Painting tip of the week

BASEBOARDS
Something that many people overlook in their home is their baseboard. It gets taken for granted. Our eyes are focused much higher usually, but if your baseboards are dirty and knicked up it can make your whole house look dirty. I recently made a concious effort to thoroughly clean my guest/boys bathroom and the biggest difference I made (besides closing the lid) was painting the baseboards. The paint had been worn off the board closest to the bathtub from, I'm guessing, water being splashed onto it by my little stinkers, I mean angels. A fresh coat of paint, (and lots of bleach) made this bathroom sparkle.

A great tip for painting baseboards is to, of course, have that touch up paint ready at all times, along with a good 1 inch angled brush. The next thing I always keep on hand is an old slat from a vertical blind. This is invaluable for painting baseboards where there is carpet. Slide one edge under the board and over the carpet and you've got the perfect drip catcher! Now go clean up that house, it's the new year already and you want to start off right!

Fab fireplace redo

I have talked many times about how color can make a dramatic change in decor. My most recent client has done well with adding color to her home and likes to describe herself as a cave dweller. Her explanation is that she needs her home to have color and to be monochromatic. She did indeed have many different shades of caramels and chocolates in every part of her decor from the walls to the couch and the accessories. Having been in the home for several years now, the builder's white fireplace was wearing on my client's last nerve. It's no doubt that amongst all the warm colors she had in there, the fireplace was surely the sore thumb.
Here's what I did to change it up:
A fabulous torn paper treatment was already on the wall behind the fireplace and gave me the color palette for what I was going to do. I was requested to make the fireplace surround look like an old European antique. I took inspiration from the many hand-painted frames, and pieces of furniture in my client's decor and came up with a scrolled design and added fleur-de-lis at the homeowner's request. This finish is done in a couple layers of textural products, with custom designed and hand-painted elements. For the scroll work, I used a metallic gold that worked with the copper glaze on the tiles that surround the fireplace and the various gold and coppers around the home. I chose to keep the glaze very light to give an interesting contrast to the beautiful wall treatment. I think I know what I'm doing to my own fireplace now!

Stenciled accents

I have mentioned before, that one doesn't have to have faux finishes and decorative art all over their home to make a statement. I do think that a whole room faux finish can create a certain ambiance, however, strategically placed and well done accents can sometimes say so much more.
I was recently commissioned to create a stenciled design on a dining room ceiling and some niches that were adjacent to the dining room. The challenge was to find designs that were different, yet worked together well. In this case, I turned to a great resource for decorative artists, Modello Designs. A Modello is a one time use custom stencil that is basically a big sticker.
Of course I have hand-painted designs before and have created my own stencils, but with this particular product, I have convenience and time efficiency.
Modello Designs have a great library of artwork to choose from and for a small graphic fee, they will customize an existing design, or if you are an artist, they'll even make your design into a stencil for you.
For this project, the homeowner and I thumbed through the Modello Design book and chose three designs. I was able to have them adjust one of the designs to work better in the space I needed to place it.
There were two unifying factors in these three designs. First, we chose designs that had similar elements: leaves and bold, thick borders happened to be in all of these designs. Secondly, the fact that I used the same products and colors inside each stencil brought them all together.
I started with a three layered texture, then placed my stencils, colored them and removed the stencil. I finished up with a glaze and this is the final product.

It was a delight to collaborate with my homeowner on this project and find that exact look that she was in search of that would speak to her and show off her personality.

Motorcycle mania

As a resident of Sparks Nevada, specifically the suburb of Spanish Springs, I am surrounded on a daily basis with all things motocross. In the summer, there is hardly a day when I don't hear the sound of a dirt bike in the hills behind my house or see the dust flying overhead. While I am not a motorcycle rider, I do appreciate those who do ride. Over the years I've been asked to do a few murals depicting a motorcyclist or two(or seven).
I was recently commissioned to create two separate murals for a couple of motocross brothers. For the seven year old, I designed a very graphic mural with him flying through the air, doing the "trick"of his choice, a no-hander. I added the wavy checkerboard border and paint splotches to make this more fun.
For big brother, we needed something more sophisticated. He chose to be depicted crossing a finish line in an arena. We made this a full wall mural, purposefully creating the bottom third of the wall less detailed so that the bed will be able to be in front of the mural without losing anything.
Both of these murals were very challenging, as all motorcycle murals seem to be, and satisfying. Thanks to these two great kids for letting me create their new rooms.

