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Sonshine Girls Painting: let the pros make your life easy

Mar 14, 2017 | 11:36 AM

NANAIMO — Painting your house yourself can be so much fun! You need to decide on a colour, then you have to buy brushes, rollers, and drop-clothes. And then, most important of all, you have to find time to paint. If you don’t have much time to spare during the work week, painting an entire house can take several weekends.

Or maybe you can just skip all that and hire the professionals?

Alison Donaghey has 22 years experience as a professional painter, and founded Sonshine Girls Painting in 2000. She knows all the do’s and dont’s of paint, both interior and exterior.

“There’s certainly more than throwing paint on the wall and hoping it’s going to work.” she says. “There is a skill set involved that has to be developed.”

Having the skills isn’t the only thing that makes a painter a professional.

It’s also important to know how to pick the right colour, something Sonshine Girls specializes in. When Alison started advising clients on colour choices, the results weren’t very good, so she adjusted her approach.

“I started paying attention to what people liked, how they picked colours, and so I’ve designed this really simple system to allow people to understand colour, and the results are really, really good,” Alison says.

And the name Sonshine Girls?

“Well, it’s spelled s-o-n-shine, and that’s because I have a son, and when he was little I used to sing sunshine songs to him.” The ‘Girls’ comes from her previous experience in the painting business. When Alison first started, as an employee, some clients were put out by her being a woman.

“People would be like, ‘you’re a girl, you can’t do this.’” That attitude included discussing money with clients, “’well, we want to talk to the guy, we’re not talking to the girl.’”

When she started Sonshine Girls, Alison didn’t intend it to be a female-only company, but she did want to make it clear that it was owned and operated by a woman, and had female staff.

As for Alison’s son, Tone, he’s been an integral part of Sonshine Girls for nine years. He knows that like many jobs in the trades, painting requires teamwork and a certain level of physical fitness. And he helps keep it a family business.

After 17 years as a business owner, Alison is looking forward to the future, and doesn’t intend to slow down.

Sonshine Girls Painting will continue giving customers the look they want for their home, inside and out. If you’d like to see what Sonshine Girls can do to brighten up your home, visit their website.