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

Hello, Everyone!  You might have heard me wax rhapsodic over my pending vacation.  Due to a family pet emergency, the hubster and I decided to postpone it and stick around the home.  Since the situation stabilized a bit, it was decided that I would still be able to attend the Elegant Reflections course at the new Royal Design/Modello Sudios and return to Orlando upon its completion.  (To see some of the samples you can create, check Melanie Royals’ Design Amour blog post about the workshop entitled Mirror Image.)  I’ve flown all day today and after a nap, took a nice walk around this beautiful area.  I’m now back in my hotel room and fighting the drowsies to get a blog post out.  I’m planning to gab a bit about the class, the new studio and take some cool pics.  I am excited yet sad at the circumstances that prevented us from staying in California for an extended time.  I think anyone who has experienced unconditional love from a pet can understand being there to provide loving companionship on what may be the last days. 

In the meantime, I did want to share two other blogs with you.  I get really excited when I learn about other faux finishers with blogs — especially ones that are updated fairly regularly.  Love that!  Check them out:

Shakti Space Designs:  Lucinda and I have become fast friends.  Can’t believe she’s out in Oregon!  She does beautiful work — and one of my favorite projects of hers was recently featured by Apartment Therapy Unplggd.  (That’s big time in the blogosphere!)  You go, girl — woohoo!!!

Painter Girl - Life as a Decorative Painter:  Carol Leonesio recently contacted me through our company website and the Fauxology blog.  Along with her work, she features guest artists, provides reviews and marketing tips.  Virtual Woman’s Day announced this past Spring that she was one of 96 Women Bloggers to Watch.   Well deserved — you can tell she’s a wonderful person who doesn’t mind sharing her daily life as a faux artist.  Congrats, Carol!!!

I hope to one day be able to meet all the amazing people and artists I’ve “met” online.  My world is the better for it.  I hope you had a great weekend — and I’ll be posting soon!

Today, I drove home and listened to (and sang along loudly with) Queen’s “Somebody to Love”.  Man, that is a great song…and, I gotta tell you, I did just as good a job singing and harmonizing as Freddie and the boys.  You believe me, don’t you? 

Well, we’ll switch from what was on the radio and move on to what is on the television.  Two shows I wanted to tell you about:

1) The Human Camera - This show is playing Wednesday (9/24) at 8 pm on BBC America.  It’s all about Stephen Wiltshire, a 33-year old autistic artist who can quickly look at a building and draw it (down to the exact amount of windows and doors) from memory.  Amazing.  Here is an excerpt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8YXZTlwTAU

2) Modern Marvels: Paint - This one runs periodically on the History Channel.  I just caught it and taped it last week.  It is one incredible hour devoted to paint, that perfect hybrid of art and chemistry.  It goes into its history, modern uses (think about it — everything is painted, down to our cell phones) and the future of a little something called “smart” paint.  Great info.

Hope these shows prove interesting to you! 

There are lots of colors that you can associate with Fall, but Orange is the one that gives me the warmest fuzzies.  When living up north, I looked forward to donning cold weather clothing and driving along beautiful roads to see the gorgeous color changes in the landscape.  We’d go looking for just the right pumpkin and afterwards, sip hot apple cider while discussing the upcoming holiday season.  Good times.

Here in Florida, you don’t see the changing seasons as much.  In fact, when I see a brightly colored tree here surrounded by a slew of greenery, I often imagine this conversation:

Full Color Tree:  Ahh, Fall.  Time to razzle-dazzle and bring out those nice reds, oranges and ochres everyone likes.  So nice to finally get a chance to show off.

Florida Green Trees:  (Looking at him suspiciously):  Dude.  What are you doing? 

Full Color Tree:  What do you mean?  It’s our time of year!  Fall starts on September 23rd, we’re in Connecticut, people will be coming out just to see us and we’ll be in pictures!  (Taking a look around).  Oh, I’m soooo sorry — you guys are still green.  It’ll happen, no worries.  (Thinking) Well, some trees have it and some trees don’t.  Looks like I’ll be The Star around here this year.

