Painting old farmhouses and new subdivisions in Windsor
A farming town that became a village in 2015, with Morrisonville, Lake Windsor and Token Creek inside it. Farmhouses and new subdivisions need different paint jobs.
Until November 2015, Windsor was a town. That month its voters made the whole of it a village in one step: the farm roads, the communities of Morrisonville, Lake Windsor and Token Creek, and the subdivisions that had been filling in around them.
The result is a village of about 27.6 square miles with two very different kinds of houses inside it. About 42% of its homes were built in 2000 or later, yet about 6% predate 1940, and a farmhouse from 1910 asks very different things of a painter than a house finished in 2015. This page starts with how those two kinds of house differ, then covers how Windsor came to be and the farmland and springs that still define it.
What we do in Windsor
Mudroom lockers, laundry cabinets and built-ins in Windsor
Written for houses whose cabinetry doesn't stop at the kitchen: lockers by the garage door, uppers over the washer, a basement bar, an office wall of shelves. It looks at what each of those rooms does to a finish, and at fitting them into one plan or spreading them over a few years.
Painting the rooms Windsor families wear out first
For families with a nursery on the way or kids' rooms that change with every birthday. It covers how far ahead to paint before a baby arrives, what a low-VOC label really promises, dealing with crayon and marker, and painting one room at a time around naps and school.
Deck stain for sunny, open Windsor lots
Aimed at decks on newer lots where the trees are still too small to give shade. It explains how sun grays bare boards, why the pigment in a stain works like sunscreen, which edge of a deck wears first, railings in a second color, and what hour of the day suits a stain coat.
Windsor homes at a glance
| Homes counted | 3,655 |
|---|---|
| Median year built | 1994 |
| Built before 1980 | 32% |
| Built 1980 to 1999 | 26% |
| Built 2000 or later | 42% |
| Owner occupied | 76% |
| Single-family detached | 75% |
Two kinds of house under one village name
Windsor's median house dates to 1994, but that middle figure hides a split. About 32% of its homes were built before 1980 and about 6% before 1940, while about 42% have gone up since 2000. Walk into one of the old ones and then one of the new ones, and the painting job changes almost completely.
| Surface | Older farmhouse or village house | House built since 2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Walls | May be plaster, with old patches and several generations of paint | Drywall, often still in the builder's first flat coat |
| Trim and doors | Often many coats deep, sometimes with oil-based paint underneath that needs a bonding primer | Usually one coat from the builder, painted or stained |
| Cabinets | Older cabinets and built-ins, sometimes repainted more than once | Factory finishes in the kitchen, plus lockers and laundry cabinets |
| Outdoor wood | Doors and trim with a long paint history | A young deck, often with little or no shade |
An older house asks for more preparation before the first coat: loose paint scraped, small holes filled, glossy or oil-painted surfaces sanded and primed. A newer one preps faster, though there's often more of it to change at once, from cabinet color to every wall the builder left flat.
Because the two jobs differ so much, a quote for an older house should spell out its prep line by line; our guide to what a painting estimate should include shows what to look for. Attached garages are worth adding to the list too, and our post on painting garage walls explains what a Wisconsin winter changes about that job. For an older house with a front porch, porch paint ideas has color thoughts for the door and trim around it.
James Morrison's railroad bargain
One of the village's communities carries the name of an early settler. James Morrison, a Scottish immigrant, had settled here by June 1843. He bought about 290 acres from the federal government, and his family first lived in a temporary shelter above the headwaters of the Yahara River.
In 1862, with the Milwaukee Road railroad on the way, Morrison sold 43 acres to a prospective railroad company on condition that a station be built near his family's home. A post office followed in 1871, and because Wisconsin already had a place named Morrison, the government added "ville" to the name.
Today Morrisonville is a neighborhood of the village, and Windsor as a whole is served by the DeForest Area School District.
The springs behind the Yahara
The Yahara River, which goes on to link the lakes Madison was built around, begins in Windsor, and its main tributary starts here as well. Token Creek rises in the former town of Windsor and is fed by springs. According to the state Department of Natural Resources, it supplies between two-fifths and half of the Yahara's base flow.
A dam on the creek once held back a 44-acre millpond. The dam partly failed in 1992 and the pond turned to marsh, and once the dam was removed, at least two significant springs and many smaller seeps were identified where the water had stood.
Farmland that's meant to stay farmed
Much of Windsor is still farmland, and the state and the village mean to keep it that way. The Windsor Agricultural Enterprise Area, designated in 2011 and one of the first in Wisconsin, covers 10,775 acres and 525 parcels north of Windsor Road and east of US 51. The village also runs its own purchase and transfer of development rights programs and a farmland preservation zoning district, according to the state's agriculture department.
A deck at the edge of a field gets sun and wind with nothing in the way, the situation our Windsor exterior page, deck stain for sunny, open lots, is written for. Inside, the mudroom, laundry and built-in cabinets and the rooms families wear out first each have a page of their own.
Our cabinet refinishing page covers that service in general. When you have a list, old house or new, ask for a free estimate.
Common questions
Do you cover Morrisonville, Lake Windsor and Token Creek?
Yes. All three are communities inside the village of Windsor, and the whole village is in our service area, from the newest subdivisions out to the farm roads.
Will you paint an old Windsor farmhouse?
Yes: the rooms inside, plus its doors, exterior trim and any deck. Expect more prep than a newer house needs, mostly on trim that has been painted over many times. Mention the year it was built when you call, since houses from before 1978 need extra care.
Our Windsor house isn't twenty years old yet. Why does the paint look tired already?
Usually because the builder's paint was chosen for price and quick touch-ups, not for wear. Flat finishes mark easily and don't scrub clean, and patched spots show up as a slightly different sheen. A repaint in a better paint and a washable sheen fixes it.
Does it make any difference that Windsor only became a village in 2015?
Not to the painting. The village took in the entire former town, so a farmhouse on a rural road and a house on a new street are both simply in Windsor, and we serve all of it. What the history does explain is why such different houses sit so close together.
What happens if the finish fails after you're done?
We come back and make it right when the problem traces to our work, such as paint that peels or a coat that didn't bond. Damage from everyday use or an accident isn't covered, but we'll gladly quote the repair.
Other towns we serve
Helpful guides
Sources
- American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau, via Census Reporter
- Windsor, Wisconsin, Wikipedia
- Morrisonville, Wisconsin, Wikipedia
- Yahara River, Wikipedia
- Incorporation record: Town of Windsor to Village of Windsor, Wisconsin Department of Administration, Municipal Data System
- Token Creek, Yahara River and Lake Mendota Watershed, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
- Comments on the Indirect Effects of the Five Corridor Alternatives, I-39/90/94 Madison to Portage Study, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection