Cox Paint Traces Back to Swarthmore

When selecting paint colors from Cox Paint in Santa Monica, you might be surprised to know that co-owner Terry Burt has a master’s degree in art from Cal State Fullerton. An equally unusual connection is the bachelor’s degree in philosophy held by his wife and co-owner, Juanita (Nita). Although Terry was raised in Pacific Palisades, the couple’s odyssey to ownership of Cox Paint started with a 10-month stint in Europe in 1977. They had planned that Terry would teach, but it was difficult to get full-time work. ‘We wanted to live there,’ Nita said, ‘but it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be.’ They returned to the United States and on their way to California stopped in Crested Butte, Colorado, to see friends. The pair decided that if Terry got a job, they’d stay. He found part-time work teaching at Western State College and supplemented the family’s income by working in freelance graphic design and substituting in local schools. After two and a half years, they moved to the Palisades in 1980. ‘Terry decided it was just too much snow,’ Nita said. Terry had never thought about going to work at his father’s paint store–the Brush and Ladder on Swarthmore (now occupied by Village Books), but after three years of uncertain income and a nine-year-old to support, he took over the management. Four years later, he joined his father in the Santa Monica store, which Bill had purchased in 1969. Nita began working at the store when Terry’s mom, Mary Ann, decided to retire. ‘It wasn’t where I came from, but it came natural,’ Nita said. ‘I could add and subtract.’ In 1993, the Burts’ accountant advised them to close the Palisades store because of rising rents and low profits. They acquired a second store in Culver City in 1996. The Burts have made a decision to carry high-end paint, which has a higher price tag. ‘We sell quality paint,’ Terry said. ‘It’s the resins: really great paint has more resin.’ ‘Quality paint washes better and holds up better for a longer lifetime,’ Nita said and pointed to the Donald Kaufman line. ‘It gives a rich look’the pigments give a depth of color.’ Most paints use just three pigments and obtain a static color; Kaufman paints use up to 12 pigments to create paint whose hues react to changing light. Another high-end line at the store is Fine Paints of Europe, which produces full-spectrum paints with as many as eight pigments per gallon and is available in 110 stock colors. They also have Cabot, Farrow & Ball, M.L. Campbell, Pratt & Lambert, Purdy, Ralph Lauren, Susan Sargent and Sydney Harbour Paints and YOLO. ‘We used Farrow & Ball’s deep red in one of our hallways,’ Nita said. In addition to color charts and books, there are now sample pots of paints, as well as paint-colored posters, which allow customers to hang or paint the color they are considering on their wall. That allows a customer to see the paint in different light at different times of the day. Another trend that the Burts have seen is away from white. ‘People want color,’ Terry said. ‘That trend started in the 1990s.’ ‘Wall coverings [wallpapers] market has become smaller and the coloring and specialty finishes have become more popular,’ Nita said. ‘There also seems to be a trend towards ‘green’ products,’ Terry said. ‘Benjamin Moore had them four years ago, but they just sat on the shelf. Now those products are taking off.’ Paints like YOLO have zero volatile organic compounds (VOC) and many consumers are now choosing paints with the lowest VOC’s. Oil-based paints are no longer allowed in California because of state EPA regulations. The Burts now have 18 employees, including their son Jason, who joined the business 10 years ago. He started an online service in 2006 that allows people to order over the Internet at www.coxpaint.com. Not bad for two people who never considered a business career when they were in college. Cox Paint is located at 1130 Santa Monica Blvd.