Sofia

Bay Area Schools Train Next Gen Tradespeople

In February our daughter Sofia was accepted into the Academy for Business and Finance at our local San Leandro district high school. The Academy is a three-year program that provides academic and technical training to prepare students for the workforce as well as for higher education.

These types of programs are a critical resource at a time when college tuition grows more out of reach for many families — and are imperative for businesses as the availability of skilled office — and field-labor has become more-and-more limited.

As described in a recent article, “Oakland Schools Go Back to the Future With Vo-Tech,” in Oakland Magazine, paraphrasing Emiliano Sanchez, Oakland Unified School District’s director of Career Technical Education trades and apprenticeships, “It’s been at least a couple decades since the vast majority of Oakland students got any exposure to anyone in their K-12 education who knew anything about the merits of going into the skilled trades.”

The article notes the shortage of skilled labor nationwide, as well as in Oakland. There is a concern that with more than 50 percent of the skilled-trades workforce due to retire in the next five-to-10 years:

“Right now, the average age of an apprentice is 28, which means that people graduate from high school at 18 and they basically float around for 10 years until they find construction as a meaningful career,” says Sanchez. “There won’t be enough talent to fill that void, if we aren’t lifting it up in the schools.”

In her “College and Careers” class, Sofia shared with me that a presentation was given by a local plumbing union, stating that the electrical and plumbing trades are lucrative and viable long-term career options for students.

This is great news for many of our industry colleagues who search month-after-month for viable candidates to hire!

The effort to create an educational system that is relevant and enables students to step into a real-world career more quickly also upgrades the utility of OUSD public schools at time when they face increasing pressure. The most recent teacher strike highlights the budget and political issues the system has been facing.

Oakland is not the only school district offering these types of pathways for students. San Leandro offers even more varied options including the San Leandro Academy for Multimedia (SLAM) and the Social Justice Academy (SJA) and Academy for Business and Finance (ABF). The district has always maintained Its Auto and Wood Shop.

The San Leandro school district website states, “The purpose of the Academies is to help students excel through rigorous courses and introduce them to career options and paths for after high school. Acceptance in an academy requires an application.” Sofia also interviewed for the position. Read more

As Oakland Magazine reports regarding the OUSD career-track offerings: “In the past couple of years, the Oakland school district has placed a greater emphasis on career technical education under its new ‘linked learning’ initiative, also known as ‘wall-to-wall pathways.’ In linked learning, nearly every Oakland public high school student in the city must select an academic career path or academy — such as health, engineering, computer science, biotechnology, or architecture and design — by the 10th grade, with hopes that it will encourage more students to graduate and motivate them toward real world careers.”

Sanchez addresses the stigma of blue-collar careers such as those in Construction. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s been easy. But my work has been working with individuals and trying to show them that skilled trades also are applied math and sciences. It’s all part of the same realm — architecture, construction, and engineering. All three go together. You can’t have one without the other, and there’s just no success without the other. If an architect designs something, but there’s never an engineer, and it never gets built out, all he did was a nice drawing and stuff.”

manor-drive-1

The 3P’s of Superior Exterior House Painting – San Francisco Bay Area

You may not realize it, but painting is as much about the process a painter uses as the painter themselves!
At Arana Craftsman Painters, we leave little to chance because we follow a tried-and-true set of steps.

These crucial steps are our “secret sauce” so to speak and it has allowed us to consistently build a reputation of reliability, exceptional quality and professionalism over the last 17 years.

  • The steps to exceptional exterior painting include:
  • Protecting your home and environment (surrounding surfaces, land- scaping, vehicles, etc.)
  • Scraping/sanding to remove old layers of paint that will negatively impact the integrity of your new paint at a standard that meets our 5 Year Warranty
  • Five Year Warranty
  • Thorough cleaning of the exterior of your home or property to remove any contaminants
  • Priming, Caulking and Patching
  • Exceptional Painting

These are our “3P’s” of a successful project and the key to why people love working with Arana Craftsman Painters!

