Like Mother, Like Daughters

Lucinda Arnold with her daughters Julia Arnold (left) and Leah Ploompuu

It’s truly a mother-daughter painting party at Coastal Painting & Improvements in Brunswick County. Co-owners LUCINDA and EUGENE ARNOLD and their two daughters, JULIA ARNOLD and LEAH PLOOMPUU, provide professional interior and exterior painting services, color consulting, drywall repair and installation, and wallpaper installations for residential and light commercial businesses. 

Nearly eighteen years ago, the Arnold family moved to Oak Island from Batavia, New York, where Lucinda and Eugene had been running a scrap metal business. They started flipping houses on the beach until the housing industry took a downturn in 2008.

“We lost nearly everything. It was tough,” Lucinda says. “We did anything to keep working – cleaned houses, mowed lawns. My goal in life was to be able to afford to order pizza on Friday nights.”  

Then, she started painting interiors of homes. “I knew nothing about painting, but a girlfriend and I just started showing up with paint. We maintained good communications with our clients, did a good job, and our business continued to grow,” she says.

Lucinda, Eugene and a small crew painted homes for six years. Then Coastal Painting hit a turning point. A Sherwin-Williams representative took Lucinda to homebuilders and introduced her as the new painter. “He saw success in us before we saw it ourselves,” Lucinda says. “We just kept doing our thing, and it kept growing. I feel that we lost everything so God could bring us to our knees and then bring us back how He wanted us.”   

Neither of Lucinda’s daughters ever intended to work in the family business. Julia helped out during summers and spring breaks during high school, but after graduation, she took a job with the local Pack and Ship until she attended Brunswick Community College to study law enforcement. She returned to the family business while waiting for an opening with the sheriff’s office or Southport police. When that offer came, Julia turned it down. “I knew my parents needed help, and I saw a better growth opportunity with them for me,” she says. Julia was right – sales increased by 30 percent when she came on board. 

Julia makes initial visits to potential clients’ homes during the estimating phase and then transitions into supervisor of painting teams when jobs are secured. “What don’t I do?” she jokes, mentioning bids, invoicing, running supplies to jobs, and attending networking events. “The flexibility and power to create my own schedule is a game-changer,” she says. 

Leah started college at age sixteen and became a certified nursing assistant while working part time for the family business. When COVID-19 disrupted the health care industry, Leah decided the family business was more important. She is the office manager, handling the books, audits, taxes, payroll, and insurance. She is also mom to a two-year-old and is expecting twins in June. “The family dynamic makes us who we are,” she says. 

Coastal’s crew is fifty-strong. Twenty-six percent of the painters are women. “Coastal is who we are because we are women who pay attention to details. Women want to talk to us. Men respect us,” says Lucinda. “We are hand-holders and part-time marriage counselors,” she adds, smiling. “It’s a lot of back and forth with couples. We help them meet in the middle so they both love everything in the end.”

In January 2023, Lucinda and Eugene teamed up with business partners to open Made New Interiors & Décor in Southport. “We took bits and pieces of what we saw in an integrated showroom in Florida and expanded upon it,” Lucinda says. It took one year to select vendors and one year to build the 5,600-square-foot showroom and warehouse filled with curated luxurious home décor, sophisticated flooring, and distinct fixtures.

The women are passionate about bringing professionalism to painting. “Anything is possible,” Lucinda says. “Work hard, have amazing focus. Count on yourself, not anybody else, and always be the best that you can be.”

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