Florida Green Trees:  (All laughing):  Would you get a load of this guy?  Thinks he’s in Connecticut…

Full Color Tree:  (Thinking)  They’re just laughing because they’re literally green with envy!  Shake it off and stand proud.  Oh, that faux girl with the paint all over her clothes is coming by again to take my pic.  Not everyone can pull off the multi-color look like me, but who am I to judge? Hope she gets my good side this time.

So, have I completely scared everyone off with my imagination?  LOL!  Getting to the point of my post.  In honor of Fall, I wanted to showcase one of its most prominent colors: Orange.  Here are a few interior pics featuring some of its many tones.   

Here’s some of our work in those tones:

A terracotta glaze on top leading gradating to an ochre glaze on the bottom is pictured on the Left and copper leaf schaibin paired with a gray metallic plaster on the Right.  The Center pic on the second row is a mix of plasters, gold leaf and stencilling.

Enjoy your day!

I’ve had a few e-mails about the snakeskin misadventure, mostly asking “Was it really that bad?”.  Yes and no.  I think what set us down the wrong path was that the production stencils (which are stencils that are large and create an overall wall pattern) and the smaller corresponding stencils did not match, pattern-wise.  We actually ended up using only the smaller stencils since that design was both stronger and more pleasing.  Using the smaller sizes, in addition to making the already-stencilled different patterns match, added to the working time.  I’ve since spoken to Faux Effects and they couldn’t have been more gracious and accommodating about the situation.  (Thank you Cat and Scott!)  It really is a gorgeous realistic pattern but make sure than when doing the finish, over-order on the delicate stencil since it can come apart after a few uses.  Why do I say “when you order”?  Because I’m posting the recipe (with courtesies from Faux Effects) for all to try and you may find yourself tackling the finish. 

The recipe is a Faux Effects original and consequently, uses all Faux Effects products.  I’ve placed links where needed and pics where possible (I forget to photograph some layers sometimes).

1)  Start with as smooth and correctly prepped a surface as possible.  For the base color, we used Sherwin-Williams’ Millet but you could also use Aquabond Woody Yellow.  Let dry.

2)  With a Japan scraper, trowel Venetian Gem Finish Coat through vinyl tulle (also called tulle netting) over the entire surface.  We bought the tulle by the yard at our local Jo-Ann Fabrics.  You can easily cut and reuse the same material piece a few times.  The Venetian Gem goes on white and dries clear.  This step creates the underlying scales — a key ingredient in making this finish go from just another “oh, how cool” to a solid “you’ve got to see this room!!!”.  Let this layer dry completely.

3)  Using Rich Brown and Antique Mahogany Stain & Seal mixed with AquaGlaze, glaze the surface in a vertical motion.  You can also use other colors (such as blue, green and irridescent tones) to create a different snakeskin feel.  Let this layer dry completely.

4)  Stencil FauxCreme Color Black through the Snakeskin Stencil and continue the pattern.  There are no registration marks on the stencils but you can easily find where the snakeskin design fits in.  I highly recommend using stencil spray for this application to adhere the stencil firmly (but temporarily) to your surface.  If on a wall, make sure you use a level at all times.  Let dry.

5)  Overglaze the entire finish with a Van Dyke Brown aging glaze, which acts as the final step marrying all the layers together.  Let dry. 

I have to admit that after seeing the final result, I might possibly perhaps maybe consider trying the finish again — on smaller surfaces.  Doing an entire room might not be in the cards again…but a cabinet door or under a bar counter?  Nice.  We’re getting final pics after the interior designers finish doing their magic.  I’ll be sure to post them. 

Hi, Everyone!!!  It’s that time again – a few info nibblers to chew on!  Well, as you may know, I’m a huge TiVo fan.  Today I came home to watch my recorded Martha Stewart (yes, I’m a fan — anyone who knows that much about the stuff I love is a good thing) and her show today was all about bloggers!  Go blogosphere!  She has her own blog and I happily noted that some of my fave bloggers were guests…and I even found some new ones.  Check out her site to see more deets.

