Though painting tools evolve, quality comes from experience

"Painting trim, sash, windows and things, a lot of people can't doa good job," says Marable. "You need experience, good equipment andgood brushes."
Although sprayers can be faster, especially for interior paint innew construction, Marable eschews using machines to paint anything.
"I do it all with brush and rollers," he says. "Actually, a rollergives you a better coat of paint. Some of these young paintersdon't look at it that way. They want to spray it and go."
Despite doing it the old-fashioned way, Marable is not slow.
"He's a great guy, a great painter," says Margaret Welker, whohired Marable to paint her bed and breakfast, Magnolia House, onMadison Street. "They're fast, too. I thought this would take amonth. They're finished in a week and a half."
Marable says he used to get a lot of business painting metal roofson barns and country houses, but he's happy the roof material isless common these days.
"That was kind of difficult and a little dangerous, if you don'tknow what you're doing," he says.
The biggest mistake a customer can make is waiting too long torepaint exterior surfaces. Peeling paint is a time-consuming  andtherefore expensive  problem to address.
"Anytime it's peeling, you let it go too long, it takes a lot morelabor and material to make it look right," Marable says. "Exteriortrim should be painted every three years with a good oil-basedpaint."
Marable's favorite paint: Benjamin Moore.
People's color choices change with the fashions of the time.Marable says he avoids advising customers because they tend to holdit against him if he suggests a color and they don't like it whenit's done.
"Back when I started (in the 1940s), they painted the living roomwith hunter green and white trim. All dark colors and white trim,"he says. "Several years ago, they stained all the trim. Now they'regoing back to earth tone colors."
He says paint and painting equipment have improved vastly in 60years.
"The tools are better. The material has changed quite a bit as faras drying and covering quality," he says. "The old lead paint wasthe best. They outlawed it. It's dangerous. I guess it's toxicstuff."
Marable says he never wore a mask when working with lead, and hasnever suffered any ill effects. But that comes from a man whoobviously has an especially strong constitution, still climbingladders and going strong at an age when many are content to sit onthe couch.
Stacy Smith Segovia is a features writer and can be reached at 245-0720 or by e-mailat stacysegovia@theleafchronicle.com .