In 2013, Paula Blankenship was looking to give her teenage son Braden something to do in the afternoons after school. As a result, Blankenship ended up starting her own paint business in her Louisville, KY kitchen. 

Now, 11 years later, Heirloom Traditions Paint (HTP), Blankenship’s creation, is one of the very few women-owned businesses in the paint and coatings industry. With the acquisition of Kelley Technical Coatings, the company is operating as CamCoat as of January 2024.

Blankenship talked with Coatings World about the early days of Heirloom. Moving into the paint business was a natural step for Blankenship, who was a busy commercial interior designer who commuted to New York City to work on large scale commercial design projects. She also owned and operated retail furniture stores with her sister Sherry in her small hometown in Tennessee.

“Our family has been in the furniture business all of my life. My parents were retailers, and I grew up in and around the business,” she said.

With her background in DIY projects and furniture, Blankenship had a good starting point for paint. Her initial efforts were sold online and in small retail stores.

“In the early origins of the business, we introduced a multi-step chalk-type decorator paint that required a steep learning curve,” she recalled. “We distributed the product wholesale B2B, D2C through eBay and our own website and to small mom and pop retailers nationwide.

“We began reaching a large engaged audience on our social media accounts through Facebook LIVE training videos using our products and grew a very large following quickly,” Blankenship added. “As we discovered quickly, we were unable to scale the business due to many retailers closing and not maintaining inventory of our products on the shelf. Online sales began to be the thrust of our business and we slowly began moving more and more toward the online space.”

Blankenship saw that the future was online and left the wholesale retail market altogether.

“We made the switch to fully embrace online sales as it is impossible to do both online direct and wholesale against your retailers online,” said Blankenship. “Amazon was a looming giant in its early stages, and we knew we would soon be faced with the online giant meeting us head-to-head. We made the important decision to embrace Amazon and start selling our products where all eyes were soon to be headed.”

It proved to be a very pivotal decision once COVID-19 came about.

“We were fully online by then and the pandemic introduced millions of new users to our products both on Amazon and our website,” Blankenship noted. “We continue to help consumers solve the mystery of painting anything both inside and outside of their homes using ALL-IN-ONE Paint & ALL-IN-ONE Stain. Our commitment to educating consumers using our easy to use and understand products, empowering users by giving them the ‘Power of the Brush,’ helping them to achieve professional-grade results on any surface, regardless of their painting experience or budget constraints.”

ALL-IN-ONE Paint by Heirloom Traditions serves the DIY marketplace and is helping homeowners take control over their own spaces, without the expense of a contractor.

“We provide the tools and the products to help anyone achieve beautiful, long lasting finish results,” Blankenship said. “CamCoat serves as a manufacturer developing products to sell through our HTP division as well as many specialty products in the pool coatings industry and other OEM industrial coatings.”

Heirloom’s focus on the end-user differentiates it from its competitors.

“We are focused on the end user and the person who is putting on the paint/stain,” said Blankenship. “We spend countless hours researching and understanding customers’ pain points then building tutorials to help our customers get the results they are seeking from a paint or stain product. Unlike big box stores who offer little to no help behind the counter, the customer is more confused than ever when faced with a myriad of color choices, types of paint, brands and multiple finish options.”

Acquiring Kelley Technical Coatings

The decision to add Kelley Technical Coatings this year was an important step for Heirloom, as it secured its supply chain and added new products to its portfolio.

“A very rare, once in a lifetime opportunity came about to purchase the sole maker of our paint and stain products,” Blankenship said. “The owner passed away a few years ago, and the business was in a very fragile state.”

With this in mind, Blankenship made the move to acquire them.

“We were not in a comfortable position knowing our position could change overnight and close our doors,” Blankenship noted. “Force majeure and supply chain issues reaffirmed we needed to make a move.

“We have always intended to make our own paint and have been putting the infrastructure in place in our Taylorsville, KY plant, but finding chemists and experienced batch makers is not easy, especially being in a rural area in Kentucky. Taking a proactive step towards buying them seemed like the right thing to do.”

Blankenship talked about the history of Kelley Technical Coatings, and how it fits perfectly with Heirloom.

“John Kelley Sr. started this business in an abandoned gas station in 1949 and hired his first employee, George French, in 1950,” she continued. “George and his two sons, Duane age 12 and Kevin French age 10, joined their father to help fill cans, label and fulfill orders for wall paint they were creating.

“The business quickly grew to employ 61 during its heyday and later purchased the six-story Kentucky Gentleman Bourbon distillery plant we still manufacture in today,” Blankenship added. “The company garnered the title as the World’s Leader in the Pool Coatings division with its Olympic paint brand and remains a leader in the industry today.”

It remains a family business through and through.

“Duane French passed away in 2023 but his younger brother Kevin is still running our production in plant #2,” said Blankenship. “We could not do what we do without the wealth of knowledge he holds on both the production side and management side. These men and women respect him and everything he stands for. My son Braden is now coming into the business at 26 as VP of operations and hoping to learn from Kevin and to help us continue to maintain the quality and leadership he has contributed here throughout his lifelong career here.

“Keeping these dedicated people on board and continuing making paint there was the right and only move once we dove in,” she added. “We found an extremely dedicated staff there that had truly kept the business afloat. Those hard-working men and women are why we wanted to buy this business. They have given the best years of their lives to this business, and many are facing retirement. We want to bring this company back to where it once stood as the leader in the pool coating business along with making many industrial coatings for several well-known companies.”

Heirloom has begun an extensive updating and refurbishing program on the nearly 60,000 square foot plant sites, offices and training room as well as the exterior facades of the two manufacturing plant sites already, giving them a much-needed new look and new lease on life.

Blankenship said that founding and running Heirloom Traditions Paint has been extraordinary.

“We are extremely proud and honored to be sitting at the helm of this American manufacturing company, to continue the efforts of these lifelong dedicated men and women here and help this dying entity return to its place in history here in Louisville KY, as a leader in the coating industry,” said Blankenship.

“I am extremely honored and grateful to lead this company and its legacy and all it stands for into the future and return it to its glory days as an American Proud and Kentucky Proud manufacturer,” Blankenship added. “We are steeped in family history, grass roots, bootstrapped business practices proving that hard work and dedication can move mountains. We are an ESOP company and have given our employees 49% of the business shares they so deserve.”

Heirloom Traditions Paint continues to enjoy good growth in its markets, and looks poised to expand in the coming years.

“HTP has seen significant growth since it was founded in 2013 and we continue to expand our footprint with the recent acquisition of the former Kelley Technical Coating, now CamCoat, with new market segments adding more well-known brands to our roster such as Olympic Pool Paint, Duracourt, Smart Seal to name a few, and expanding on other opportunities including industrial coatings, pool coating and private label OEM opportunities,” Blankenship concluded.