Mac Grove Painting has worked across Washington County long enough to appreciate what makes Lakeland Shores distinct — a small, unhurried riverside community where the homes are settled and the landscape does most of the talking. Separated from Lakeland in 1949, the city has developed its own quiet character: low-density, single-family properties tucked into wooded terrain above Lake St. Croix, with little of the commercial density or dense subdivision patterns found elsewhere in the metro. That setting shapes nearly everything about how exterior painting work unfolds here.
The housing stock in Lakeland Shores runs predominantly mid-20th century — 1950s ramblers and split-levels that have aged gracefully but now show the wear that comes with decades of Minnesota winters and humid St. Croix River summers. Frame siding, older stucco, and weathered trim are the norm. A handful of Greek Revival frame residences dating to the 1840s and 1850s, including the John Oliver House, represent an earlier era of construction that requires a careful eye for surface preparation and material compatibility. Historic Victorians are rare here, so the work is less about ornamental restoration and more about sound, durable repaints on homes built for function.
Riverside Conditions Demand the Right Products
The St. Croix River corridor introduces real environmental pressure on exterior finishes. Humidity along the Lake St. Croix shoreline stays elevated through much of the warm season, and the combination of wind exposure and freeze-thaw cycling through winter can work quickly on paint that wasn’t applied with those stresses in mind. For homes in Lakeland Shores, that means selecting coatings rated for moisture resistance and adhesion on substrates like wood siding and older stucco — not just whatever happens to be on the shelf. Proper surface prep, including addressing any existing peeling or failing paint before the new coat goes down, matters more in this environment than in more sheltered locations.
The dense tree cover blanketing much of Lakeland Shores creates a different but related challenge. North- and east-facing walls that sit in extended shade are far more susceptible to moss and mildew growth on siding, and those surfaces need to be cleaned and treated before painting — otherwise the new finish is compromised from the start. The flip side is that shaded walls tend to hold color longer, with less UV degradation than sun-drenched exposures. It’s a tradeoff worth understanding when selecting sheen levels and finish products for different elevations of the same house.
There’s no construction boom reshaping Lakeland Shores, and that’s reflected in the work we do here. The focus is almost entirely on repainting existing homes — refreshing aging exteriors, addressing deferred maintenance, and helping homeowners make good decisions about color and finish that will hold up over time. It’s straightforward work when it’s done right, and the community’s slower pace and careful stewardship of its housing stock fits the way Mac Grove Painting approaches a job.