Planning & Staging

  1. Pre-Job Walkthrough: Our Production Manager will meet with you prior to the scheduled project start date to confirm the start date, scope, sequencing, and colors. Essentially, all expectations are reconfirmed to assure a smooth handoff between our Estimator and our Production Department. Proper communication is the key to exceptional quality and to you having a great painting experience. At this point, when we arrive at your project, our Crew Leader and Crew have a solid plan as to what processes will take place first, and in what areas.Lincoln-street-2-1
  2. Color Consultation: Arana Craftsman Painters works with top San Francisco Bay Area Color Consultants and on projects needing a consultation, the Consultation is included in our bid. Having colors chosen ahead of time makes your life so much easier. We’ll even put up swatches so you can see the color in real life and make a final decision.
  3. Set-up: We set up a neat and organized area for our equipment, tools, and products, a home base, where we can safely and efficiently manage your project.
  4. Dedicated Team: In addition to a dedicated Production Manager, every project has a dedicated Crew Leader who works closely with you, our Production Manager, and our office, to assure timely resolution to any challenges that arise, as well as quality control, sequencing, and assuring that you have an amazing painting experience!

Protection

We invest heavily in all the correct tools and materials and use quality plastic, drop cloths, paper, and tape to protect the surfaces of your home and environment that are not scheduled to be painted.

Preparation

Paint will not adhere properly without expert preparation. Proper preparation is the cornerstone of exceptional quality.

We sand, scrape, and prime as appropriate to ensure proper adhesion. We contain particulate and dust exposure per Environmental Protection Agency safety standards and Arana Craftsman Painters is an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Contractor. EPA Lead-Safe Firm

For the safety of everyone involved, are all the painting contractors you have bidding on your project EPA Lead-Safe Certified?

After primer is applied, we patch, caulk and fill for aesthetic and in some cases sealing purposes or to prevent water incursion.

Best Colors for Kitchen with White Cabinets

Best Colors for Kitchen with White Cabinets

Interior designers recommend earthy colors for kitchens with white cabinets. These colors have a warm and welcoming feel that makes the cook and visitors feel comfortable. The color should be bright with a blend of different colors on different parts of the kitchen.

Kitchen colors serve many purposes; this includes coordinating with the cabinets, reflecting sunlight or light from the bulb, and they also give your home a cheerful feel. Dark colors are known to be work against appetite. This includes neutral colors such as blue, green, purple, and violet. The choice of the kitchen color should follow the taste of the owner.

However, dark colors like black do not work well in a kitchen set that has white cabinets. The following are the best colors that will match well with your white kitchen cabinet.

Warm and neutral colors

Any color can be termed as friendly if it has enough shade and tint. This will entirely depend on the neutral you will choose. In case you are not sure of the best color to go with, you can start by using neutral colors.

Another way of spicing up your kitchen colors is by mixing the neutrals with an addition of red, orange, or yellow to make them appear warmed up. If the colors become too warm, you can cool them down with green, violet, or blue color.

Red

Red may not be a kitchen favorite for most people. However, it is the perfect choice when you intend to avoid mixing many colors. White kitchen cabinets will have a sparkly and classy look when combined with red color.

If your kitchen has plenty of dark colors, red can come in handy to reduce the monotony of warm and bright colors. Remember, you can still choose to use red as the primary theme color for your kitchen walls and other installations. If there are numerous stainless steel items in the kitchen, you can use red color to provide a focal viewpoint to your eyes.

Brown

Brown is the perfect complement to white kitchen cabinets. Also, brown is considered an earthy tone, thus making it a top choice for your kitchen. Our food comes from the earth on our farms. The natural color for planet earth is brown.

This is one of the reasons why brown is the perfect color for your kitchen. You can spice up the brown kitchen colors by using different accessories that have different colors to reduce the monotony brought about by the brown color.

White on White

This is no brainer when it comes to kitchen painting. White on white brings out a classy kitchen that has a welcoming feel when anyone enters the kitchen.

With this kind of setup, you will paint every part of your kitchen white. This includes white cabinets, white walls, white ceiling, counters, and accessories.

Light yellow color

Many designers prefer a bright yellow color for a kitchen with white cabinets. This bright yellow color on the walls works perfectly with brown tiles or wood on the floor. Yellow color reflects light across the room, thus bringing ambiance to your kitchen. You can spice up the light yellow color with blue painting to bring out a vintage atmosphere.

White, blue and light gray color

One of the best methods of painting your kitchen is by combining multiple colors. The right combination is by using blue, white, and gray color on your kitchen walls. These colors will work best where the kitchen has access to natural light from the sun.

