I had the pleasure recently to work with a client who started with one decorative paint job, and was then inspired to do many more!
My first project at this beautiful home in Westwood was faux painting the railings, newel posts and columns in the entry foyer to look like marble. For more on this project, scroll back a couple of blog entries!
With this complete, we then moved on to the walls in the balcony hallway that are framed by the faux marble bannisters. My client wanted to add some interest to the plain-painted walls without the result being to dominate, as she wanted to still hang pictures. The design also needed to tie in to the faux marble and the wallpaper mural in the stairwell.
As always, my first step was to create a concept board. Starting the existing wall color as the background, I wanted to pick up on the shapes in the sconce lighting and corner accents by using a vine/leaf pattern. To keep the look subtle, the colors I chose for the design were slight variations of the wall color, which were also colors in the faux marble. Finally, I chose a high-gloss sheen so the shine of the patterns would add another element to the design.
My client loved the idea, so we were on to painting the walls. At this step, my first job was to layout the design on each wall. I used a cut-up stencil for about half of the elements and then hand-painted the rest – resulting in a one-of-a-kind pattern for my client. The end result delivered exactly what we were looking for!
The next projects were in the client’s “saloon” room. The walls had been painted copper already – and my client wanted to play with this, making an aged patina around the TV/above the fireplace. Using a reactive copper paint and acid, I was able to get a natural coper patina and apply it in a way that also accomplished the client’s goal of keeping it “soft and pretty”. Keeping with the “aged” theme, the client also wanted me to antique the shiny white bead-board ceiling in the same room.
Copper patina wall with antiqued ceiling
Antiqued ceiling
Keeping with the spirit of the faux marble, my client also wanted us to create a specialty finish for the columns in her primary bathroom. For these, we wanted them to have the natural feel of a veined stone, but also wanted to give them a special, elevated feel. To accomplish this look, we used metallic plaster, incorporating colors from the stone of the tub surround and the walls.
Finally, the last project was a tray ceiling in the kitchen that was also a glossy white bead-board. My client liked the idea of picking up on the copper in the nearby saloon, but we also wanted to tie in the blue of the island directly below the ceiling. Knowing that the client likes things to look aged, our solution was to paint it copper first, and then do an aged finish in the blue – leaving some of the copper underneath to peek through. This idea hit the mark!
Kitchen tray ceiling
Tray ceiling with blue island below
Enjoy!
Jason