I recently finished a job at a restaurant in Bellingham, MA where they had me doing specialty finishes to a space they are renovating as they prepare to re-open.
The room has an upscale rustic feel to it, so we finished the walls with Roman plaster – which gives a subtle texture to the walls, making them look and feel (!) beautiful. Below is a detail shot of one of the walls.
In the center of the room is this fantastic stone fireplace – but the semicircle detail over the top was a lackluster gray concrete. The restaurant owner wanted this to pop and feel special – so we had fun using different materials to make this happen!
After prepping the surface, I painted it with an iron paint (literally, paint that has iron in it!), which gives a matte black look to the surface. The next step was to apply real 22-carat gold leaf, giving it just a little bling! The final touch to bring the look in line with the rustic room was applying a rust activator to the iron paint – creating these streaks of rust.
It was a blast using real gold and real rust – and the client loved the result.
Enjoy!
Jason