Faux Painting a Concrete Wall

I absolutely love challenges that start with the phrase “Can you paint….?” In this case, the question was: “Can you faux paint a plaster wall to look like concrete?”

Yes!

My client is opening a restaurant soon in Sutton, MA – and the designer had the concept of making the main wall of the space look like concrete with a section of exposed brick.  After lining up the mason and plasterer, the designer called me to see if faux-painting could make her vision a reality.

After visiting the space and talking with the designer and restaurant owner, I had a great sense of what they were looking for. I started by studying concrete wherever I went, looking at my color books and taking notes.  I then started the process of collaborating with the designer on the colors that would make up the concrete look (I ended up using 5 different colors!). To go with the floors and clearly read as “concrete”, we needed grays, but we also wanted to keep some warmth in the colors to help create the rustic (and realistic!) feel they were going for.

When the plaster work was complete, I was on to my painting!  I started with the lightest of my warmer colors as the base paint, and then added my first layer of texture/patterning in a darker warm tone.  When this was dry, I was able to go back through with the grays to make the mottled look you see here.

Between the mason doing the brick work, the plasterer and my faux painting – we were able to nail the look they were going for! Now I can’t wait to see the rest of the work completed and the space completed for the restaurant opening.

Enjoy,

Jason

A section of the finished wall

Detail of final result

The first steps! (just base color at top right, adding first layer of texture)

With the grays added

Table view!

Painted Cabinets Help Transform Kitchen!

As they kick off their retirement years together, my clients Leonid and Maya wanted to update their kitchen.  Rather than ripping out the old kitchen and starting from scratch, however, they decided use paint to transform the existing cabinets – and even the floor!

The cabinet doors are laminated in white formica and were in great shape, but the cabinet frames, end panels and finger rails were dated in a dark brown and worn from years of use. After collaborating with Maya and Leonid, we settled on a nice neutral gray that would stand out against the white while cleaning up the overall look.  We also chose the wall color, a bluish gray, to go with the décor in their house and add a bit of color to the kitchen.  Finally, I suggested they paint the dark brown grout in their tile floor to go along with the rest of their changes!

While I was painting the cabinets, Leonid and Maya had another painter strip the wallpaper and paint the walls while also having the counter top replaced.  When all of that was complete, I got down to the final task of painting the grout – which had a huge impact on the overall look of the kitchen! 

The backsplash tile is yet to come, but you can still get a great sense of how things are turning out!

Below are some before and after pictures showing this big transformation

Before

After

Before

After

The floor in progress

Dedham Public Library Mural of Quotes

The most recent of my mural painting projects with the Dedham Public Library was this mural of quotes!

As we started discussing this project, the original direction was loose.  The library team knew they wanted inspirational quotes on this particular wall, but from there we needed to collaborate on how to get it done.

To start, I suggested the team work together to come up with quotes, with the guideline to look at relatively short quotes.  I wanted to keep them short to give flexibility to make a more interesting design – but I also wanted to keep each quote brief to insure people would read them!

Once the library team had compiled a list of (fantastic!) quotes to work with, I went on to come up with a concept layout.  For the colors, I knew I definitely wanted to use some of the same blues and greens in my circuit board mural (which is in the same space), but I also wanted to pull in red and grey tones that are used in the room adjacent to this wall.

To keep the mural visually interesting, I chose to use 3 different fonts with different sizes – and then I worked up a layout to keep the look of the completed wall balanced.  I also needed to keep in mind the need to work around the fire alarm and step-down at the ceiling!

Once the team was able to review and approve my concept, it was on to painting the mural.

Below is a picture of the mural and also a long-view shot to show the quotes mural together with the circuit board mural.

Enjoy,

Jason

BlackBeak Studios Awarded Best of Houzz 2018!!

BlackBeak Studios

Awarded Best Of Houzz 2018

Over 40 Million Monthly Unique Users Nominated Best Home Building, Remodeling and Design Professionals in North America and Around the World

Norfolk, MA February, 2018 – BlackBeak Studios of Norfolk, MA has won “Best Of Customer Service” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home remodeling and design. The custom mural and decorative painting firm was chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than one million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals.