Sophisticated teen room

It's been a long and busy summer and I'm finally getting some down time to sit and post a few blog entries. I had a fabulous family employ my services to redo almost the entire house these past few months and I had a wonderful time doing it. I don't think I can pick a favorite room, so I'm sure I'll be chronicling all of them.

The first I'd like to brag about was for a dear 16 year old girl who is, of course, growing up and wanted something modern and more sophisticated for her room.

"Mom" and I started with the shower curtain that was purchased for her daughter's bathroom. As many accessories are today, the colors were aqua and chocolate. Our teen was very adamant that we needed to include fleur de lis in the design. As I do with many of my murals, I first mocked up an idea or two on the computer of a design for the main wall. A few revisions and this is what we came up with. There is nothing quite as satisfying as a sweet

sixteen year old telling you "you are my hero for making my room so cool". :)

diva bath

I have been working with textural finishes for five years now and have a great time making sample boards to entice clients with. I happened to create a board with Lusterstone in a peachy-pink color that I ordered to just play with in my studio. I had a scrap piece of a stencil that I created a border design with and just had fun. What could be more fun than adding crystals to the design? The board ended up to be just scrumptious and I had planned on displaying it in a showroom, but didn't quite get it there before I was introduced to a fabulous lady through my hair dresser.
I love, love, love to meet people with a vision. Funny how most people for whom I work have an idea of what they want, but don't know how to get it out. The inspiration for the Diva Bathroom came from this wonderful lady who has always been a diva herself. She happened to want her bathroom to be peachy-pink colored, and I knew right away that she was the one I created that board for without even knowing it.
With her idea of placing an image of a glamorous woman on the wall, we put our minds together and finally decided on using the most famous diva of all. I was able to create a silhouette and have it made into a stencil. Crystals were added to every point on the border design as well as on the shoes and bathing suit of our sexy lady. Four layers of texture, some creative stenciling and many, many Swarovski crystals later, the Diva Bath was born. It has to be one of my favorite creations and collaborations yet. I look forward to more projects with this innovative client.

A wall of a different color

Every once in a while a project comes along that is so out of the ordinary and fantastic that as an artist I can hardly contain my excitement. The past two weeks I had the extraordinary opportunity to work on such. I have to say that I always love my job. (the creative painting part anyway) I have enjoyed each and every creative endeavor to beautify my client's homes, but this one job has actually been one of my very favorite.
I've done many homes in the last five years, each finish has been unique in it's own way. Most clients, however, are very mindful to stay fairly neutral. The most popular finishes I've had seem to be all the "tuscan" style finishes done in browns and soft glazes.
I happened to mention in an article in January's Home Improvement and Remodeling Magazine that the new trend is leaning toward metallics. Well, here is one wonderful case in point.
A fabulous lady who has the most unique taste of mirrored furniture and modern crystal chandeliers contacted me about a month ago and asked me to come look at her home. She had a file filled with photos from all sorts of magazines on decor and design. She showed me one picture in particular that had an item that was done in silver gilding. She said "I want that on my walls." Well, I have to say I was thrilled and horrified all at once. I love to use leafing and think it is one of the most amazing of decorative art forms, but it absolutely stinks a place to high heaven, not too mention the time and money that it costs tends to turn a client off.
What I came up with instead is this. It's a combination of silver leafing and silver plaster. (like venetian plaster) The results were absolutely incredible. I haven't enjoyed a creation yet as much as I did this one. The project didn't end with the silver walls either. In addition to her affinity for mirrors and light, this client has also had an affection for a famous designer who painted or rather printed a very recognizable face on many items from plates to chairs. She has several of these pieces and wanted that same face on her walls. We did that and then some. Here are the results.