Kevin Sillaman and Nick Goebel are the dynamic painting duo behind The Ohio Painting Company. Sillaman is the CEO, and Goebel serves as the CFO. More than anyone else, they know that years of successful house projects can start with a single brush stroke and a single passion for quality.
For Sillaman, a passion for painting started early. “Growing up, I was inspired by my uncle. He did painting and restorations, and he let me come along. I was inspired by the transformations I saw him do through painting. I remember he was working in a courtyard once, and I could look through the windows and see the mess on one side and how he was transforming it into something really nice on the other side. I thought there must be a lot of pride in that.” When he was 16, Sillaman got an opportunity through the Washington County Joint Vocational School to train in a career as a painter. At that point Sillaman’s future was set. “I loved using paint to transform houses, and we were getting paid to do it. It was the perfect thing for me. That’s all I wanted to do. And it still is.”
Starting with Sillaman and Goebel, the company has grown a lot and reached the franchise level. Goebel will be president of the Dayton area portion, with Sillaman doing franchise sales, training, and upkeep. About 20 people work with them on painting teams. Sillaman and Goebel place high value on their painting teams’ skills, and many of their painters stay with their company for years. “We will train our painters, if needed; and we pay them very well. We want high quality, and we don’t mind paying for it.”
Sillaman mentions a few trends that he’s seeing in painting these days:
COLOR TRENDS
Everything was once dark colors. People used dark colors on interior and exterior walls, on everything. You’d see a lot of golds and browns. But now people are going to gray, light gray, and white. There is lots of gray and white now. It’s clean looking and opens up the room or rooms. I think the trend will be with us for five years or more. When I first started, most people were using antique white and accent walls. I’ve seen trends go from all white to darker walls to white walls again. This is the trend for both indoors and outdoors.
TRIM TRENDS
We’re seeing more people using black trim now, instead of white; most people used to use white. Black doors and window trims are popular now.
KIDS’ ROOMS AND OFFICES
Because a lot of houses are open plan, one color is usually done for those—usually something light, a white or light gray. Kids’ rooms and offices are different. This is where people tend to use accent colors, something different than the main color.
GUTTERS AND SHUTTERS
The trend is for lighter soffits and fasciae and darker gutters, typically black or dark brown. Black gutters might be used to match a black roof. A nice color trend is sea serpent dark gray blue on shutters. We did the Wright House, which used to be a plain white; but using light blue with sea serpent dark gray blue on the shutters makes it gorgeous now.
CONTACT
Regardless of trends, The Ohio Painting Company works with each customer to figure out what will look good in their unique home. Their motto is “We won’t waste your time or money.” Call (937) 409-4443 or visit their website at www.OhioPainting.com/About-Us.