Decorating A Foyer Medallion…

A before

First a primer base

now make it gold

It looked cool that evening I left

but more to come.  Starting to glaze this pretty thing

Voila!

Not so fast…  there was this thing called a SEAM…  you can see it here (click it)

I learned a lesson on this job.  I won”t start over an imperfection again – some things we can make go away with paint techniques, but not a structural defect.

The painter repaired the seam, then re-basecoated it for me.  Then I came back and goldened it once again…

then glazed once more.     Beautiful!

Silver Leafed Dome,Crown and Metallics For A Dream Client…

Starting point – lovely foyer entry, and a long hallway leading into a fabulous city living space

Great art, waiting to be showcased…

The transformation begins…

All the walls will receive a custom silver metallic base -

The foyer crown, door and dome are base painted black

Size was applied to the trim work so the leaf would adhere…

Working over head leaves you with a serious neck ache!

That leaf goes E V E R Y W H E R E… I think the client was glad when we got to this point, and we could do a final sweep to get those little fly-aways all cleaned up…

Closer up – still needs to be antiqued…  in this picture you can see the white trim  around the entrance door- we decided that needed to go black as well …

Here the silver leafing is complete, and the walls are starting to get their metallic base -

door trim black

The foyer and hallway walls all received two coats of the metallic base – and then we left it alone, since the color and look was a perfect backdrop for the art

Not so easy to see here, but I also tweeked the chandelier finish which originally was like a soap stone…

Isn’t this just glamorous?

The kitchen and main living area had the custom silver as its basecoat, and then a soft glaze and textural finish over top to warm it up

This was one job I was sad to have come to an end -  I miss the owner, and the big fat cat and the dark slinky cat and the sassy-frass-fraidy-cat cat!

If you live in the Metro Detroit area and are in the market to dress your walls, trimwork or furniture, stop by my showroom for loads of eye candy (and real candy too   )  You can find me at

Fabulous Finishes

49972 Van Dyke Rd

Shelby Twp, Mi 48317

888-819-1490

Focal Painting In Progress…

One – Dining Room

Two – Foyer Niche

Three – Powder Room Ceiling

Powder ceiling gets a troweled layer of brown lusterstones… last layer to come tomorrow.

Foyer Niche gets a layer of Ronan Copper Metal Paint,  then a stried layer of Golden Glass Beads.  The beads will dry clear by tomorrow then I’ll glaze the wall with Gilded Walnut and black.

No, the wall does not have a nose -  it is a support piece that was added to help anchor a custom wall hanging once the wall is complete -

The dining room is still work in progress  – it needs sanding and priming and I need to figure out what product and color we’ll be using for a Venetian Plaster stripe…

I love jobs that entail focal spaces – they are usually more creative, and can be completed in small lots of time.

Here’s another post I did two years ago about ‘One Wall …’

Naked Columns Get Dressed Up…

I recently had a client that wanted their white columns decorated

They liked the contrast of these marble columns – they wanted their columns to make a statement, not just blend in subtly and get lost-

These were great clients – they trusted me to create a finish for their columns that would do just that .   This was the  first layer, of a multi-layer process -

Like that new rolling scaffold in the picture?  That was the first job I used it on – I got it locally, at National Ladder – its the Perry Step-Up SU6 which is almost 6 ft high -   I can really get up high with it, and its nice and sturdy – also offering way more room to place all my paint items I use – but its way heavier to carry in (near 100 lbs)…

Adding veins  – some big, many smaller -

Then, the first layer of glaze, brushed on several colors of glaze  and softened with a badger brush.   Didn’t want this layer even – needed to be heavy in some areas, soft in others, to create a bolder look in the end-

A few more veins in the middle, then a last layer of glaze to tie it all in-

A lighter, softer pattern on the caps-

See that Press and Seal down to protect the floor?  DON’T ever use it to protect wood floors…. when I cleaned up, and pulled the P&S it left a gummy residue, and took me about 20 minutes to clean up-

After one last layer of a glossy topcoat, and clean up, the finished columns revealed -

I was really bummed that I somehow had a different setting on my camera for the last set of photos I took – had some great finished ones looking down from the stairway, and closeups… all BLACK when I viewed them at home,  but at least I was able to get what I got!

From stark

to statement!