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Faux Finishes
Good Old-Fashioned Sponge Painting |
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Sponge painting may sound like a throwback to the 1980s, but it can be timeless and tasteful.
A repeat client recently redid a couple of bathrooms. Her style is very understated, but she didn’t want flat walls. We coordinated the woods, stone (floor tile & counter tops), and accessories. It was a few trips back and forth to blance her stony earth colors with her dool blue accessories, but well worth it!
First I painted the dark colors for the base. I love the look on my clients faces when the see the undelayers. Either there is unchecked horror, or they are trying to be polite.
Here is a wall in transition. The bottom is still to blue & splotchy, the creams and yellows on top are doing their job to soften the effect. At this point the client can stop holding their breath; they understand where this is all going.
A couple of shots of the completed room, reminds me that I need to take better pictures.
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Metallic plasters are having another surge of interest in this neck of the woods. Ours, at least. We've had a few jobs lately with this stuff and it is completely rave-able. On its own it makes for a sophisticated faux finish with very subtle shimmer stuff happening that catches and plays with the light.
Several different versions of this product are available, interior mostly, but yes, some exterior. Our favorite so far is the "Golden" brand, but we also like Shimmerstone & Lustrestone, and Modern Masters has just come out with their new line of metallic plasters, too. I went to a demo last night at Kathy's, some nice colors!
The differences in color in the top row are just from the light. We apply this stuff with a trowel, and you see how the micas (shiny particles) are dragged in different directions & show the light differently, depending on which way our blades are swooping.
These pics are just from last night's selection for play. Bottom row is with 2 or more colors. Modern Masters has about 50 luscious standard colors, and then they can be played around with (of course) to make a bizzillion different variations. And THEN there's even more tricks that use metallic plasters in conjunction with, say, a textured surface, or stencils. And we can custom match the goop, as well. Right hand pic a strie with MM metallic plaster.
Here's Deb trowelling on some Golden metallic plaster (our favorite) (it feels nice to use). This is just one color of plaster, again, but see how great those different trowel marks look? They collect various light colors on the wall and mix them all together. We'll have to post this other one Deb (Queen of The Trowel) did, too, that's a splendiferous aqua color that makes the wall look like it is a big rich satiny/velvet fabric. |
This one's just a teaser, as I'm not giving you the whole story, here.
This was ... last week? Hard to tell, these days. Maybe the week before. I tell you, we're used to either July or August being a dead month, and this year both months are packed busy.
So, anyway.
This is in a beautiful restored Spanish style house in Wilmette. The owners have lovingly taken their new home back to original splendor, and we were able to help.
These beams were stripped & re-stained (by the regular painting people, who also painted the "Semolina" base coat for this room). Then we came in to do a couple of washes with glaze over the top. It's a finish that I've always loved the colors of, and wanted to do, so I was pretty excited to finally do it. I get a thrill out of burnt orange. It's burnt sienna and a BM color called "Raisin". But see, you'll have to wait, now, to see the final pictures ... this is just the beginning!
We had a few days while the family was out of town. Very handy when we're blocking doorways, the entryway and stairs. This is the glaze wash for the entryway. There were a few physical repairs that needed to disappear a bit, so Deb disappeared them. Ponce, and ponce, and ponce some more.
and soften
and edges
and soften.
Which is teaser number two. Now on to my last taste of things to come:
You know how Deb is a complete wood freak? She loves every opportunity to faux grain things, faux bois. So here's Terry base coating the door ...
and the rest, you'll have to wait for. Nyah ha haaa! :-)
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Brick Painted Painted Brick |
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OK - so it might seem a little strange & backwards, but it actually worked out easier this way.
Someone else had painted the brick this off-white color. Which worked for them, but the current home owners wanted it to be brick again. And believe it or not it can be a lot easier & less yucky and money-consuming to just fake it with paint.
Drats, and apologies, I didn't get 'before' pics of these to show you the difference.
This is the fireplace - the mantle and bricks had all been the same off-white.
 
Terry adding more red.
And one wall of the family room, first all the red & ochre colors. Then a wash of a darker brown to pick out the texture a bit more.
Finally the tedious tedious part of painting in all those mortar lines.
And what a hoot - it worked! Yeah, yeah, we knew it would, but it's still always a fun surprise: the clever tricks you can achieve by simply playing around with paint.
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A nice architectural space, but hey - this is a stylish downtown Chicago condo, and it needs a little more oomph than just contractor white paint to keep up with the rest of the place.
So Debby & a couple of tiers of scaffold got to work for the hands-on transformation from blah to "Oh wow!".
The first layer here is just black paint. Then comes the acrylic wax, a decorative finish with luscious translucency where each layer builds up greater depth and color interest
Woohoo!
Such a nice backdrop for some lush tropical foliage. A really sophisticated look that keeps the arty interest of the trowel marks while working well with the modern architecture.
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