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

This is a ceiling my brother, Jason, and I recently worked on. It was a great day - we were the last trade in the house, we had awesome topics of conversation going and at the end came a ceiling our client loved. What could be better? What I thought I would do is walk you through the steps of this ceiling and show you how the two-overlay Modello was used to create this. You ready?

It started with a meeting between the decorator, Lynne Sylvester, the client and myself. Lynne wanted something to fill up this space and have the design incorporate some of the lines and colorations of the lighting fixture. She also wanted the vent to not be such an eyesore.

Lynne and I kept meeting at the Modello site and after looking at many designs, we both thought OrnCen164 was great — with a few modifications. Here is the original design — Lynne wanted the four double-scrolls between the outside scrolls taken out.

One thing I do stress is that you measure twice, then call Modello. I’m not ashamed to say that I miscalculated and had to have the design re-sized and re-cut at our expense. When we received the new size, we started laying on the first overlay. Since I’m the one taking pics, you’ll only see my brother working — but I assure you, it’s a two-person process. The first layer is extremely important because it sets the tone and direction of the entire design. We also had to make sure the large scrolls would fit perfectly on either side of that air vent (you can see the hole of the vent — we took it down to paint it so it would “disappear”).

We colored in that layer with the wall color so that the entire area looked balanced. Then, we removed the first overlay and installed the second one of the Modello. You always have to keep in mind the registration marks and making sure you’re right on point.

See how the scrolls are right at each side of the vent? Phew!

We had coloration layers and one final overglaze. A red tone is up first and will be the least seen color. It was chosen so that it worked with the incoming fabrics and furniture.

Two layers of metallic next. First Modern Masters Silver, then Platinum. Is your neck hurting yet?

After overglazing the metallic with a nice dark aging glaze, we took off the Modello. Since we were working on a knockdown ceiling, we had a lot of touch-ups (left pic). Time to bring out the tiny artist brushes to make those edges perfect! (Is your neck still hurting?)

Here are some pics in the late afternoon. The two-overlay Modellos weren’t too hard to install but did require some planning. The client’s reaction made the many steps sooo worth it.

Until next time!