The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the more than 40 million monthly users on Houzz. Customer Service honors are based on several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2017. Architecture and interior design photographers whose images were most popular are recognized with the Photography award. A “Best Of Houzz 2018” badge will appear on winners’ profiles, as a sign of their commitment to excellence. These badges help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals in every metro area on Houzz.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by Houzz,” said Jason Sawtelle, Owner and Artist at BlackBeak Studios. “Collaboration with our partners and clients is the very core of our business, so we are delighted and inspired by this Customer Service honor.”

 "The Houzz community selected a phenomenal group of Best of Houzz 2018 award winners, so this year's recipients should be very proud,” said Liza Hausman, Vice President of Industry Marketing at Houzz. “Best of Houzz winners represent some of the most talented and customer-focused professionals in our industry, and we are extremely pleased to give them both this recognition and a platform on which to showcase their expertise."

 About BlackBeak Studios

BlackBeak Studios turns your vision into an inspiring reality.  Serving the greater Boston, MA area, BlackBeak Studios specializes in custom murals and decorative painting for residential and commercial spaces. BlackBeak’s focus on artistry and collaboration helps make clients’ ideas for a mural, statement wall or decorative painting finish come to life. For more information, visit blackbeakstudios.com

About Houzz

Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow, Tel Aviv and Tokyo. Houzz and the Houzz logo are registered trademarks of Houzz Inc. worldwide. For more information, visit houzz.com.

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Stairwell Mural at the Dedham Public Library

As part of my project with the Dedham Public Library, I recently completed this “circuit board” mural!

Just adjacent to this mural is a space dedicated to video games, so the interior designer, Anne Mueller, asked that I somehow incorporate a digital theme in my mural. To do this, Anne wanted something that would not be quickly dated, but instead was a bit more abstract.  To go with the rest of the space and the building itself, Anne also wanted the mural to incorporate historic colors, and very specifically a color called Buckland blue that is used in the room at the bottom of these stairs.

As I looked at the wall, I knew I wanted to work with the angle of the railing, rather than try to fight against it.  After running through various ideas in my head, I came the idea of using a circuit board as my base concept and decided to run with it!  Following Anne’s guidance, I didn’t want to quite do a literal depiction of a circuit board, but instead I went with this clean, graphic approach that builds off the angle of the stairs.  For the colors, we went with greens to go along with the circuit board idea, but tweaked them to historic greens to also flow with the area around the mural. 

Finally, I wanted to play with the fact that the mural was in a stairwell and also tie in a bit of the video game idea.  This is where my idea for the buttons came from.  Rather than just the circuits, I wanted them connected to something – in this case buttons like you would have on a game.  Here is where I tied in the historic blue colors and had fun with the idea that the stairs go up and down.

Below is the final result.  I hope it is enjoyed by library-goers for many years to come!

Enjoy,

Jason

Close-up of the buttons

Portrait Pencil Drawing

Most of my commissioned art work is done as oil paintings, so it was a fun change of pace to do this pencil drawing portrait for my client Jules!

To celebrate a good friend's birthday, Jules wanted to surprise her with the perfect gift .  After considering different options, Jules decided to really make the present special by having it custom-made, so she reached out to me to create art as the gift!

Knowing how much her friend Allison loves her dog, Jules decided to have me capture this in a portrait of her Allison with her dog.  To accomplish a cleaner, simpler look, she opted to have me do a pencil drawing instead of a full-blown oil painting.

When I delivered the drawing, Jules was thrilled -- but most importantly, Jules shared that Allison had received it and absolutely "LOVED" it!!

Below is the picture I worked from and my final drawing

Enjoy!

Jason

BlackBeak in the News for Up-Coming Library Mural Project!

The Wellesley Free Library is renovating their Fells branch facility -- and I have been selected to create the full-room murals that are part of the plan!

An article was published today in Wicked Local Wellesley about the plans for the Fells branch, including a mention of BlackBeak Studios.  Click here for the full story:

 http://wellesley.wickedlocal.com/news/20180212/wellesleys-fells-branch-returns-to-its-roots

Faux Wood Painting Repair

I know I have said this many times before in this blog, but I love the diversity of the projects I get to do!  A recent example was a fun faux wood challenge my client Cathie in Newton recently presented me with.

