Exploring Versatility with CJ Painting & Custom Finishes
by Cassidy Mantor
A native Oregonian, Christian has always been drawn to creative pursuits. While he loved art, sports, and cars, he found that he excelled in school at drawing, building, and creating. As a boy, Christian collected plants from the forest and would bring them back to make to make potpourri for his mom. Now, as a father, he is working on putting together a book for Maxwell that is filled with inspirational quotes and other life lessons. A maker at heart, it wasn’t entirely surprising when a friend asked him to help paint a house in Bend decades ago and he discovered that he enjoyed the work. Christian wound up moving to town so that he could continue to snowboard and enjoy the outdoors while building his painting business.
For over 20 years, CJ Painting has been providing full-service, high-quality residential and commercial painting in Central Oregon. Christian’s leadership means they work outside the cookie-cutter norms and pursue creative projects that others might dismiss as hard or impossible. They continue to grow through customer satisfaction, quality work, dependability, and integrity. CJ Painting’s desire to create and perfect high-quality finishes leads to their operating motto, “We paint it as if it were our own.”
Bend is particularly environmentally-minded and residents understand how the climate affects the outdoor recreation they love. As a local mainstay, CJ Painting has been doing its part to use low- and no-VOC paints and also focuses on creating less waste in its daily operations . “We’ve been transitioning for years to cleaner products,” Christian explains. “We’ve been using osmos and water-borne stains and lacquers for a while. It eases the chemical load, and we also try to reuse products where possible. It’s a balance between choosing products that we know will uphold the longevity of your investment and also be good for the environment. I’m grateful for my guys at Miller/Denfeld Paints on Division. They’re the best and most knowledgeable paint team in Bend and are great partners to work with.”
Forecasting trends and knowing the context for where aesthetics are heading is another strength that CJ Painting offers. “I’ve been in the industry long enough to identify patterns that evolve every 5 to 10 years,” Christian says. “Presently, we’re seeing a lot of ultra-modern, clean looks in Bend. In the ‘90s, the look was a similar clean whitewash. Then, it moved to a distressed, country feel. Some painters struggle with the tough, clean, flat walls and finishes because they don’t understand how to do the transitions. My team and I have had many training classes in this area to learn more about our products and how to use them to achieve the best results.”
It’s worth noting that Christian was recently invited to teach a staining class to designers and architects. The course focused on his talent of being able to take a client’s desire and not just copy it, but replicate it so efficiently that three or four different teams with different leadership can uniformly complete the project on time. The course contained insight on working in different temperatures, as well as getting results using water-based or solvent-based paint.
An expert at his craft, Christian shares a memory of a project in which he directed his team to spray the equivalent of two miles of shiplap for a 12,000- to 13,000-square-foot house with different finishes. “Shiplap is meant to have texture and feel rustic,” he says. “We kept the trim shiny with a satin finish and put a matte finish on the rest. Most painters would have sprayed it all the same satin flat finish because it would’ve been faster and cost less, but we wanted to make sure to do the right thing to preserve the character and essence of the material. Our team is incredible – the men and women I work with are limitless.”
“We wanted to make sure to do the right thing to preserve the character and essence of the material. Our team is incredible– the men & women I work with are limitless.”
–Christian J. Martin. CJ Painting & Custom Finishes
Historically, Bend was a retirement community. However, with tech being built up and an increase in work-from-home flexibility, more urbanites and young families have moved to town. From a home style perspective, Central Oregon has a diverse landscape of Craftsman, traditional, and modern. City dwellers’ modern vernacular has increased demand for mountain modern and ultramodern homes to be designed and built in Bend. CJ Painting’s versatility means they can fluently work on many expressions of the design spectrum, paying tribute to Bend’s rustic high-desert history while seamlessly also delivering modern and ultramodern looks.
ULTRAMODERN
One ultramodern home that CJ Painting brought to life had a staircase welded in place that they finished in a high gloss black finish. “We did custom stair treads in no-solvent, low-VOC latex finish,” Christian recalls. Specifically, CJ Painting custom-matched the treads to the flooring that was a green-gray color. “They’d had some difficulty arriving at a stair color for the treads to match the floor, and I love the challenge of taking something a client brings us that they like and custom-staining and color-matching it for their home,” he adds.
Located in Tetherow and built by Copperline Homes, the house also incorporated mid-century modern elements including a center room fireplace and sitting area. With its black statement staircase, the home was a work of art. However, that artistic expression did not come without Christian’s devotion to making sure the job was done right.
“It was the 7th of the month, and the homeowners were moving in on the 8th,” Christian recalls. “We’d finished the staircase, but I could still see the texture of the welds. As an ultramodern home, it needed to be extremely crisp and clean.” The timeframe was tight, but as he says, “I couldn’t not do it.”
“I love the challenge of taking something a client brings us that they like and custom-staining and color-matching it for their home.”
–Christian J. Martin. CJ Painting & Custom Finishes
Much like parents on Christmas Eve stealthily delivering Santa’s presents around the Christmas tree for their children, Christian grabbed a suitcase of supplies and went in and completely redid the staircase. He sanded it down and resprayed it in the middle of the night. The next morning, the builder and the rest of the CJ Painting team arrived and were greeted by Christian who was covered head-to-toe in black paint and exhausted but finally satisfied with the outcome.
MOUNTAIN MODERN
From a painting perspective, one of the intricate differences between an ultramodern home and a mountain modern home is the finishes. Both have clean lines and an open feel, but the styles must diverge to achieve a different atmosphere. Often, mountain modern involves more staining that allows the raw materials to make their own textural statement.