With the white cabinets, there will be a bright contrast between each of the colors. The blue color will give your kitchen a vintage look. You can go ahead and have your floor covered by red or brown tiles or wood.

White, black and brown colors

This is a perfect combination for painting your kitchen walls and ceiling if it has white cabinets. The result is a bold color that depicts class and welcoming feel.

Again, this combination of multiple colors will work best in a kitchen where there is enough access to natural light for it to have a cozy and casual look.

White, green and brown color

Having a green refrigerator may appear to be a bad idea for a kitchen look. However, with white cabinets, the green color on the fridge will be the talk of the entire house.

The primary purpose of combining white, green, and brown color is to bring out your kitchen as colorful and ambient. You can paint the counter-tops and shelves a brown theme color. This will help create a transition from the white and green color.

Navy blue color with white

A navy blue and white combination of colors will work best with a red-brown floor. This will make your house have a rugged appearance. The rugged appearance will contrast that of accessories that make up the rest of the room.

The white color may come from white tiles that have been placed on one side of the walls. The white-colored wall with the tiles should be on the same side with the white cabinets to create harmony.

On the other side of the wall, you may opt to paint a navy blue color. The navy blue wall will look best if it is directly opposite the white tiles. You can still spice things up by using accessories such as chandelier that will make a subtle statement.

Orange, black and gray

This is a perfect combination for those who want a kitchen with a modern look. The black color is suitable for the counter-tops, and the orange can be applied on either side of the wall. The gray color will highly complement the black counter tops and should be applied in regions that are near the counter top.

Conclusion
Identifying the right paint colors that will work best with white cabinets can be a time- consuming task. However, the good news is that there are several options that one can consider.

Kitchens look best with white, gray, blue, red, yellow, or green. These colors give the kitchen walls a shiny look. Some colors are suitable for stimulating appetite, while others do not. Red is one of the perfect colors that are known to stimulate appetite.

Cabinet Refinishing Process: Quick and Easy Kitchen Refresh

Cabinet Refinishing Process: Quick and Easy Kitchen Refresh

Cabinet painting is the easiest way to create a major change in your kitchen without demolition, dust, and downtime. You don’t have to break through walls or change out cabinets in order to experience a complete refresh and transformation of your space. It’s also an economical and eco-friendly choice, preserving our forests (and budgets) by re-using existing wood rather than replacing with new.

The photos we are sharing in today’s article are from a client’s gorgeous Mediterranean mansion in Piedmont. The kitchen cabinets were a combination of painted (olive) and a serviceable blond-wood stain. Taking them to the next level with a refinish and paint, and choosing to unify the look with a single cabinet color, utterly transformed the room.

The Process: After carefully removing all of the cabinet doors and drawers, every surface has to be thoroughly sanded, and any needed cosmetic repairs are made to the underlying wood at this stage. And then we apply a stain-blocking primer to prevent the color of the original wood from bleeding through the layers of new paint, which is the last step.

For the painting industry nerds among us: this project features Renner paint (www.rennerwoodcoatings.com) — a product we have been working with more recently that we are really liking. It has more urethane than similar finishes, which means it dries a little harder and is potentially longer-lasting.

While repainting is a much cheaper option than tearing out the old and installing brand-new factory-painted-and-baked cabinets, we like to make sure our clients understand that new cabinets would be more resilient than refinished ones.

Given the beating that all kitchens take, especially in the higher traffic areas — around the sink and silverware drawer, and on the side of the island or countertop that hosts tall stools, the need for touch-ups with refinished cabinets will be more likely. This is a very important factor to consider. Thus, if you are a DIY-type, or not too finicky about scuff marks, refinishing rather than replacing might work well for you.

Chabot Day Camp Staff

Community Spotlight: Chabot Day Camp

For the past 10 years, Ernesto and I have been sending our kids to summer camp in one form or another via the Parks and Rec Department of the City of San Leandro. Of all the camps we’ve tried for them over the years, Chabot Day Camp has been one of their absolute favorites. Our kids are now 18 and 15, and this summer, one of our kids will be returning as a Counselor in Training or “CIT”, i.e.: assistant to the Senior Counselors who themselves, year after year, return to Chabot Day Camp. You know it is a great program when Counselors and kids keep coming back to see each other and to recreate the magic from the summers before.