Cathie’s upstairs has 5 doors that were all painted with a faux wood treatment (along with all of the trim) well before Cathie owned the house.  Unfortunately, one of these 5 faux wood doors was taken off the hinges years ago and stored next to the boiler.  The extreme heat degraded the paint – leaving it faded, chipped and looking extremely out of place next to the other doors.  When the previous owners sold the house, they re-hung the door, but left it in this rough state.

To bring this tired door back to life, Cathie called me in to re-do the faux painting!  Last summer, I had touched up all the faux trim - which had many chips and nicks over the years that I was able to make disappear– so I was excited to do this project and finish making this space look like new again!  The room behind this door also has a faux wood painted radiator cover that was worn and chipped, so Cathie had me fix this as well.

The first step with both the door and the radiator cover was to get them ready for paint.  Both pieces got scraped, scrubbed and sanded (lots of sanding was required on this door!).  From there, I used a quality bonding primer and base coat of paint to make a good stable surface that matched the “base” color of the other doors.  With this step done, it was on to creating the wood grain using gel stains.  In addition to matching the color, I also wanted to make sure I matched the grain of the trim and other doors!

With the door done, I moved on to the radiator cover.  It was just the lid of the cover that needed to be addressed – so for this project, I matched my colors and grain pattern on the lid to the rest of the cover.

Cathie was thrilled with the results, and I was happy to see the impact of my work on her upstairs space!

Enjoy,

Jason

The door before rehab

Close-up of damage

The door after!

The radiator cover before

The radiator cover after!

High Gloss Painted Furniture

When my clients come to me to paint furniture, part of the fun is exploring the different finishes that are possible.  Recently, I have done everything from an antiqued and distressed paint finish to a specialty matte finish – and with my most recent client, I got to do a high gloss finish!

My client and her husband are moving into a newly renovated home, and as part of this renovation, they needed to update some of their furniture to fit into the new space.  One piece is a dresser that is a great example of the value of painting furniture.  The (very large!) dresser was a high-quality piece that was in good shape, but the dark brown color and slightly worn and dinged finish would have looked completely out of place with their new décor.  Rather than buying something new, my client and her designer chose a nice neutral gray color and asked to have me paint the piece in high gloss to clean it up and give it a great visual impact.  Because I do everything by hand (I don’t use sprayers), it adds a bespoke look with my subtle brush marks in the high-gloss finish that adds a special touch they were looking for.  Similar to painting cabinets, my process involves lots of sanding (sanding the original finish and then again after priming and again between coats of paint) – which results in a beautiful finish that will be durable for many years to some.

In addition to this large dresser, my client also had me paint a reclaimed decorative window pane in the same grey, as well as a sewing table and bench in a high-gloss black.

The painted furniture is now in their beautiful new home and they are thrilled with the results! (The pictures below are from my studio, unfortunately NOT in their beautiful home)

Enjoy,

Jason

The dresser before

The dresser after

The sewing table before

The sewing table after

Painting a Birch Tree Mural on Lally Columns!

As part of my multi-project partnership with the Dedham Public Library, I just completed a mural transformation of previously ugly steel lally columns to look like birch trees!

As the library updates its Endicott Branch, they needed a solution for these columns that are in eye-shot when you enter the building and frame an exit that will lead to their new patio!

The library’s interior designer, Anne Mueller, wanted a solution that would tie the outside to the inside, while complementing her new interior finishes.  To accomplish this and add a sense of serenity, Anne decided to have me paint the columns to look like birch trees!

With this guidance, I decided to have fun and bring my fine-art painting skills into play by making the trees look as realistic and 3-D as possible.  Without needing to do any concept drawings on this project, I was able to just dive in paint like I do when I am in my studio painting a fine-art canvas.

The library staff and visitors were thrilled with the results, which they will hopefully continue to enjoy for years to come!

Below are some before and after shots showing this transformation

Enjoy,

Jason

The final birch trees

The columns before transformation!

The second column

Painting a Kids' Mural in the Dedham Public Library

I love painting murals and doing kids-themed work, so it was a blast to paint this 9’x9’ “Explorer’s map” mural for the Endicott branch of the Dedham Public Library!

To redesign and update both of their branches, the library is working with interior designer Anne Mueller of Briar Design- who has called me in for some of the custom touches!  As she was planning the Endicott space, Anne wanted something impactful and whimsical for the kids who frequent the branch  - and she thought of a fun, treasure-map themed wallpaper that she was familiar with.  To make a bigger impact, though, she wanted the map theme enlarged to fill the entire wall – which is where I came in.