Shown here is a modern project wherein the clients wanted a rustic feel with glazed trims. The house sits on top of a hill on the site of what originally was an old lodge. The homeowner sourced reclaimed heartpine beams from a tobacco factory in the Midwest and shipped them to Bend. The hardwood beamwork in the home is matched with a dry hemlock lid. The 10,000-square-foot home has an imposing metal pivot front door that is 7 feet wide and 18 feet tall and floor-to-ceiling picture windows and entire walls that open to reveal unobstructed views of the mountains and the Deschutes River.
CJ Painting instantly connected with the home’s flow and eclectic, livable style. One challenge they navigated was how to preserve the rustic texture of the wood while also making it splinter-free and comfortable. A popular request the company gets is to make wood accent walls look unfinished. In this house, the accent walls struck a balance between wanting the wood to be an art piece and preserving its unrefined, raw essence. Christian explains that barnwood is crusty and susceptible to fingerprints and scratches from pets, not to mention it can deliver slivers to unsuspecting children or others attracted to its unique texture.
“In the high-end finishing world, we wind up building layers using a flat, waterborne polyurethane osmo finish. We saturate and seal the wood in a way so when you touch it, you still feel the flaky quality but you won’t get slivers. It gives the walls a 300-year-old look and helps achieve an earthy feel,” Christian explains.
“We saturate and seal the wood in a way so when you touch it, you still feel the flaky quality but you won’t get slivers.”
–Christian J. Martin. CJ Painting & Custom Finishes
METAL REVOLUTION
Christian’s creative thinking leads CJ Painting to develop innovative solutions for metalwork too. In the mountain modern home, they achieved a hammered wrought iron look on a railing outside with a rust-proof sheen. “You don’t want your rustic railing to actually drip rust on your deck,” Christian points out.
While residential work occupies much of CJ Painting’s calendar, the company also does commercial work. The Domaine Wine Bar in Bend was one such project. Domaine had leased this location and intended to restore the downstairs brick and mortar and transform it into a speakeasy while sealing off the top. One of the challenges was to match steel I-beams that were welded together in the building’s infrastructure but that varied in age from 30 years old to 10 years old to brand-new. When CJ Painting was brought onto the project, one of their first tasks was to revitalize the historic post out front that was covered with concrete.
Christian likens his approach to treating metal to working on old cars with Maxwell, another passion of his. “You don’t want to clean it off too much; you have to decide what makes it look authentic,” he explains. To achieve the right look at Domaine, CJ Painting sprayed a black semi-transparent non-solvent tinted latex epoxy on the beams. They made sure they didn’t create the effect of too much rust, or have the new beams be too light in their weathered appearance.
CJ Painting uses the same hand-rubbed techniques as those that Christian first learned 20 years ago from master woodworkers. The materials he gravitates toward are products that have been around for 50 years, such as beeswax or shellac – a treatment he explains originally came from beetle shells mixed with wine in ancient times. For him, the art emerges when he mixes old with new, blending a colored past with the present with longevity for the future.
CJ Painting uses the same hand-rubbed techniques as those that Christian first learned 20 years ago from master woodworkers.
“For me, it’s about being passionate about what you do and giving back. I get to incorporate my creativity and my love of the old trades with making a living. I love what I do and being part of the Bend community.”
–Christian J. Martin. CJ Painting & Custom Finishes
THE BARNDOMINIUM OF THE FUTURE
Today, with the help of Maxwell and their family circle of coworkers and friends, Christian is working on a barndominium at the end of Butler Market on eight tree-covered acres. Sitting on the edge of the urban growth boundary, it will eventually become CJ Painting’s permanent home. “I’m slowly tearing it apart and building my dreams here,” says Christian. “When I see something in my head, I can’t not build it.”
The project involves salvaging old steel I-beams and pulling 2x4s on old paint-covered OSB apart to find out what lies underneath. He is exposing the beams on the bottom to create a rustic-style workshop downstairs, and will extend the upper level to become an industrial modern loft. Part of Christian’s dream is to build a state-of-the-art pre-finish shop that will make CJ Painting’s own handmade finishes on site. “Pre-finished siding, cabinets, doors, beam work, and trim packs are common requests, but when they’re done in a factory, they are mass-produced,” he explains. “You lose the custom look as well as the longevity and authenticity of the materials. This shop will produce pre-finished products, but they will still be handmade.” Christian anticipates that the project will be done in six months and can’t wait to move in.
CJ Painting is the antithesis of mass production. They readily work on projects that are slated to take 18 months or two years to complete. The extent of their craftsmanship and love for the details is what distinguishes them in an industry where speed and economy are expected. Christian leads his team with integrity and accountability, as well as with an old-school gritty attitude to take ownership for any mistakes made and remedy them with a sense of pride and enthusiasm for the job at hand. CJ Painting operates with a “no excuses” attitude.
Last winter, Christian redid CJ Painting’s new company vans with Maxwell. They armacoated the fleet in Destroyer Gray and a light, bright green. They are not the typical white painter’s vans. They’re noticeable around town and are a mobile example of the passion, fresh eye, and craftsmanship that CJ Painting brings to every project.
Christian possesses the knowledge of historic techniques and products and also has the versatility and talent for ultramodern projects. He rightfully takes pride in his work and the team he has built at CJ Painting, most of whom have worked with him for years. They’ve parted ways at times and reunited, older and wiser. They are now creating the future they talked about as younger men and women.
“For me, it’s about being passionate about what you do and giving back,” Christian says. “I get to incorporate my creativity and my love of the old trades with making a living. I love what I do and being part of the Bend community. I’m proud of what CJ Painting has achieved and what we continue to work toward. When it comes to business, we deliver. ‘I can’t’ or ‘I quit’ isn’t in my vocabulary. I will find a way.”
