Chris has had a colorful 20-year journey at Walnut Capital and his story is far from over.

Believe it or not, Chris was just one of two painters at Walnut Capital until we expanded our team five years ago. Let's rewind the clock to 2004 and see how things were back then and discover how Chris and Walnut Capital evolved since. We'll start with getting to know the painter behind some of our most beautiful properties.

Chris and his family grew up in Highland Park, a place his parents had always reminisced about how nice the area was "back in their day". By the time Chris got to school, he said Highland Park had lost some of its spark and he wasn't experiencing the same neighborhood his parents did. Years later, he watched companies like Walnut Capital help revitalize the buildings and surrounding neighborhoods and says the area regained its charm thanks to them.

He tried to find his passion and what he wanted to do career-wise after he graduated from high school. His first job was with the city, where he helped fix up all the public pools. From painting to general maintenance, he was doing a little bit of everything to make sure they looked pristine for the people of Pittsburgh.

There was a time Chris had seven jobs in a single year. When he presented his array of W-2 forms to his tax guy, he knew it was time to figure out what he really wanted to do. It was around this time his aunt played cupid and introduced him to his now wife and the mother of their son.

His next job introduced him to the property management world and his newfound passion: painting. After a couple of years with them, his friend, Calvin Murphy, convinced him to come and interview for the painter position at Walnut Capital (thanks Calvin!). His interview was with a few people, including Gregg and Jen and he explained that he felt laid back the entire time. The family-oriented vibe and relaxed atmosphere instantly made him feel at ease. And so, on January 2, 2004, he officially began his career at Walnut Capital. Talk about a happy new year!

If you look at this job and just say you paint, that's boring. But paint can change the mood and vibe of anything. It's fun and exciting when you can make a room pop!

Murph showed Chris the ropes of working at multiple properties across the city. Back then we didn't have any premiere apartments, so most of their work surrounded Squirrel Hill, Oakland, and Shadyside locations.

They didn't just do residential work either. Walnut has commercial spaces throughout the city, and one of the painters' jobs consisted of late-night line painting in the parking lots. From midnight to sunrise, you would see Chris and Murph going up and down creating the lines you probably park in today, although I'm sure we've touched them up a bit since then. Chris was always worried people would come out and yell at them for being so loud with a machine at 3 a.m., but to their surprise, there were no complaints. They would typically do the job on a Thursday night so they could have a 3-day weekend, even though they slept all day Friday when they got home.

Painting jobs in 2004 operated under a different set of rules (okay, maybe a lot different) compared to today. Part of the credit goes to our exceptional management team that has joined over the years.

They had a few nightmare properties where there were a lot of leaks that needed to be patched constantly due to roofing and other building issues. When Carlie, Ryan, and John stepped into management roles, patching leaks became a distant memory.

Summertime is our busiest season, not just for leasing our apartments, but also turning them over for new tenants. With only two people to take care of painting those units, things could get a little overwhelming.

Everything is so smooth now compared to where we started. There were times it was rough to keep up with everything. The management we have now is a huge part of our success.

A freshly painted apartment can make or break someone's decision to call it home. Chris's craft proves that a little bit of patching and painting can transform a space.

What's a day in the life of Painter Chris? He wakes up at 5 a.m. and grabs a cup of joe right away. If he's working at Hot Metal Flats, he stops at Big Dog Cafe for his fix instead. Then he packs his lunch, takes his son to his parents' place to get him ready for school, and makes his way to where he needs to be on-site for the day!

When his shift comes to an end, he picks up his son, heads home, eats dinner, and then joins forces with his wife to tackle their son's dreaded homework routine- not the best way to end the evening but it has to be done.

I've got 20 years of memories, so it's hard to pick a favorite. But I wish Murph and I had a heads-up about us winning the Dynamic Duo Award. We were the class clowns and we would have definitely ordered the Dumb and Dumber tuxedos.

He has encountered his fair share of having to paint decent and rouuuugh units, but Chris's passion has never faded. He looks forward to fun projects like at Walnut Towers, where they got to paint every door a fun color, adding a bit of brightness to the hallways.

Chris says being considered an OG Walnut Capital employee makes him feel old. Especially reflecting on how things once were, like knocking on people's doors and asking to paint their spaces, and now scheduling things seamlessly through email and online (I didn't know they had to do that either). But we are lucky and grateful to have had him stick around for so long and we can't wait to see what masterpieces he helps us create in the future.