West Orange climbs two ridges. Downtown and the older streets sit at the foot of First Mountain, the neighborhoods grow more suburban as the hill rises, and the western edge of the township runs along the face of Second Mountain. Llewellyn Park, laid out in 1857 by Llewellyn Haskell and the architect Alexander Jackson Davis, is often called the first planned residential community in America, and Thomas Edison's estate, Glenmont, stands inside it. His laboratory on Main Street, now part of Thomas Edison National Historical Park, is a few minutes away. Most of the rest of West Orange was built in the post-war boom, which picked up again when Interstate 280 opened in 1970. The township is home to Eagle Rock Reservation, South Mountain Reservation and the Turtle Back Zoo, and much of it is heavily wooded.
That mix shows in the housing. Near Main Street and Pleasantdale there are older frame houses with painted trim from well before 1978, which we handle lead-safe as standard. Up the mountain the streets are mostly 1950s to 1980s colonials, split-levels and ranches, with some larger homes built since. Painting on a hillside is its own problem: steep driveways and sloped yards mean ladders and staging need to be set up properly, and houses under tall oaks and maples have shaded walls that stay damp and grow mildew. We wash and treat those walls, let them dry, and use mildew-resistant finishes on the shaded sides.
Kitchens are where many West Orange homeowners start. Houses from the 1970s through the 1990s often have solid oak or maple cabinets that still work well but look their age, and cabinet refinishing changes the whole room for a fraction of the cost of replacing them. We remove doors and drawer fronts, clean and sand everything, fill the open grain on oak, use a bonding primer, and spray the finish coats for a smooth, durable result. The boxes are finished in place with the kitchen masked off. Painted cabinets can be finished in almost any color, and our in-home color consultation helps tie them in with the walls and counters.
We also repaint whole interiors, including the tall foyers and stairwells common in the newer homes on the hill, refinish hardwood and coat garage floors in epoxy. NJ Painting Co. is a family-owned company based in Morganville in Monmouth County, and we travel up to West Orange for these projects. We are licensed and fully insured, use premium Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams products, and every estimate is free and in writing, with a two-year workmanship warranty on the work.
