver.” It’s not something he’d use on every job, but when it’s right, there’s nothing quite like it. As he puts it, Modern Masters is jewelry for the home – the accessory to the ensemble that makes the project complete.
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