My Mother’s surname is Arana and I am Ernesto Perez Arana. I originally come from Guatemala, but I often say that I was born again in San Francisco, Dolores Park to be exact.
In the 1980s I made the City my home and that there is where I took up the Craft, the trade of painting homes. I work with my hands and while I was in the City, it was me and all of those beautiful home canvases; as many as I could possibly paint. I wasn’t just good at it, I was great. I could manage all of the details, prepare any surface to accept paint and ultimately, I could wield a brush and hit a straight line like nobody’s business. I am old enough to not have used a sprayer in my work. I brushed and rolled everything while scaling 40-foot ladders, up and down the faces of Victorian beauties, Edwardian edifices, Tudor facades and of course the Sunset and Richmond district tract homes. I still cannot get enough of the multitude of Bay Area architectural styles.
My company, Arana Craftsman Painters, has become my Swan Song. In the 1980s and 90s, I worked for several great companies like Armstrong, De Martini / Arnott, and Perfection Painting – which is exactly what we did – we worked to Perfection. Catherine and I gave birth to our first child in 2004 and decided to move to the East Bay. Once again, I was leaving a place I had woven myself, my love, and my memories into. I knew every inch of the city, but my kids needed a yard, we needed a parking space and I was ready to begin again.
Here in the East Bay we got to paint a whole new set of architecture; Craftsman and California Bungalows, Mediterranean and Spanish style and of course the eclectic mix of the Oakland fire zone. And that is just the Exterior. Interior painting requires so much more care.
I am obsessed with painting my clients’ homes, for beauty’s sake yes, but also for the long-term health of their families and neighborhoods. Painting is the most rewarding of the trades. We can transform while at the same time protect, maintain, and boost a home’s value. You might say we have magic paintbrushes! But, while we can’t always turn a frog into a Prince, we can change, preserve, and elongate the life of almost any surface.
Thank you to all of you who trusted your home with us!
– Ernesto
