2008-2009 Top Job Awards by American Painting Contractor

A few weeks ago,?I listened to a voice mail left to me on the cell phone.? “Regina, this is Emily Howard of American Painting Contractor.? I’d like to talk to you about the?Top Job Awards.? Please give me a call at…”

I clicked off and thought, “Could my brother be pulling a prank on me?”.? (We sibs are QUITE adept at pulling elaborate schemes on one another.? One particular one I pulled on my sister still makes me smile…)? I called the number given and for sure, it was the magazine.? A prank started looking less and less likely.? Then,?Emily Howard, Editrix Extraordinaire,?came on the line and all I heard were word fractions:?”You’ve won” and? “Grand Prize”?along with “Congratulations!”.

Let me tell you what my super chic uber-cool?self did:? I teared up.? On the phone.? My voice cracked.? I thanked her.? A lot.? I’m sure she thinks I’m insane.? I believe she might have gone?back to the APC staff and told them “Mmm…we might have to tighten that velvet rope next year…”? Regardless, I hung up the phone and then went to find my brother and partner-in-crime, Jason, and told him about our win.? He looked at me?and said “What?!?? Are you serious???No!? Wait — are you pulling one on me?? Wait — you would NEVER joke about this!”? We actually didn’t truly believe it until we received the March/April 2009 issue and saw one of the pics taken by Lindsay Pardo on the cover.? (Heck, our own Mom still kinda thinks we’re pulling her leg…)? Now that we have seen the issue, with our own eyes, we can attest that:

Garay Artisans (that would be us) has won the national Grand Prize in the 2008 Top Job Awards as given yearly by the American Painting Contractor magazine.? Here’s the proof:

We did a little of everything in the lovely ranch home.? Interior and exterior glazes, wood staining, cabinet work, trim work and various?other finishes.? For instance, you can see my brother caulking the door on the left pic.? Along with the Marmorino, we were to finish most of the surrounding doors to match the cabinetry (right pic).? We also did an aged metallic on the home’s crown molding and baseboards.

The exterior wood doors were in sad shape (top).? We cleaned,?did extensive prepwork and then treated them to a?Sikkens finish (bottom).

Here are some of the other areas (I don’t want to overwhelm you with pics of everything):

The funny thing is that we called all our family (filled with creative types) and they were ecstatic and ready to celebrate and we called all my husband’s family (filled with accountants and financial gurus) and they were ecstatic…and reminding?us that?we needed to set aside?a few pennies?to pay taxes on the grand prize monies.? Always good to have that balance, LOL!

Thank you, APC staff, for your wonderful awards and article.? Plus, my brother and I would?like to thank ALL the members of our team:? our sis, Suzanne, Karenne Torres, Heidi Walden, Monica Zeuli, Yuri Garcia and Marvin Carcamo.? We would especially like to thank our wonderful clients who provided this wonderful commission.? …and for you dear Reader, I hope you have a day filled with good news as well!