Using the wallpaper as our starting point, Anne and I met to look at the colors she was planning for the space and chose paint colors that would work with the theme of the map while still tying in to the décor of the rest of the space.

With my colors in hand, my first step was to do a scale drawing (in this case, 9”x9”) to make sure my plans were in line with Anne’s vision for the space.  Anne was thrilled with the drawing – so it was on to the final wall!

As I looked at the wall, my first challenge was figuring out how to deal with a large air duct that went from floor to ceiling at the right side of the wall I was to paint.  Rather than work around this – I decided to incorporate it!  The original plan was to fill the wall with the mural, but stead, I decided to make it look like a piece of parchment – and the duct became a scroll that the parchment was wrapping around.

Once I had my plan mapped out, it was on to the drawing and painting – which in this case was even more fun than usual as I had an audience throughout the process!!

Following are pictures of the final product --

Enjoy!

Jason

Painted and Antiqued Furniture in Dover, MA

It’s been a little while since I have done an antiqued look with painted furniture, so I was excited to work with my client Sarah on a recent project in Dover!

Sarah and her husband recently moved into a new home and have been in the process of decorating the space to make it their own.  With the help of their interior designer Anne Mueller of Briar Design, they have been making incremental changes that are making a big difference!

One of the suggestions Anne made was to keep their existing media cabinet even though the look was not quite right for the room.  Rather than buying a new cabinet, Anne suggested they paint the piece they had and give it a lightly distressed/antiqued look to go with their décor and make it a statement piece in the room.

With the color suggestion from Anne, I did a sample board for Sarah and her husband so they could get a sense of how the antiqued finish would impact the color and the overall look – and Sarah loved it!

With this all set, it was time to paint the piece.  Using a lot of my techniques from painting cabinets (staring with scrubbing and sanding!), I was able to accomplish a finish that will last. Unlike my cabinet work, however, I used chalk paint on this piece.  After painting 2 coats, I sanded lightly again to achieve a lightly distressed look – which is aided by the hard durability of the chalk paint.  To add to the aged look, I also used 2 waxes for the final finish.  First, I applied a light antique wax which gives the entire piece a slight yellowish patina.  On top of this, I strategically applied a darker wax to show subtle “aged” color variation.

It was satisfying to buff the wax to a beautiful soft shine and show off the final result to Sarah – who loved it!

Below are pictures to give a sense of the project.

Enjoy!

Jason

The cabinet before painting

After!

Painting Kitchen Cabinets in Newton, MA

The last time I painted kitchen cabinets, it was to prepare a home for sale – and this time was for clients who just bought a new home!

My client Maggie and her husband just moved to a new home in Newton, MA and are in the process of freshening up the house and updating the style to their tastes.  Part of this project includes their kitchen – which had high-quality cabinets, but in a dark cherry color that does not fit with Maggie’s tastes or her plans for redecorating her downstairs.  Rather than incurring the high costs of replacing her kitchen cabinets, Maggie reached out to me to explore having them painted instead!

For the bulk of the kitchen, Maggie wanted to go with white to brighten things up and make the kitchen look more modern.  Maggie has also had white kitchens in the past and strongly prefers the clean look of white to the dark wood.  For the island, Maggie wanted to spice things up and add a contrasting, bold color.  To tie in with surrounding rooms, she wanted a darker color in the green family – but she still wanted to keep it bright.  After looking through options, Maggie gravitated toward a darker green in the teal family, and ultimately decided to go with Benjamin Moore color “intercoastal green”.

With colors decided, I proceeded to go through my typical process of removing cabinets, sanding, priming, sanding, painting, more sanding(!) and more painting.  In the end, Maggie and her husband were thrilled and are enjoying their "brand new" kitchen!!

There is still some work to be done to the walls behind the cabinets – but following are the “before” and “after” shots of the kitchen so far!

Enjoy,

Jason

The kitchen before painting

And after!

close-up of the island

Commissioned Art; Turning a Snapshot into a Treasured Gift

Last year, my client Aubrey came to me to create a special present for her boyfriend Vito – and she came back to me to do another commissioned painting this year!  Vito is from Cirigliano, a picturesque town in Italy that Aubrey and Vito visited in the summer of 2016.  To celebrate Vito’s birthday this year, Aubrey wanted to take one of the many snapshots they took on this trip and turn it into a painting to be cherished for years to come.  Making this even more suiting, Vito is an art enthusiast who loved last year’s painting.