Another nibbler for the business owners who read Fauxology is a great site to include in your marketing & promotion plan.  Check out and sign up for Help A Reporter.  Once you submit your e-mail address, you will receive a daily listing of stories that reporters are working on nationwide and the sources they are looking for.  You never know…

Last but not least!  I wanted to let you know of a capability of this blog you may not know about.  If you scroll down along the menu on the right, you will come to a Search box.  Please feel free to conduct a search within my archives for background information or inspirational pics on anything related to decorative painting and/or design.  I have over a year’s worth of posts so maybe something I wrote one day proves to be just the info you needed or a picture can spur you into just the right creative direction.  It’s a great feature I use on other blogs!

Enjoy your day!

These past few days have been a blur of birthdays, a cool commission, ten-year wedding anniversaries (mine - woohoo!) and a whole lotta incoming info on blogs.  Phew!  This coming weekend has my brother teaching his awesome cabinetry class.  Last month, he had students flying in to take the workshop…pretty cool!  Most cabinet courses focus on teaching different finishes but my brother’s class is a bit different.  We deduced our top two most requested finishes: (1) Distressed and (2) Elegantly Aged — and turned each one into a full-day class.  The focus is on proper prepwork, how to dismantle/organize doors and hardware, how to use an HVLP sprayer (this gives a beautiful factory finish) and what are the best products for your substrate.  Interested?  Check out the schedule here.  So, shameless plug aside, cabinets are fast becoming one of the most popular areas we are asked to work with.  There are a few books out on the subject, but one I really like is The Painted Kitchen by Henny Donovan.  It has a lot of cool finish ideas and loads of pics. 

The book goes into turning flat doors into paneled doors, working with metallics, matching door styles with paint effects and has a nice list of preparation requirements for many surfaces you may encounter.

Finishes are catalogued by color and although only some of the finishes get a step-by-step breakdown, each picture in the book has a description on achieving the finish.  (Love the gold leaf one at the bottom since it reminds me of the first pic in our December book recommendation).  

I hope you like the pics enough to pic up the book.  For a DIYer, it’s great because it has so much info on achieving the looks and for the professional, it’s wonderful because it gives a lot of inspirational ideas as well as overviews on each finish.  We’ll “talk” soon!

When I go to decorative painting conventions, events or classes, I feel extremely comfortable.  Why?  I’ve been in this business for over a decade, have many friends in the field, know who the major players are and know a little something about most of the products available and what finishes/trends are coming up.  But today, I attended a convention that was a whole lotta new to me: IzeaFest 2008.  Yup, I attended a blog convention.

I decided to go because the Fauxology blog has become a part of my heart.  I have an obsession for faux, enjoy meeting new people, live to share info and love to write.  Within the year plus that I’ve been posting, I’ve accumulated a growth of readership organically and have receive some great comments that truly make the effort worthwhile.  So, I wanted to learn to make this blog like The Six Million Dollar Man:  Better, Stronger, Faster.    

Well.  When I walked in, I felt like I was attending a new school for my senior year after leaving the same school I had attended from K - 11.  I knew no one, everyone had laptops (doofus me brought a pen and notebook…hello?!?), major player’s names were being dropped while everyone nodded knowingly (and I was like “Who?”) and industry words were flying left and right (and I was like “What?”).  Then, I realized that other attendees were streaming the event!  Man, have I walked into a brave, new world.  Our keynote speaker was Jeremy Shoemaker and he was inspiring, unpretentious and hilarious.  He also used to be 420 pounds and unemployed.  Four years later, he’s lost the weight, looks great and is a millionaire.  (Seriously.  I may have to rethink this faux thing.)  I also met the awesome Lea Alcantara, a whiz at branding.  I thought of all the faux and other small biz companies that read this blog and thought how cool it would be to have her talk a little about niche markets and how to brand your business successfully.  She and I talked briefly about it and she’s graciously considering it.  (Fingers crossed for all of us!) 

