What My Finishing Business Taught Me

Running my own finishing business was a journey filled with hands-on learning. Two of the projects I’m proudest of were painting a mural in the grand ballroom of the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas and contract work for SMU, painting several of their exterior buildings. Those projects might sound glamorous, but they taught me lessons that go far beyond any portfolio.

When you own a business, especially one that deals with finishing work, the idea of clocking out is nonexistent. The work isn’t finished until it’s finished, and that’s especially true with things like paint or plaster. You can’t just stop halfway through a wall and call it a day. I remember working twenty-hour days when the job demanded it, pushing through to the end because that’s what the quality of the work required.

Finding work wasn’t about having the snazziest portfolio; it was about showing up. Cold calls, putting myself out there, and proving my capability with samples and meetings rather than promises was how I built my business. It was old-school, for sure, but it worked.

The most valuable lesson of all? Doing the work myself taught me what a material is really like. When you’re the one with the brush or the plaster trowel, you learn how long a material can sit before it changes on you, how a technique impacts the final result more than the formula itself. This hands-on experience is why today, when I give a finisher a formula, I also give a demonstration. If something isn’t going right on a job, I can step in and fix it instead of just reporting the problem.

For anyone who works with materials, having that muscle memory is invaluable. It’s not just about seeing a material in a showroom. It’s about knowing it on a much deeper level.

If you’re planning your home and want to know more about how I approach materials and design, I’d love to hear what you have in mind. Let’s talk about your home over at heather.living.