This year, Aubrey chose a photo from inside the city – with just a sliver of the rolling hills featured in last years’ painting showing in the background!  Making the painting even more customized, Aubrey is featured in the picture, strolling up the narrow street appreciating the amazing old buildings.

We went with a final size of 12”x9” (making Aubrey’s portrait in this piece the smallest face I have ever painted!).  Aubrey wanted to stay pretty true to the photo, with small tweaks to lighten the shadowed areas, remove the overhead wires and accentuate the carving on the door she is looking at. 

As I did with the last painting, I joined Aubrey at the framer to pick out the ideal frame to complete the gift.  I was first to the framing shop, and the framer actually recognized Aubrey in the painting from meeting her the year before!

Aubrey was thrilled with the painting and - better yet - so was Vito!!

Enjoy,

Jason

The original photo

The original photo, lightened

The final painting!

Custom "Mural" on a Guitar Pickguard!

I love doing a variety of different kinds of projects!  Most recently, I had the opportunity take a new twist on my “statement wall” murals by applying the same concept to a guitar pickguard!

Since I am also a guitar player, this project was particularly enjoyable.  My client Greg was building his dream electric guitar, and while he knew exactly what he wanted in terms of the type of guitar and components, he wasn’t sure what to do with the colors and the final look of the guitar – which is when he came to me.

To keep a simple, classic vibe and also have the type of wood Greg wanted, we went with a maple neck and fretboard and a medium-brown stained ash body.  For the knobs and pickups, we used a classic Fender-style “mint” to add a splash of color while still keeping to the classic look.  However, Greg still wanted something to take it visually over the top to make the guitar unique and striking – which left the pickguard.

In looking at my work, Greg particularly liked my abstract “statement wall” murals where I start with a pattern from nature but blow it up and tweak the colors to make something new and dynamic.  Doing this with a pickguard was the perfect match with what Greg was looking for!

After sending him a number of pictures of different patterns from nature, we settled on this picture of agate:

For the pickguard, I chose the section that work best with the shape of the guard and pumped up the colors to create a wild but classy look to top off the guitar.

Here is the final guard!  Below is the guard laid out with the guitar body, knobs and pickups to give an idea of what the final product will look like.  Now I can’t wait until Greg has it all put together!

Enjoy,

Jason

Custom Furniture Painting

The key to a lot of the work I do comes down to the word “custom” – and a couple of recent painted furniture jobs are great examples!

The first example is a table my client Amy had made to fit a sitting nook in her home.  Once the table was complete and in its raw-wood form, Amy contemplated many different finishes to fit her space.  Because I was part of these conversations with Amy and her interior designer, I was keyed in to Amy’s thoughts and preferences.  We went from using greens and golds in a distressed and striated pattern to a red to white-wash.  With the green and red samples, Amy liked the idea of making the table a statement piece – but ultimately decided that the table was too large in a relatively small space to make it such a bold statement.  She did like the striated pattern in my first green and gold concept, and also liked seeing some of the grain in the wood – which is what led her to considering the whitewash option.  This ended up being just a little too busy, however – and her designer recommended a flat color, using a neutral but very pretty color called Purbeck stone using Farrow & Ball paint.

After applying primer and 2 coats of the paint, I lightly sanded the surface to apply a third and final coat --- but ended up loving the sanded surface!  The result was a very subtle striation from the grain of the wood; where the grain was raised got sanded to a smooth matte finish, while the valleys of the grain retained the eggshell finish of the paint.  The sanded finish was beautiful to the touch and visually captured all of the things Amy had been looking for!  We accomplished the striated look of the grain, while keeping it subtle and not too busy.  The new finish also became something special and distinctive without being too bold.  I called Amy and she came to my studio that day to see what I ended up with – and absolutely loved it! 

The second example is a backgammon table my client David had made – which also was in its raw-wood state when I was called in.  In this case, the legs and frame of the table were upholstered in a silver leather and the outside of the backgammon table (when closed) was finished in a textured and patterned fabric in white and grays.  David’s initial instinct was to paint the backgammon board in just black and white – but after talking through options, we ended up working with the colors in the table and the room to incorporate 2 different grays with black and white.

