Painting a Playground: How Phinney Ridge Painting Helped Bring the PNPC Mural to Life

For 45 years, the Phinney Neighborhood Preschool Co-op has been a fixture of the Phinney Ridge community, so when PNPC set out to celebrate its anniversary with a community art project, Phinney Ridge Painting wanted to be part of it. We donated our time, our crew, and a partnership with our supplier to help turn PNPC's blacktop playground into a colorful, hand-painted mural built by the neighborhood itself.

Phinney Ridge Painting donated paint, supplies, and prep labor to help PNPC and the local community transform their playground into a large-scale mural during the co-op's 45th anniversary celebration, held August 14 through 16, 2026. Our team worked with our rep at Mallory Paint Supply to source the materials, then laid out the grid and outlined the design so families and volunteers could spend the weekend filling it in together.

The Project: A Mural Built By the Community, For the Community

PNPC's 45th anniversary landed during PNA Art Walk weekend, and the co-op used the occasion to give its playground a lasting upgrade. The mural design came from local artists Rosie Alyea and Tori Shao, who built it around artwork from PNPC's 2026 Pre-K class and input from the wider community. Once finished, the mural doubles as an interactive scooter and bike trail for the kids who use the playground every day.

The project was funded through a $5,000 Neighborhood Matching Fund grant and a matching $5,000 contribution from PNPC, with the rest coming from donated time and materials, including ours.

The event ran across three days:

• Friday, August 14 — Community mural painting, 3:00–7:00 PM, alongside a PNPC social and open house
• Saturday, August 15 — Community mural painting, 9:00 AM–1:00 PM
• Sunday, August 16 — Community mural painting, 9:00 AM–1:00 PM

Current and alumni PNPC families, neighbors, and volunteers of all ages turned out across the weekend to paint.

Our Role: Paint, Supplies, and Prep Work

A mural like this doesn't get painted by a crowd unless the groundwork is already in place. Here's what Phinney Ridge Painting handled ahead of the community painting days:

Materials, donated through Mallory Paint Supply. We worked with our rep at Mallory Paint Supply to source and donate the paint and supplies needed to produce the mural, from the base coats to the specialty exterior paint built to hold up on a blacktop play surface.

Grid layout and outline work. On August 14, ahead of the community painting sessions, a few of our own employees donated their time to lay out the grid and outline the mural design on the blacktop. That prep work is what let dozens of volunteers with no painting experience walk up over the following two days and fill in a section with confidence, knowing it would line up with the piece next to it.

It's the kind of behind-the-scenes work that doesn't show up in the finished photos, but it's what makes a weekend-long community paint event actually work.

Why This Project Matters to Us

Phinney Ridge Painting has been part of the Queen Anne, Magnolia, Fremont, and Ballard communities for years, and PNPC has been a neighborhood institution even longer. Projects like this are a chance to put our trade to work somewhere that isn't a job site: a playground that current and alumni families will keep coming back to for years.

We're grateful to Mallory Paint Supply for partnering with us on the materials, to artists Rosie Alyea and Tori Shao for the design, and to every family and volunteer who picked up a brush over the weekend. PNPC shared its own thanks to the project's collaborators on Instagram as part of its 45th anniversary celebration, a nice reminder of how many hands it took to pull this off.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Phinney Ridge Painting contribute to the PNPC playground mural?Phinney Ridge Painting donated the paint and supplies needed for the mural, sourced through our rep at Mallory Paint Supply, and donated crew time to lay out the grid and outline the design ahead of the community painting weekend.

When did the PNPC playground mural project take place?The mural project ran August 14 through 16, 2026, as part of PNPC's 45th anniversary celebration during PNA Art Walk weekend. Grid layout and outline work happened August 14, and the community painted the mural over August 15 and 16.

Who designed the PNPC mural?The mural was designed by local artists Rosie Alyea and Tori Shao, based on artwork from PNPC's 2026 Pre-K class and input from the surrounding community.

How was the project funded?The project was funded through a $5,000 Neighborhood Matching Fund grant, a $5,000 contribution from PNPC, and donated time and materials from community partners, including Phinney Ridge Painting and Mallory Paint Supply.

Interested in a Community or Nonprofit Project?

Phinney Ridge Painting works on more than roofs, siding, and trim. If your school, nonprofit, or community group has a project that could use donated paint, supplies, or a hand from our crew, reach out and let's talk about what's possible.