I love being able to provide unique decorative painting solutions for my interior design partners! Decorative painting, or “faux” painting has been around for a long time – and as a result can sometimes be perceived as out-of-date. However, decorative painting techniques, materials and tools can be used to create beautiful contemporary finishes limited only by the imagination of the designer!
On a recent project, an interior designer I have worked with previously reached out with a vision she hoped I could produce with paint! Emily Lacouture of Lacouture Design was re-vamping several rooms in a beautiful Concord, MA home and asked me to help with the dining room ceiling. Emily had a vision for a linen-look done in a taupe tone with metallic gold and light silver to provide some depth and shimmer.
As a first step, we met in the home to look at the space and discuss her vision, along with specific colors. As usual, my next step in the process was to create a concept board to show Emily and her client what my solution would look like before starting on their actual ceiling. After seeing the board, my concept was approved with just minor tweaks -- so I was off to painting the ceiling!
An important part of this finish is the depth. To create this, I first painted the ceiling a base taupe color and then started with a strie (thin stripes) of champagne gold across the ceiling in one direction. With this done, I then did a strie of the base taupe color mixed with glaze (which makes the paint translucent) applied in the opposite direction. This gave me my first layer of the cross-hatching, or linen look. To add depth and shimmer, I then did a strie of translucent light silver in both directions on top this.
The result creates a different look from different angles! When looking straight up, you can see through all 4 layers – with the taupe/champagne as the dominant color. When looking across the ceiling, you see the shimmer of light off of the final cross-hatching – with the light silver as the dominant color. The result is a dynamic finish that adds a level of drama, interest and beauty that put this dining room over the top!
The room is not yet complete in these pictures, with wallpaper and chandelier yet to come – but these images give a sense of the ceiling at different angles.
Enjoy!!
Jason