After prepping and priming the surfaces, I painted 2 coats of the base colors – using a lighter gray for the board background and a slightly darker gray for the frame/surround and the trays on either side.  I then measured out the space to draw the correct number of triangles  - which I ultimately painted using tape to keep crisp edges. Finally, I finished it off with 3 coats of acrylic polyurethane to hold up to years of use!

The end result gave David and his family a functional backgammon table – but also created a piece that fit perfectly into their beautiful home!

Enjoy,

Jason

Faux Painting to Add Subtle Beauty to a Room

I love doing custom faux finishes!  By changing from straight-forward single color walls to faux painting, a room can be transformed into something bold and dynamic to something with subtle beauty.

I recently worked with a client in Dedham who has a historic home with high ceilings and large rooms – where the more subtle approach was a perfect fit.  The main living room is divided by pocket doors, and was used as 2 separate rooms for many years as my client Susanne’s children used half of the space as a play room (which conveniently could be closed away with the large double pocket doors!).  Now that the kids are older, Susanne and her husband decided to re-claim the space and integrate it with the other half of the room.

To integrate the 2 rooms into one, Susanne wanted to match the faux finish that was in the sitting room – which was a very subtle, mottled treatment in a soft green color.  Since most faux finishes use multiple colors and different techniques, matching them can often be difficult – but I was able to deduce most of what I needed in the first visit to do a test board.

With the match done – I was on to painting the faux finish in the 18’x16’ room.  To accomplish the look, it was a multiple step process – starting with a flat color to match the under-color in the other half of the room. On top of this color, I applied another 4 layers of tinted glaze with a couple different techniques to build up the understated patterning and rich color.

Because the end result was so subtle, it was hard to capture with pictures – but below are some shots the give a sense of how the room looks.  Most importantly, Susanne was thrilled and is looking forward to decorating her “new” room!

Enjoy,

Jason

Painting Cabinets to Sell a Home

I have previously written about painted cabinets in my blog, but usually I paint cabinets for homeowners who decide to extend the life of their existing cabinets by facelifting them with a paint job.  My most recent client also wanted to spruce up her existing cabinets – but in this case it was to make the house more appealing for sale!

My client Paula is a realtor who will be putting her own home on the market in the spring.  Paula’s kitchen cabinets were in very good shape – but she knows from experience that their dark cherry color is not what home-buyers want these days!  The trend in cabinets is to go with a painted finish, and Paula knows that having a kitchen that is in line with design trends helps to sell the house.

The kitchen has 2 banks of cabinets, and one half of the kitchen had newer cabinets that already had a painted finish in a slightly warm off-white.  To keep the kitchen cohesive, we chose a color that matched this perfectly.

With the color chosen, I was on to my usual process.  I first remove the cabinet doors (making sure to label everything carefully to make sure everything goes back together correctly!).  I paint the doors in my studio and the frames on-site.  All parts of the cabinets get scrubbed to remove dirt and grease, and then sanded to remove the sheen (shininess) of the old finish.  Doing this helps to make sure the next step – the primer – sticks for the long haul.  When the primer is dry, that gets sanded as well to make it nice and smooth and to also help bond with the paint.  Finally, I move on the paint – using a specialty cabinet paint that dries hard and flat for a durable and smooth finish.  This gets 2 coats with another sanding in between to help make certain the final finish is as durable as possible!

Often, I work with cabinets that have more wear than Paula’s did – and I can anticipate the improvements before I even start.  With this job, I was surprised at how much the paint improved the kitchen!  Paula was thrilled as well, noting how brighter the space was with the white cabinets, and how updated and modern the kitchen looked!

Below are some of the "before" and "after" shots of this project - enjoy!

Before

After

High Gloss, High End Faux Finish in Newton, MA

As a decorative painter, I am aware of the perception that faux finishes on walls are old-fashioned and out of date --- and looking at some of the sponge-painted finishes that were big DIY projects back in the 80’s and 90’s, I can understand why!

However, the right finish in the right space can be bold, fresh and downright opulent.  Of course, a good interior designer can make all the difference in making these decisions – which was the case with my most recent faux finish project in Newton.

