Palo Alto was built in waves — and each wave paints differently
The oldest houses are in Professorville, University South and along Emerson, Waverley and Cowper: Shingle, Craftsman and Queen Anne homes from the 1890s to the 1930s, built for Stanford faculty and the town's first families. Wood shingle and clapboard outside, exposed timbers and redwood paneling inside. Many have ten or more coats of paint on the trim by now.
In the 1920s came the Spanish Colonial Revival. Birge Clark, the only architect with an office in Palo Alto between 1922 and 1930, designed 98 houses here — stucco walls, red tile roofs, wrought iron. Old Palo Alto and Crescent Park have many of them.
After the war came the ranch house, and with it the Eichlers: about 2,700 of them in 32 tracts, mostly in South Palo Alto — Greenmeadow, Fairmeadow, Palo Verde. Vertical redwood siding, post-and-beam ceilings, glass walls to the yard. Inside, much of the wood was never meant to be painted.
Midtown, Charleston Meadows and the rest of the south side filled in through the 1950s and 60s with conventional ranch homes — stucco or wood outside, drywall inside. Since then most houses have been remodeled at least once, so one home often carries two or three eras at the same time.
What that changes when we paint
Professorville and the old districts. Prep is most of the job: scraping loose layers, filling, sanding, priming bare wood. Original shingle and clapboard can't be sandblasted or stripped aggressively — the city's guidelines for the historic district say so, and it's bad for the wood anyway. We work by hand.
Spanish stucco. Stucco holds paint well but shows every crack. Cracks get filled and textured to match before paint, or they're back in a year. Masonry primer, then a breathable exterior paint.
Eichlers. The question is what to paint and what to leave. Beams and paneling that were stained stay stained; siding that's been painted before gets a primer made for old redwood. Lines where paint meets natural wood are cut by hand.
Post-war ranches. Drywall and standard trim — the most straightforward houses in town. Patch, prime where needed, two coats. If the walls need more than patching, see drywall and plaster repair.
Exteriors anywhere in Palo Alto. The climate is gentle on paint, but south- and west-facing walls fade and chalk years before the rest. We prep those sides harder and tell you if they'll need repainting sooner than the others.
What's included
- Moving and covering furniture and floors
- Filling nail holes and cracks, sanding, caulking gaps in trim
- Primer where it's needed — bare wood, patches, stains, dark-to-light color changes
- Two coats of a quality paint, brand and sheen your choice
- Clean lines at ceilings, trim and windows
- Daily clean-up; the room is back together when we leave
What we paint
- Walls and ceilings
- Doors, trim and baseboards
- Kitchen and bathroom cabinets
- Exterior siding, trim and eaves
- Fences, gates and decks
- Garage doors
Questions people in Palo Alto ask
- Do I need a permit to paint my house in Palo Alto?
- No. The City of Palo Alto lists painting as work that doesn't require a building permit, inside or out.
- We're in Professorville — can we change the exterior color?
- Repainting doesn't need a permit, but the historic district has guidelines on materials and finishes. If you're switching from stain to paint, or picking a very different color on an original facade, it's worth a call to the city first. Sean can tell you what's likely to come up.
- Our Eichler has painted beams. Can they go back to natural wood?
- Sometimes. It depends on how many coats and what's underneath. Sean will look and tell you honestly.
- When does a wall need full repainting instead of a touch-up?
- If the paint is more than a couple of years old, a touch-up will show — the color has shifted and the sheen won't match. Then it's better to paint the whole wall, corner to corner.
- How long does it take?
- A bedroom, walls and ceiling, is usually one day. A full three-bedroom interior, about a week. Exteriors depend on size and prep.
Licensed and local
SHR Remodeling LLC · CSLB #1121642. Sean has painted homes across Palo Alto for years and is a Nextdoor Neighborhood Fave six years running, 2021–2026.
Get a free estimate
Send a photo of the room or the wall — Sean will call you back with a price range