Praise of Downtown Expertise in a time of Recession: Stone Depot and National Paint

Like many people this month, I am making repairs on my house. In my case I am replacing a number of cedar shingles that have been eaten by squirrels. I am also painting a bathroom, a deck, and adding baseboards to a couple of rooms that did not have them. This last project was horribly frustrating until I finally spoke to the right people.

Given that I was doing several projects I went to the large unnamed home improvement center on Washington Street. There I purchased what was supposed to be stain grade boards for the baseboards. I then went over to the paint area and was advised rather quickly what to purchase.

Result: disaster. The boards absorbed stain in a very uneven fashion; they looked positively splotched, downright piebald. After 5 hours of labor, I had 70 feet of pine which I will reuse because I am stubborn, but that I cannot put down as baseboard. I then decided to consult the local experts.

My first stop: the former Middletown Builders (now Stone Depot) on North Main Street. What a different experience; I was escorted to the perfect baseboard wood and given specific advice about the liabilities of the much better quality pine I was buying (I was trying to match the cedar baseboards throughout the house). Clearly, all the people working there had years of deep wood knowledge (as opposed to deep woods knowledge).

I then went to National Paint, at the very bottom of Washington Street. Here too, I spoke at length with real experts: Mike, Chris, and Dave. After doing ten minutes of experiments, it was determined by Chris that to make a beautiful finish on my quite porous baseboards, I would need a “spit” coat of shellac followed by my stain. The result is perfect: it looks just like the cedar.

I also have another National Paint story. The following day, National mixed four gallons of custom stain for me for the aforementioned deck project. At five o’clock I went into the store and told them I needed more stain. I was informed that they had had a run on this particular base blend that day and were out. They knew I was in the middle of the project, however, and volunteered to get some immediately and deliver it to my house. 90 minutes later, one of the guys dropped off the stain on his way home. Although I suspect that they are not in the habit of making house calls, this is service.

Is there a moral to this story? Perhaps. As I contemplate my faultless baseboards, it occurred to me that, during a time of recession, we need to support these local merchants. It is not only good for the community and good for our downtown; it is almost always the most cost effective way of undertaking a project.

Note: I have no affiliation with either of these stores.