Fauxology: Studying the Visual Magic of Faux Finishing and Interior Design (brought to you by Garay Artisans)

Hello! I wrote this mini-article for inclusion in our Holiday Newsletter…thought I’d share.

5 Tips to Finding your Personal Style & Colors

1) Design Repeats - If I walk into a client’s home and notice elegant bamboo furniture, linen fabrics and a serene “feeling” to the home (either by subconsciously repeating this design and/or the client’s personality), I know that an Exotic East feel or a Zen design might be in order. Take a look around your home and see if you like to pick certain design elements over and over again.  Some like a Mediterranean feel while others prefer a laid-back Beach Cottage direction. We tend to subconsciously bring things into our home (either by shopping or through traveling) that clearly outline our preferred style — these are a good clue in the direction you should take your design and color scheme.

2) Baby Steps - A lot of my clients maintain a neutral palette because it is all they feel comfortable with choosing or they want to keep the house “sell-able”. Beautiful colors can come into play in any home — and if you don’t desire a sudden dramatic change, I suggest starting with baby steps. Bring a color you absolutely love into a great accent wall or buy that splashy dinnerware set with the bold colorations.  Indulge in some fantastic pillows and a throw with a gorgeous colorful fabric — or invest in bringing personality in via window treatments, a floor rug or several key pieces of artwork. The ceiling is also a seriusly under-used area. These are the perfect ways to incorporate color without feeling the least bit stressed about it.

3) Color Leanings - Every time my sister buys a beautiful blouse, a flower vase or a pair of earrings, it’s usually a vibrant royal blue or apple green color. My brother tends to dark hunter greens or a light blue/rich brown pairing and a friend of mine just salivates over terracottas and ambers.  I call these shades their “color leanings” — and they will instantly gravitate towards or admire anything with those colors. Your purchases also showcase your Color Leanings and you should make a special note of them.  These are the colors that tend to make you happy and feel good…they should certainly be sprinkled around your home via fabrics, accessories and/or wall colors and finishes in the most effective way possible.  Usually one main color and two secondary accent colors are a good rule of thumb.  If you color leanings tend to a bright color, definitely consider using it as one of your secondary accent colors.

4) Boutiques and Hotels - Do you have favorite ones? Chances are it’s because you instinctively love their design. Make a note every time you walk into a boutique you feel good in or a hotel that knocks your socks off.  I work frequently in commercial spaces and those designers tend to have a very clear design scheme. Take pictures of the lobby and/or take some secret notes. Keep in mind the lighting fixtures, tile choices, color schemes, fabrics and wall coverings.  The staff will usually be happy to give you any information they are privy to.

5) Overwhelmed at the Paint Store - Everyone goes through this, especially when faced with entire racks of color swatch options! This is the time to relax and realize that paint specialty stores need to be all things for all different people and design firms. The old adage of taking samples home to play with comes in handy here.? In fact, sometimes I create samples in which the colors look great in the studio and look downright wrong in my client’s home. This is why it’s important to not pick a color and buy gallons of it because it looks wonderful in the paint store and it matches the fabric you brought in perfectly.  Most paint stores have inexpensive sample pots (around $5) — perfect! (Keep in mind that if you are tackling a room with natural lighting issues, try to choose paints with a yellow undertone to it. It will warm up and brighten that room magically.) Paint your chosen colors on your wall and look at it not only during the day but also at night, when different lighting comes into play. Live with the colors for a few days and you will see a clear winner coming into play or at the very least, some information on the direction you need to go in.

I find that a home with a continuous design style which uses a similar color scheme in new and unique ways throughout the house creates a truly harmonious home. Be on the lookout for clues to your style — and you will be on your way to creating the perfect home…yours!

If you’d like to receive our newsletter, please click here.

A nice set of circumstances just occurred which inspired me to write this entry. Anyone who knows me knows I loooooooooooove my TiVo and tonight I finally got around to watching some older Oprah shows I had taped. Lo and behold, she does a segment on “puzzle heads” a.k.a. those who are obsessed with crossword puzzles. While I wouldn’t call myself necessarily obsessed with crosswords (doesn’t everyone keep crossword puzzle books and pens laying around?)(or, yeah, own about 12 dictionaries?)(or own several crossword dictionaries on top of that?)(or do crosswords just to relax?)(or have a copy of Wordplay, the documentary on crossword puzzles sitting right by the DVD player?)(or need to just get that one more puzzle in that just might be the one you complete all on the first run?).  No, I would definitely say I have a healthy regard for crosswords but I wouldn’t say I am obsessed. (Funnily enough, the other day a little bit of decorative art came into play. 6-letter word for “It may come as a big relief”.  Frieze! That was cute.)

