Hendersonville – If professional guidance is what you need to recover from the horrors of Hurricane Helene, the place to go for assistance is Merrell Paint & Decorating at 1030 Greenville Highway in Hendersonville. Here, Monica Davis has worked with her parents for years—since the opening of the first store on April 1, 1988—and is now the store manager. Her team of professionals freely provides pertinent advice to ensure projects proceed with ease. Her son Christopher is also working there now, learning the business and helping customers. A customer’s past purchasing records are kept for years, making it easy to find exact paint colors or other information.
The team, consisting of Casey Shipman, Michelle Phillips, Bryce Taylor, Chris Roper, Monica Davis and Bill Merrell, will ensure you have the proper tools to accomplish your goals easily and find the exact product for the job. You can find brushes, rollers, tapes, edges, masks—everything you need. The store carries flooring, carpeting, wallpaper, wood stains, tiles, and paints. Shaw Carpeting, NOVA Floor, Karndean Design Flooring, and Engineered Floors, among others, are all available. Employees will connect you with professional installers and contractors to provide a timely quote so the job can be completed quickly.
Monica considers herself a color consultant. She is well aware that high-quality paints require fewer coats and offer greater longevity and durability. For that reason, Merrell Paint holds Benjamin Moore Paints in high regard and has every conceivable paint color swatch from which to choose. The even flow of paint on the wall is important, with no visible streaking or lines. The correct color sheen is also crucial for the area being painted. Exterior paints are formulated to withstand the elements and contain ingredients to prevent mildew that interior paints do not have. Therefore, choosing the right paint for the job at hand is essential. She expressed surprise that “Wallpaper is suddenly becoming a requested item, particularly for accent walls, including grass cloth again.”
In recent years, additives have been introduced to paints to improve their “greenability.” A paint can now be certified as asthma and allergy-friendly. It is important to discern whether something is merely a marketing gimmick. For instance, Monica considers some of the new paints that combine both paint and primer in one can to be just a gimmick. She believes a separate primer is important for longevity. “I want my customers to come home to what they had in mind for their project. I want it to be beautiful in their eyes for years. I enjoy meeting so many wonderful people and their families. Many have become my friends.” Customers return year after year with new projects, even after moving far away. The store services Western North Carolina, including Tryon and Polk County, the Cliffs, and even Charleston.
Merrell Paint and Decorating opened its doors on Church Street in Hendersonville. After outgrowing that space, Bill Merrell had this store built and moved further south in 1993. Over the years, Merrell Paint and Decorating has supplied paint for many well-known buildings, such as Flat Rock Playhouse, the Saluda Cottages, the Woodfield Inn, and St. John in the Wilderness. Bill Merrell, although retired, still comes into the store a few hours a week. The original store carried the very first American-made brand of paint in existence since 1754, Devoe, which was eventually bought out by Pittsburgh Paint and Glass. Nostalgically, old empty paint cans of Devoe can be seen scattered on the walls, along with a wide variety of antique brushes from retired local painters.
Bill and his family are Hendersonville residents and have been part of the community for years. Both Monica and her children, Christopher and Miranda, were born here and attended East Henderson High School. Over the years, they have sponsored Little Leagues. The hurricane did cause several problems, as Mud Creek overflowed and made it impossible to reach the store. New stainless steel counters have been installed along with new LVP flooring as well. Google reviews sing the store’s praises: “The staff is always friendly and helpful. We have always got just what we needed even if we didn’t know what that was,” says S. Allen. Or “This is my favorite paint store,” says Cynthia Pulsifer.