In operation for three generations, Chabot Day Camp is held in Chabot Park (not to be confused with Lake Chabot) and runs like the famed sleepaway camps we tend to think of as mostly only occurring on the East Coast — just without the sleepover part or the travel!

One of the many fabulous staffers, who has shown nothing but love for our kids over many years, a constant for the program, is Camp Director, Liz “Skippy” Hodgins. Not surprisingly, Liz was a camper herself as a kid, and she joined the staff in 2011. “This is my twelfth summer, and I love it!” she says.

Liz describes why the camp and location are so special: “As soon as you step into Chabot Park, you are transported. It’s a magical place where kids can just be free and be themselves; they can be goofy and silly and no one is going to tell them to be quiet or stop singing and dancing! At the end of the day, kids go home so dirty and smelling like eucalyptus. And then it’s shower and lights-out. The kids are tired, the staff is tired — everyone gets 10 hours of sleep!”

She adds, “Camp is a great opportunity for kids to unplug, be outside, make new friends and engage in activities that boost self-esteem and build team-building and communication skills. For example, in arts and crafts, we really focus on the process. It doesn’t matter what the end product looks like! What the camper decides to do with the materials, how they put their own stamp on it — my favorite is how the results all look a little different!”

As Rec Supervisor, Liz oversees the staff at all of San Leandro’s camps: Chabot, plus Camp Hooty Hoo, located across town, and two preschool programs at different locations.

With Chabot Day Camp’s two-week sessions, the kids have ample time to settle in, bond with their Senior Counselors and CITs (who all have fun nicknames), and enjoy all the activities that one associates with sleepaway camp: campy camp songs (Flee-Fly, Flee, Fly Flo and Calam-eye, Calam-eye Calamine Lotion), capture the flag, dodgeball, art projects, and a home-grown theatrical performance at the end of the second week.

“Family Night is on the last Wednesday of each session. Families and staff and campers gather over food, we put on a show: each group sings songs or makes up a skit, or a dance routine. Some are funny and some are serious. The groups practice all session for this. Kids step outside their comfort zones, come out of their shells, and show their families what camp is all about.”

Besides the fact that the camp provides a fun, safe place for kids in nature during summer, what I as a parent appreciate most is that the program fosters relationships and leadership skills by providing a track for kids who have grown up going to the camp to become Senior Counselors in a paid position or even employees of the City’s Parks and Recreation division — which operates a variety of community enrichment programs throughout the city.

Another aspect of the camp that makes it special is how the city has kept it as affordable as possible. Fees for each two-week session currently range from $285-315 for residents and $333-365 for non-residents — and lunch is included in the price.

I grew up in a small town on a farm and sometimes city life is challenging for me. I miss the orchards and wide-open spaces and freedom of movement that was part of my childhood. But moving to the Bay Area gave me the diversity of community and a little more excitement with the bustle of city life that I craved.

While San Leandro is way more city than country, it retains a small-town feel with friendly neighbors and a great local school district, safe, flat streets where my kids can walk to school, and have had their share of running amok with their school and neighborhood friends. Also, my family’s farm had cherry orchards, and this city is known for the cherry groves that used to be here: the cherry is in the city’s emblem and they still hold an annual cherry festival, just like in my hometown.

Our kids have thrived here, and Chabot Day Camp is just one of the many reasons why we love San Leandro!

Arana Restores an Iconic Floating Home in Alameda

Arana Restores an Iconic Floating Home in Alameda

Featuring a very personalized color palette…

Most people know about the “Painted Ladies,” the famed San Francisco Victorians, and some may also know about the populous and sprawling houseboat and floating homes community in Sausalito, but few have heard of the tiny, eclectic Barnhill Marina in Alameda.

Tucked away in a nook just beyond the entrance to the Webster Street Tube, this small harbor community is made up of a collection of floating homes, many of which are just as brightly colored as those famous Victorians, and some of which Arana has had the distinct honor of helping to restore and maintain as well as beautify, with paint.

As noted in a recent article in Alameda Magazine, “Barnhill Marina is a colorful community of 42 houses bobbing peacefully on the Oakland Estuary in Alameda across from Jack London Square. To be clear, these aren’t houseboats — these are floating dockside houses that have no motors and aren’t designed to go anywhere.”