Here’s where the coincidence comes in.  I was looking through some older decorating magazines recently and came upon this picture. I loved it and the colors — and talk about incorporating a favorite pastime into your home’s decor.

I think it’s great when you can bring in an interest to your design scheme. Some nautical accessories or equestrian goodies never hurt anybody. Incorporating your travel finds or a collection of African masks works, too. Or even go a little cheekier than that: We saw some hidden designs in an Italian fresco that I’m sure made the owner privately laugh knowing his companions weren’t looking too closely!  That’s taking your love of pranks to a new, albeit elegant, level.  Although I’m fairly sure I would not duplicate the crossword ceiling in my home (it would drive me nuts that it was already solved or worse, unsolved), I like to know that just for the briefest of moments, I could honor something that brings so much joy (and sometimes, some unmentionable language) to my life.  And what’s a 9-letter word for that?  Priceless!

…you know, I just realized I may never live this down…;-)

Hello! Well, I’m back from Atlanta and will write an entry on that soon — but first, I wanted to make all of you privy to some changes I’m bringing to the blog. (And by the way, thanks for letting me be such a sap on the A Day to Give Thanks post. Sigh.)

Anyhoo. It all started when I was toying with the idea of adding a bit of structure to the Blah, Blah, Blog — such as adding repeat topic themes and/or monthly items. Then it really started to become a definite idea after my sister gave me a copy of the Blogging for Dummies book. At first, I was highly offended: I was no blogging dummy! Then, as I started to read the book and my feathers started to unruffle, I did realize that yes, I was to be considered a full-on blogging dummy and there was so much more to learn about the blogosphere. (Do you like how I inserted my newfound blog terminology in there? Thought so.) There are so many things to learn and absorb and you know who reaps the benefit of it? That’s right: You do!

I’m still making my way through the book and you will have to forgive some of new things I’m going to experiment with (such as podcasts, moblogging and vlogging, oh my!)…but I think it will be a fun and informative time for all of us. Honestly, you just have to sit back and enjoy the ride — I’m the one who really has the hard work ahead of me. Some of the new changes that will be implemented started in December 2007 include:

1) Faux-cus on the Pros is coming back! This is a part of the blog which features a behind-the-scenes interview with a design industry insider. One person/firm will be featured per month.

2) A bimonthly DIY Finish — complete with pics and instructions. I’ll try to incorporate more videos as my blogging expertise grows. [By the way — and I learned this today through the Merriam-Webster site — bimonthly means every two months and semimonthly means twice every month. It was cool for me to find out the difference — you can just imagine my internal dialogue with myself: “So, is bimonthly twice a month or every two months? Does it mean both? What about biweekly? Or biyearly? What’s the etiquette on that? Hmmmm…”] Basically this means that I should not be receiving any hate mail from any of you if you don’t see a new finish provided twice a month, LOL!

3) A Book-of-the-Month suggestion. I love books and have a large collection of design and pattern books (love that Amazon’s Super Saver Shipping thing). I’ll be putting up some new recommendations soon. If you haven’t seen my previous post on cool books, please check it out.

4) Mailbag - not-so-scheduled look at the Help! requests I receive. I want to post some of the most interesting and unusual questions I get and post the answers for all to see. Please note that since the Message Forum is being overrun by spammers and most people e-mail me directly anyway, we will be deleting that feature off our website by the end of the year.

5) Spotlight on Studios - this is an area where I will spotlight wonderful and creative faux teaching studios around the country. There are so many wonderful teachers out there sharing their creative expertise — I think everyone should get to know them better and take some classes to expand their artistry. I’m moving into more customized classes and feel that this would be a good way to steer all students towards some great local and national locations for workshops.

6) Behind The Faux - this will be a fun and fizzy look at the Garay Artisans crew tackling a project and individual team member profiles. This feature will cover everything from prepping to the final touch-up stages while having a great time seeing the crew interact with one another.

These are some of my ideas to make this a more interesting blog for you to read — and we’ll start if off with a bang in December — why wait til the New Year, right? Let’s get going ASAP! Also, as soon as I can work out some kinks, I’ll be adding more recommended websites in our Links along the right hand side. Of course, there will be other entries in addition to the topics above since I’m shooting to create one of the most enjoyable faux finishing blogs out here in cyberspace. I hope you think so, too. Have a great day!

Title Quote: David Bowie

My husband and I are gearing up to head to Atlanta and although all our family members are heading to different holiday gatherings tomorrow, we are not out of each other’s thoughts. (In fact, we’re all meeting for sushi tonight.? Not traditional but it is our favorite.) On the eve of Thanksgiving (and in honor of what the holiday truly means), I would like to take some personal time to give thanks and appreciation to those that enrich my life.

