Meet Mel.
Owner, Operator
From a young age Mel always gravitated towards creative things. She loved putting on make-up and playing dress-up, but she also loved using her hands and being outside doing “outdoorsy stuff.” After graduating from high school, Mel began working as a nanny to some amazing families. In 2015 she and her husband, Brett, bought a house she really started using her creative side…painting and decorating their house became a hobby for her! Many people in her life told her that she was a gifted DIY painter and that she should pursue a career in it.
When the last family she was currently working for no longer needed a nanny after 8 years of working that job, she knew it was time for a change. She was quickly hired as a painter for a wallpaper and painting contractor, where she worked for the next three years. Being from a family of entrepreneurs, it was just a matter of time before she caught the bug to be a business owner, and in 2022 she took the plunge!
Meet Jen.
Owner, Operator
Jen’s DIY journey began as a teen when her parents graciously gave her free reign to use her creative talents to redecorate their farmhouse. In her 20’s she started helping family, friends, and her church with decorating and remodeling. In her 30’s and 40’s she took on increasingly large and complex projects, including a renovation of her childhood home, a first floor renovation at her current home, and a new build project that she helped her husband, Tim, complete.
In 2018 a friend of Jen’s casually suggested that they try house painting together as something fun to do occasionally since their kids were getting older. She quickly realized she enjoyed it enough to pursue painting professionally. She spent one year training under an established female business owner in the industry as part of her MHIC licensure requirements, and in early 2022 when she became a licensed MHIC contractor, she and Mel officially became MJ Painting & Design!
Meet Chris.
Color Design Specialist
Christina Bowen is MJ Painting & Design’s Color Design Specialist. After a rewarding 36-year career in the federal government, including nearly a decade as a Program Manager, she is pursuing her longtime passion for color and design. Chris first met Mel and Jen when they helped bring her dream kitchen to life. They hit it off right away, connecting over their shared love of creativity and design. Before long, Chris joined the MJ Painting & Design team, where she finds joy in helping homeowners discover colors that bring out the best in their homes.
Chris combines specialized color-design coursework and hands-on experience with a thoughtful, personalized approach to each home. She considers undertones, natural light, flooring, cabinetry, furnishings, and how colors flow from room to room to help homeowners feel confident in their choices.
Chris believes the right colors do more than change how a room looks—they change how it feels to live there. She wants to help homeowners create welcoming spaces where the colors work together and the design feels considered and suited to everyday life.
Ready to find the right colors for your home? MJ Painting & Design is here to help!
What Sets Us Apart
As the owners and operators of MJ Painting & Design, we share a passion for working WITH our clients, not just FOR our clients. When you hire us, we work collaboratively with you from start to finish, both behind the scenes and on site.
We recognize that we’re in
YOUR HOME.
Home remodeling projects are not always easy to live through. We’ve been there! We strive to make our presence in your home as easy as possible. Work from home or have a napping baby? We get it. Have a fur baby who enjoys being part of the action? The more the merrier!
We enjoy infusing our jobs
with a PERSONALIZED TOUCH.
Need help with color? We’ve got you! Prefer one paint brand over other paint brands? We’re flexible. Need to have your house painted before your mother-in-law comes in town? We’re the gals for the job!
We are dedicated to
EXCELLENCE.
Attention to detail is our specialty. We enjoy communicating clearly, arriving on-time, finishing on-schedule, cleaning up after ourselves, using high-quality products that are best suited for each space, and painting with skill.
Not everyone is comfortable hiring a large crew to service their needs. With us you can have confidence that you know who you’ll be interacting with and who will be in your home the whole time. We treat each client’s project as unique, and enjoy collaborating with YOU to achieve the best result for your home.
Giving Back
We believe in giving back and empowering those around us.
God has blessed us so much, and so many people have poured their time and talent into our lives, it’s the least we can do to do the same! Whether that means helping with building projects overseas, teaching skills to the next generation, or sharing tips with a DIY-oriented homeowner, it’s our pleasure!