The reality of living on a houseboat is that there is no solid ground.

When painting this lovely home, our team, featuring Julio and Raymondo, had to very quickly adjust to balancing on ladders on floating docks and barges, which float alongside and independently of the home — that is also floating.

The huge, heavy, flat-platform barge itself was a three-person operation to move into position — on the estuary-facing side of the house.

(Unfortunately for our photographer, the barge had already been moved back to its storage location when she returned to take “After” photos. The homeowner suggested borrowing a kayak. Julie ended up taking pictures, as best she could, teetering on the outer-edge walkway of the floating home itself, and getting a view of the home from the deck of a helpful neighbor.)

Like so much of the Bay Area, the architecture of floating homes is varied, and the color schemes are bright and bold. The striking color palette for this project was selected with the guidance of our recommended color consultant, Cass Morris. Notably, the homeowner had a very strong opinion on the starting place for the process: her favorite colors are blue and orange — and she adores them together. She has a beloved bike in these colors — why not her house?

Colorful homes and very personalized homes are a hallmark of this community, as described in Alameda Magazine: “Artists, working professionals, and retired people all cohabitate in (this) little oasis of zany-colored, kitschily-decorated mini-Victorians. Some are big kayakers, sailors, and paddle boarders — others just enjoy observing the water.”

While at Barnhill Marina, anything goes, and usually, the bolder, the better, this project’s colors were (like all projects that Cass consults on) chosen with an eye toward how the home will look in relation to its neighbors. The pops of orange against the blue echo the gray body with red trim of the home on one side, while also harmonizing with the orange body of the floating home on the next berth down, and echoing the warmth of the sunny yellow exterior of the home when facing the other direction.

And though kitsch can be the name of the game for many residents, with Cass’s help, this homeowner elected to simplify some of the nautical-themed features of her home and even some of the traditional Victorian gingerbread details by having us paint them one solid color rather than the previous multiple-colors — creating a sleeker, more modern look.

This technique of color placement can change the character of the home’s presentation without making more substantive physical changes.

On our advice and using our contractor referral, the homeowner took the necessary steps to restore the home and increase its longevity by installing new siding on two exterior walls. This work is in addition to the regular restoration practices that we employ when doing a whole-house exterior paint job: Arana removed the peeling and failing paint, sanded all of the window frames and detailed wood elements, and spot-covered the nailheads with a rust-preventative red-oxide primer (these spots are visible in our “During” photos), and gave the home a full coat of primer.

This primer stops future bleeding and streaking seeping up from underneath — a chronic problem in the salty marine air, and which would mar an otherwise-lovely decor.

Hands-down, this is one of the most fun projects we’ve done! And I think we can all agree that it is Cass Morris’s most uniquely bright and bold color selection project, to date.

Kitchen Cabinets Refreshed — Examples from our Portfolio

Kitchen Cabinets Refreshed — Examples from our Portfolio

What a Difference Paint Makes!

A question we get a lot at Arana is, “What can I do to refresh my kitchen, without going into a full-scale remodel?”

Of course, our answer is, “New paint colors!”

Also hanging new wallpaper (a service we provide) can add layers of interest to a space. Changing the colors of just your cabinets can make a space feel personalized and make it come alive.

Some of our favorite collaborations with interior designers and contractors in our portfolio focus on cabinet colors. In this first example, on a project designed by LMB Interiors, painting the cabinets, changing out the hardware, and wallpapering one wall, all made a revolutionary change in the feel of this room:

Design credit: LMB Interiors. View more photos, here.

Granted the new tile and countertops also helped. But it is noteworthy that there were no structural changes to the room. A refresh, rather than a remodel.

This next kitchen received more of a design-build treatment. But what we want to highlight for you is how the specified cabinet color, an unlikely taupe tone, personalized the space, added drama, and beautifully grounded the other details of the design (also by LMB Interiors), including new tile, drawer pulls and plumbing fixtures, and the family’s collection of ceramic jugs.