1) My Family - Even though I’m 13 years older than my sister, Suzanne, and 10 years older than my brother Jason, we are as thick as thieves. We run Garay Artisans together and ours is a perfect mix of talents and personalities. I’m very grateful that we can not only run a business together but that we can put that aside and remain siblings. Does that mean we fight? Ohhhhhhhhh, yeah. I’ve found, though, that we’ve become very good at understanding what makes us “tick” (and what makes us go “boom”, LOL!) and we work hard to make sure our relationships stay caring and strong. A big mention goes out to my sister’s little boy, Alex, for bringing a whole lot of joy and play into my life. And Mom — last but not least. Words fail at how much we love you.

On the left is my sister and I and on the right is my nephew, Alex, and myself

Below is a picture of my beloved siblings…

2) My Husband and His Family - Even though they are my family as well, I thought they deserved their own category. I’m convinced that at some point there was a Husband Lottery and I had the grandprize-winning ticket. I cannot say enough good things about my hubby, Chris — he is considerate, attentive, extremely interesting and whip smart. There have been times when I’ve literally been on the verge of despair over my business (the lean days) and he has picked me up, dusted me off and made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I wish that everyone could leave work and come home to a kind, fun and caring household. As for his family? Sublime. I adore my mother-in-law and wish his entire family lived closer to us, especially now that I have a sweetie-pie second nephew, Nicholas.

We were at my husband’s best friend’s house when he snapped an impromptu pic of us (left) and on the right we are at a college football game (Go Canes!)

The newest member of our family: my nephew, Nicholas (aka Nicky-Mouse)

3) My Crew - I can’t say how grateful I am to have such a solid team of artisans working on our commissions. Some of them do own their own business and come on board when I need extra help and some work with me exclusively. Every one of them is hardworking, funny (oh, we have good times!) and creatively gifted. So thank you Roger, Debbie P., Monica, Pedro, Marvin, Debbie J. and Yuri!

Some of the crew at the Portofino Bay Hotel commission

4) My Clients - Last but certainly not the least. I have been blessed with wonderful clients who treat both my team and I like gold. I have those clients who love all elegance and those that love pushing the envelope. It’s a joy for us to try and go above and beyond what each expects. Every one of them is different and all of them are appreciated. Without clients, we would not have such a wonderful business.

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a blessed girl — I truly do have a lot to be thankful for. I’m glad I had the opportunity to air how grateful I am to those in my life and I hope you take the opportunity to offer heart-felt appreciation to those that mean most to you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hello! I have some pics of another waterfall in progress (this is the one I alluded to at the end of a previous post). This particular one is in a guest bath and has silver foil embedded beneath plaster and glazes.

We are going to be doing something very subtle on the ceiling (since the wall finish is so dramatic) and painting both the crown molding and baseboards a nice dark English Brown metallic from Modern Masters. The niche you see in the picture on the right will also have the dark metallic base and arched molding and I think we are doing a really elegant marble within the concave area. I’ll be sure to post final pics after they’ve installed the sink and other sundries. This is Phase 3 for this particular client — we’ve been working with them a few years now. It’s nice because I know exactly what they like and they trust me enough to pull it all together for them.

Allright, I’ve been avoiding putting together proposals for a bit…I’m going to stop my fun time with the blog and just get back to the paperwork and (gulp) math…sigh…”talk” to you soon!

Many times when you are either creating or learning a finish, you never know how much of a “hit” it will be. Sometimes a finish will be a winner right out of the gate. Other times, I will walk out of a personal creative studio day with finishes I’m sure will be snapped up right away just to find them being passed over time and again. Then there are those that take years to build…such as our Waterfall finish. This finish has been in our portfolio for about three (3) years and it wasn’t until this year that it took off. It seems we couldn’t do enough of it - interiors, exteriors, with and without texture…it’s been so popular and we’ve gotten really, really adept at it. The finish is deceptive — it looks easy to do but then you will find yourself tweaking it and balancing the colors for a full day or more! Thankfully, we all love the look — and it’s so versatile: it can bring a full range of colors and materials together. It can also serve as both a full-room finish and as an excellent accent wall. The lowest amount of colors we’ve used are four (4) and the most was nine (9). Craziness! The following are pictures of some of the areas we’ve done.

Powder Baths

The bath on the left was created with Venetian plaster materials while the one on the right was created with latex paints.

Special Areas

The interior courtyard on the left has true rust and verdigris patinas and the area under the chair rail on the right has stone plasters and various glazes.