Slowly but surely I started understanding the blogworld’s concepts and ideas.  By the end of the day, I was introducing myself to other bloggers and speakers, randomly asking “stupid” questions and basically satisfied after finding out that I’m not the only one who secretly reads Perez Hilton.  Tomorrow is the second and last day of the event.  I’ll probably write more then as well.  I hope to take all this knowledge and use it to create a better blog for you to read.  I thank you for coming along this ride with me and I hope that the roadtrip we’re on gets even more picturesque and memorable. 

Well, well, well.  Today is an excellent day.  You see, we’ve been working on the Snakeskin finish for a while now.  The finish has four layers and I thought it would take us 5 days to do it — one day per layer and a buffer day, just in case.  Yeah, well.  It has taken 5 days just to do the stencil layer.  Yes, you read that right: 5 days for the overall stencil layer.  It is a beautiful finish (we are all salivating for the final pics) but boy is it a doozy.  We’ve all agreed that we are never, ever doing this finish again…it is officially discontinued.  Not an accent wall, not a niche, not even a small table top.  Folks, you know I’m usually a positive person but what fun would a blog be if I didn’t share the misadventures?

Getting back to it being an excellent day.  Since we knew today was the last day we would be stencilling, the crew was in high spirits.  As my brother and I drove in to the site, we were happily debating the points as to who would win in hand-to-hand, face-to-face combat: a ninja or a samurai.  (I say ninja.)  As we worked, the team excitedly debated how we would dispose of the stencils: sacrificial bonfire, scissors or just slam dunking them into the trash can.  We ordered a gigantic margarita pizza for lunch.  And at the end?  We were too exhausted and hand-cramped to even muster up the

(My brother just walked by my laptop and read the post.  He’s like “Regina, you’ve got to emphasize the horror of the situation.  You didn’t even tell them we were sent stencils that didn’t match up. I don’t think you’re explaining it well enough.  What Saw is to Horror Movies, Snakeskin is to Faux.  That’s what you’ve got to get across.”) 

(Now, my friend Jeff Huckaby called me to talk about his day and his client’s ceiling.  Man, I feel for him.  I also told him about my day and he said “Well, if you were closer, I’d smack you in the head, LOL!  What were you thinking?”  It’s nice to know you can call someone and just vent and laugh about paint, you know?)

Where was I?  Oh, yes.  Well, at the end we were too tired to even entertain the idea of the celebrational bonfire or the cutting up of the stencils.  We just stood around in disbelief that the stencilling was actually done and tiredly patted each other on the backs.  I guess that even on the particularly stressful commissions, there is always something to be happy about - a joyful non-grumpy team, knowing you’re working with wonderful designers or just the thought that all that hard work is going to pay off into one heck of a show-stopping room.  Appreciation must always abound.

(…it’s still getting discontinued, though.)

A few years ago, my husband’s brother and his wife bought a gorgeous house in Miami that I started salivating over the moment I walked in.  As my head swiveled from left to right, the whole house transformed in my head from white walls to a warm, elegant home…oh, the possibilities!  As my housewarming gift, I offered to work on any area, any finish, any color.  A few ideas were lightly tossed up but nothing concrete…for years.     

But finally, I got the call!  They are looking to do something with my little niece’s room (the adorable Victoria).  I feel so excited that they are finally releasing the Kraken to wreak havoc!  (Sorry…obscure “Clash of the Titans” reference…) 

I feverishly started doing nursery research and found a few great sites which I wanted to share.  My friend, Dawn, started a new blog exclusively for nursery murals.  Lots of great info and oh-so-cute pics there.  From her, I discovered artist Loren Pease and her new beautiful site, SweetPease – even her older site is worth checking out.  Wee Gallery also has wall art that promotes infant brain development.  I even found that if someone were inclined to go the wallpaper route, there is always Murals Your Way. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!  Can’t wait to find more!

Here’s one of my favorite ideas from Ms. Pease.  

…and this is an idea from The Scoop, the blog from Orange Beautiful.  Isn’t it great when you can think of a great wall color outside the usual nursery staples?  What a great starting off point…

OK — getting ready to go back out of town.  Still have a lot scheduled for this month and I’m working really hard on those prayers to add an extra day to the week so I can get everything done…I’ll keep you posted on that, LOL!  Hope you had a great weekend!