Interior designer Jessica Seth of Jackson Seth Designs was working on a re-model project and called me in to help make the dining room a centerpiece of the home.  Jessica had already chosen a patterned grass paper for the ceiling and had the trim and walls painted a base color to work with the tones in the paper.  To take the whole look to another level, Jessica asked me to come up with a faux finish that would tie in to the darker tones in the wallpaper and have a mottled look – similar to venetian plaster but more subtle.  To pack some extra visual punch, she also wanted the walls to have a high-gloss finish!

As usual, my process started with creating a board to show Jessica my interpretation of what this could look like.  We reviewed my board and decided to look at another design option (more subtle in the patterning) and different gloss options for the homeowner to choose from.  Jessica and I were both happy to find that the client liked all the options – but after some fun collaboration, they settled on the more subtle pattern with the highest gloss as the final option. To accomplish this finish, I first did a 2-step glaze technique to produce the pattern that would not be too busy, but would still have nice depth and interest.  Once this was done, I was on to the high-gloss challenge!

Oil-based options offer a nice gloss with a smooth finish, but some are not well-suited for walls – and any of them would quickly yellow and throw off the color scheme!  Instead I used a water-based polyurethane, which can be challenging to get a smooth application.  To address this, I used a very low-nap mohair roller and applied 4 light coats – which achieved a smooth, even finish with a nice deep gloss!

Following are some pictures of the final result.  The wallpaper is not yet installed, but you can easily see how this finish is a great way to make a stylish statement!

Enjoy!

Jason

Specialty Paint Repairs

How do you fix a damaged decorative plaster fireplace surround? How can you address chipped tiles without replacing them?  My faux walls are dinged, but I don’t want to re-paint the entire room – what do I do?  I drilled holes in the wrong place on my new cabinets – what now?! I want to address water damage without re-doing my entire room, is that possible?

These are all questions I have recently been able to answer with paint!

The first example is a fireplace surround in a Newton home that was originally crafted in decorative plaster.  The effect is fantastic, but unfortunately over the years, the plaster had chipped in many places – in addition to getting slathered in some sloppy painting. What was once an elegant look had become an eyesore in the room. To get this back to its original look, a contractor partner called me in!

After filling in the holes, I was on to my favorite part – mixing paint to match!  Each tile has multiple colors that make up the mottled pattern, and in each the colors are different than the next!  Toaddress this, I treated each tile like its own little painting.  Along the edges, I needed also re-create grout to cover the white wall paint that overlapped on to the tiles.  There were damaged areas in many places, but below are a couple of before and after examples.

The second example was a smaller fix to help complete a kitchen remodel. While the counter top and cabinets were being replaced, the homeowner wanted to keep the original tile.  This would have been no problem – but there were chips that presented a challenge to the contractor because the tile is no longer available and therefore impossible to replace! 

However, with some plaster and some careful color-matching, I was able to make the problem go away:

The next example is something I have done a number of times – touching up existing faux finishes!  In this client’s home, their entry foyer, stairway and upstairs hallway were all done in the same faux finish.  Overall, the paint was in decent shape, but after about 10 years of use, there were dings and wear marks.  Additionally, there was a finished basement that was done entirely in a different faux finish that had a good amount of chips and dings after many years of being the teenager hang-out space. Rather than re-paint all of these spaces, my client decided to save time and money and have me patch all of these spots by matching the faux finish in both rooms!  I forgot to take “before” pictures of the entry/stairwell space, but below is just one example of the many chips I needed to make disappear in the basement:

Another service I have provided a number of times is touching up newly installed kitchen cabinets.  Sometimes cabinets are delivered with small dings, or sometimes during installation there can be some damage --- and sometimes, the holes are drilled in the wrong place!

Obviously with cabinets, I don’t need to worry about replicating patterns or complicated detail – but matching the color and finish exactly is essential!  Here are a couple of recent examples where I have helped make the new cabinet owners happy by making damage go away:

The final example was some water damage in an 1859 home in Boston.  The damage was an eyesore to say the least – but my client couldn’t get a quote to fix just that area (without re-doing the entire room).  Doing this was a challenge, as the paint color and finish for the ceiling, trim and wall all needed to match up – but the end result was one of the most dramatic before and after paint fixes I have done!

Enjoy,

Jason