Hotels

Sundy House had their public bathrooms done in subtle neutral tones (Sundy House has been voted “One of the 30 Great Inns in the US” by Travel and Leisure magazine — it truly is a wonderful gem.)

Accent Walls

This dining room had a perfect wall to use as an accent. We married our client’s gray and lavender tones together and added some metallic and irridescent shimmers (which don’t show up at all in the pic) to add a last bit of oomph. One of our very favorites.

I’ve started experimenting a bit with the “waterfall” balance and adding some interesting variations (well…interesting to me, LOL!). I came with this one as a template for a canvas piece:

I named the original finish Waterfall just because it seemed like a rich cascade of color. It has a fresh and frothy feel to it and is totally unexpected. I hope you’ve enjoyed the info and the pics!

I’ve had a love for beautiful wallpaper for a few years now. (Yes, I know I shouldn’t — being a faux finisher and all — but I can’t help but have a hearty appreciation for one of our main competitors.) It all started many years ago when I began working with a designer who mixed up my services, regular paint and wallpaper in the gorgeous house we first collaborated on. (I love that — creating a nice balance on the walls and ceilings. I can’t stand a house that’s been over-fauxed in a bad way, ugh!) When we were having on our initial brainstorming meeting, she brought over the Maya Romanoff papers being used and my love for wallpaper was born. I was so excited to create finishes that played off of such gorgeous artistry — and it was wonderful to see that wallpaper such as that was available. Up until then, I had no idea that industry had true artisans working within its ranks. I was so used to the borders and the less-than-pretty prints. Little did I know.

When our company did the Hospitality Design Boutique Show last year, who comes up to my booth with compliments? Maya Romanoff himself. (Yes, I have proof!) My sister was there when I met him and I thought she was going to jump for joy for me — he is a celebrity to me. I think I would have run over Keanu Reeves to meet him! It will always be such a great memory to have spoken with him and revel in the knowledge that I met an Interior Design Icon who was not only patient with someone ecstatic over meeting him but also infinitely gracious.

I recently bought two great books: The Cutting Edge of Wallpaper and the biography of Florence Broadhurst, an influential wallpaper designer who created amazing designs that still resonate today. The Cutting Edge book profiles different paper artisans and their companies –I’ve even found something for the bedroom of my 3-year old nephew, Alex: magnetic wallpaper! I’ll have to post up different profiled artisans so that you can see how broad wallpaper has become.

Well, I’m off to work — today it’s a stone waterfall finish with silver metallic foil underneath. Should be a fun day! Can you believe I get to do this for a living?!? I should pinch myself…

So, WFTV (ABC-Channel 9 here in Orlando) came over to one of our classes recently and taped an interview for their website. I’m posting it here for your viewing…I hope you enjoy it!

Hello, again! Per our previous post, Garay Artisans has put together our Top 10 Faux Products — in no particular order. We’ve already visited LusterStone, Modellos, Venetian Plaster, Schaibin and Metallic Foils, so now we move on to the rest of the list:

6) Versiplast by Briste Group- I like this product because it trowels nicely and dries quickly. It’s perfect for embossed stencil designs and doesn’t shrink or need priming. (Which is why I rarely use joint compound.) I can go as smoothly as I want or as chunky as the finish calls for. Plus, I love the label’s graphics. This versatile plaster has the perfect name.

7) Breakthrough by Vanex - No website whatsoever but that doesn’t stop this from being an amazing product. It is a paint that dries to a baked enamel finish. Perfect for use on cabinetry and other surfaces where you need a complete bond to skittish surfaces and desire a factory-made look. It takes a little wrangling to get the hang of this product but sometimes beauty takes a little work, no? Sold at Star Scenic.

8) Liberon Wax- First of all, it smells reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally good. I should put in on the list just for that but it does have some function to it as well. You can age with it, burnish plaster with it, use it as a tinting coat, stain with it and finally, topcoat. I’m sure someone has thought of other uses for this great wax! Available everywhere.

9) Stain & Seal by Faux Effects- Love, love, love these water-based wood stains. They are great for staining and using the colors to age finishes. The one caveat? Not exterior-rated and I found that out the hard way. Even so, it does not diminish my love for this wonderful product and the colors available (my personal favorite being Rich Brown).

10) Metallic Paint Collection by Modern Masters - You should see my color deck for this product: it?s really banged up. I need a new one! I think I use this product in most every commission and am fond of the colors and the ease in using them. It’s a rich and lustrous paint collection. I get mine locally at the Benjamin Moore Village Paint Shop.

As mentioned before, glaze did not make the list since it is the one product faux finishing is really based upon so we all thought the product is a given. Thank you for the comments on the previous post, please feel free to continue to let us know what you think of the list or if there is any that we missed. Have a great day!