And then, for this Rockridge classic turn-of-the-century Craftsman-style home, we were tasked with the job of painting ever-so-carefully around the gorgeous factory-finished blue cabinets. We were so pleased that the homeowner agreed to a high-gloss, oil-based white. We loved the choice to paint the rest of the cabinets a different color, and how each color and finish highlights the distinctive grain of the wood top on the island.

This kitchen is part of a wonderful indoor-outdoor project we did with McCutcheon Construction. We also painted the exterior of the home and the new, expansive, back entrance.

Save Some Green with a Kitchen Cabinet Repaint

Save Some Green with a Kitchen Cabinet Repaint

After several years of living in that beautiful home of yours, the natural processes of wear and tear have taken a toll on some of the fixtures inside your home. Chief among these is the cabinets in your kitchen, they’re literally an eyesore, what with the discolorations and the general lack of interest they add to your kitchen. It’s time for a change.

That change though will usually mean you have to spend some green, to get some new green into your kitchen. You could surely do something else with that green; probably reinvest it in your 401 (K) or other useful venture. With that money saved, a forest somewhere doesn’t have to lose a beloved member of the community of oxygen providers for the planet.

What’s the solution? Repainting your old cabinet and giving it a new lease on life. But why would that be better than, say, refacing, or even replacing them?

Benefits of repainting the cabinet

  1. Economical

The main point of repainting your cabinets is to save you some serious green, as well as keep the oxygen makers right in the place where they’re needed most. Replacing the cabinets requires a lot of wood that as you know, costs a pretty penny. Aside from this, the accessories that go with it are also quite expensive.

A team of professionals who will assess your cabinets and then come up with a plan to clean, sand down, and then repaint them, and repaint the surrounding features, is actually a fraction of the cost of refacing and replacement.

  1. Convenience

Your home is usually the place where you feel most at ease after a long day of work. Imagine having to be without it for several weeks. That’s exactly what happens when a replacement of kitchen cabinets is going on. You will lose the ability to use your kitchen for a minimum of three weeks. Depending on the amount of work needed to be done, this period can increase to over eight weeks.

Repainting is the most convenient and least time-consuming option. In one week, you have a gleaming kitchen in colors and patterns of your choice, ready for you to use.

  1. Face Lift.

Ever had to work in an environment that wasn’t in the least bit appealing? Yes, that’s the same environment that has developed in your own kitchen. A drab, discolored, and worn kitchen will just suck the life out of the activities you undertake in the kitchen. A spot of repainting the cabinets will help inject life back into not only the cabinets but the kitchen as a whole.

From the improved look to the freshness that the repainting will add, your kitchen will become lively, and an excellent place to have a discussion with your spouse or child while you work. The beauty and the magic of the spruced-up kitchen will make the heavy conversations easier to tolerate.

If your kitchen cabinets don’t need to be completely broken down for a new one, then a repaint is the only thing you will need to inject life into the once drab kitchen.

For A Free Cabinet Painting Estimate Call 510-567-9559

ECO Friendly Trends 2022 Resource Guide

ECO Friendly Trends 2022 Resource Guide

Updated for 2022! As professional painters, Arana Craftsman Painters understands that customers want more than just quality painting. Many of us are also concerned about waste and climate change, so home owners and businesses also want to see their preferred painters utilizing eco-friendly paints, tools and using a safe process for all involved. This Resource Guide will point you in the right direction!

What We’ll Be Covering

  • Sustainability Trends to Watch For in 2022
  • How EPA Lead-Safe Certified Companies Protect Your Safety
  • ECO Friendly Process
  • ECO Friendly Materials
  • ECO Friendly Trends
  • Arana Designer Solutions
  • Arana: Get in Touch

DOWNLOAD GUIDE

ECO Friendly Painting Trends Webinar 2022

ECO Friendly Painting Trends Webinar 2022

Updated for 2022! In this webinar, Arana discusses how we go about doing your painting project utilizing an ECO Friendly process, environmentally friendly materials and the tools involved. We’re all about safety for everyone involved without sacrificing beauty or durability. Not to be missed!

What We’ll Be Covering

  • Sustainability Trends to Watch For in 2022
  • How EPA Lead-Safe Certified Companies Protect Your Safety
  • ECO Friendly Process
  • ECO Friendly Materials
  • ECO Friendly Trends
  • Arana Designer Solutions
  • Arana: Get in Touch

DOWNLOAD GUIDE