Stearns Painting

Stearns Painting, a Stoneham painting company run by Michael Stearns, is best known among its customers for one thing above all: prep. Across reviews spanning exterior repaints, interior rooms, kitchen cabinets and decks, people keep returning to the hours spent priming, scraping and protecting surfaces before a drop of paint goes on — on Google, the company holds a 5★ average across 51 ratings. The written record on file runs from 2022 through mid-2026, and a striking number of reviewers say they've called the crew back for a second or third project. In a 2022 review, a homeowner described the crew hand-priming every shingle of a 1952 house and removing old alarm and cable hardware before making the exterior look new again — the same customer had them back years later to paint a renovated first floor. In a 2023 review, someone who'd gotten a quote from a competitor that never followed up said Stearns was prompt, thorough and upfront that the timeline would run a bit longer because Michael wasn't fully satisfied with the result yet. Cabinet work comes up often too: a 2023 review praised a 100%-spray finish on painted maple cabinets with no visible brush strokes, after other companies wouldn't commit to spraying alone. The work isn't limited to walls. Multiple reviews describe deck and porch refinishing — power washing, sanding and staining — including one where two wicker chairs were restored rather than replaced. One 2023 review is worth flagging directly: the customer said Stearns wasn't the cheapest of several bids collected, but was the one they trusted most once they called the references Michael provided. For anyone weighing a full exterior repaint, an interior refresh, or a set of cabinets, the recurring theme across four years of reviews is care taken before the paint ever goes on — worth asking what that prep looks like for your job and confirming pricing against a couple of other quotes.