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

As you can probably tell, I never conceived the Fauxology blog as solely a journal of our company’s work.  Sprinkled in here and there, sure, but not the total focus.  However, I just noticed that I’ve been seriously lacking in putting up some of our own pics lately.  I figured that at some point, I have to have something showing that I actually do this for a living, LOL!  There are two other commissions — woodgrained exterior doors and a fabric ceiling — that I’ll put up a little later on this month in the midst of all the other blog posts.  Hope you enjoy these in the meantime…

Here’s a pretty Master Bathroom with a subtle metallic glaze on the walls and stencilling on the ceilings.  These clients liked light elegant touches.  We used metallic mica powders in the glaze to create just the right hint of metallic. 

The stencils used were Modello’s EasBor310…here’s a nice close-up of the design.

                     


On this project, we did both the crown molding and the walls in a kitchen and laundry room.  A close-up of the wall’s Distressed Marmorino is on the right.  The trim was an aged metallic and we used Modern Masters Statuary Bronze as the base.  The wonderful Marmorino was from Safra.

Here’s a shot of that project’s kitchen.  In this area, our client wanted the crown molding and all doors in the same finish as the cabinets.  What do you think of our matching?

                               


Here, we did both the aged schaibin dome and the elegant glaze on the walls.  I do wish our client had decided to go with a darker color around the dome.  To glaze walls like these, normally we have a separate company set up the scaffolding, which looks like the lower right pic here.  Our client didn’t want to invest the monies for that and asked us if we would use regular stacked scaffolding.  I thought “How bad could it be?”.  Folks — lesson learned.  I am never doing that to my team (and myself) again.  It was exhausting taking apart the 3 and 4-tier scaffolds and setting them back up again as we went along the stairs.  Not to mention that we had to do it quickly due to the glaze time.  But my team went through fire with me and for that I am eternally grateful.  Big kudos to McCloskey’s oil glaze for staying workable for soooooooooo long.

Last but not least, a nice dining room ceiling.  The stencils were custom cut and everything was glazed. 

“Talk” to you soon!

You must forgive me if you find some typos…my right index finger was bitten by something over the weekend and now it’s swelled up, red, painful and itchy.  I’m typing with my other fingers so…this oughta be fun. 

Well, Saturday — the first get-together by the Wallnuts (nee The Fauxtastic Four) – was a blast.  We had projected meeting from 10 am to 3:00 pm but everyone cut out of the studio close to 6pm.   We would have continued our party on to dinner but we had a rather large (and loud) lunch.  (By “we”, I don’t mean just the four of us.  Husbands were there, siblings were there, family was there…what a fun day!)  To put it all together will take a few more days than I expected but I hope it will be worth the wait.  The four of us were really surprised at the end of the day when the men came in to set up our podcast.  We thought we were just going to talk into the laptop or something but nooooooooooooo…there was microphones and stands and mixers and stuff I can’t even pronounce.  As we were doing our chosen recipes during the day, we were gabbing and laughing and having a great time.  I really hope the podcast caught some of that energy.  It’s our first one so I’m sure we’ll get more comfortable with it as time goes on.  Here’s two teaser pics of our day:

 (Left) Prepwork: Books, Materials & Coffee   (Right) My microphone…a bit daunting

Well, we’re off to prep for Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay.  It doesn’t feel like a bad one but you can never be too overprepared.  I’ll try to post more cool stuff in the meantime, if the weather (and finger) permits.  I hope you are having a beautiful, sunny day! 

A friend of mine (an amazing muralist, Juli Simon) recently gave me a tremendous compliment.  She told a mutual client that “whenever I speak to Regina, I always feel as if I could do anything!”.  Imagine hearing that you have that kind of impact — I was floored.  I do strive to bring positivity to everyone I meet because let’s face it: times are tough.  Bringing even an ounce of inspiration and joy into someone’s life is very fulfilling.  Many people bring that to my life but today I’m singling out one in particular: Donny Deutsch.

I first heard of him when he was a guest on The Martha Stewart Show and was talking about his CNBC show, The Big Idea.  It’s a nightly program that gives you continuous ideas, strategies and tools to live a richer life.  Each episode focuses on a different topic, for instance “Unlocking Your Creative Genius”, “Do You Have the Right Spouse for Success?”, “The Comeback Mindset”, “How to Make Good Money in Bad Times” and “The New Art of Selling”.  Mr. Deutsch and his guests are so gregarious, engaging and powerful in their manner that you cannot help but be inspired and strive to be a better person and entrepreneur every single day.  Most of the professional finishers who read this blog will agree — it’s tough jumping from being a creative artist to being a savvy businessperson.  We need all the help we can get because for most right-brain thinkers, left-brain abilities do not come easily. 

This past show struck a chord with me because it was all about having a happiness mindset.  Money does not bring happiness; Happiness brings money.  There is a strategy to bringing more happiness to your life: (1) Commit to your goals; (2) Avoid overthinking; (3) Practice acts of kindess; (4) Cultivate optimism; and (5) Replay and savor life’s joys.   That last one — wow.  We’ve all had bad days and if you can just focus on the successes that have occurred that day (i.e., what you learned from that mistake, an amazing potential opportunity presented itself or even just corresponding with everyone you needed to), it reinforces your belief in your business and yourself.  That’s just not touchy-feely-warm-fuzzies, it’s practical as all get out as well. 

I hope you check out The Big Idea (weeknights at 10 pm on CNBC).  It’ll change the way you think about your business, your job and your abilities.  What could be more inspiring than that?  Have a great day!

If you had to ask my husband or I what the other did for a living, we would probably not get very far in the information department.  I do know this: he is a computer genius (one-time Math Champion of Florida), his work revolves around something called “networking” and/or “programming” and he has clients like eBay.  Out of curiosity, I asked my husband the other day if he knew what glaze was.  He said: ”It’s something you put on the walls to paint with…you know, stuff like what’s on the Krispy Kreme doughnuts.”  Folks — I can’t make this stuff up.  (After I explained it better, he laughed at himself along with me.  Brilliant, sweet AND entertaining — husbands don’t get any better than that.) 

Well, imagine my surprise when my husband excitedly comes up to me and starts talking about a new series on the DIY Network called Man Caves.  Apparently, it’s the greatest show since The Three Stooges.  Here’s the info:

Every guy needs a space to call his own… a sanctuary where boys can be boys, where life essentials include a wet bar, a poker table and a place to watch the game with the fellas. And maybe even an indoor putting green! DIY Network’s Jason Cameron is joined by football great Tony “The Goose” Siragusa to offer ideas and do-it-yourself instruction to turn a basic basement into the ultimate guys’ hangout.

The show has officially been TiVo’d in our household (Wednesdays at 10 pm).  If you click here, you’ll see that they have video snippets teaching all about installing a chair rail, painting a two-tone finish, making a hockey-stick table, learning to build your own custom poker table and coming up with the Ultimate Man Cave Plan. 

You know, I just took a good look at the host pic above and really digested what they teach in this show.  I guess I should start getting very, very afraid if I see a toolbelt purchase.

Hi, Everyone!  I’m so glad to finally get a chance to sit down and gab again!  You should see our studio — we have a few projects going on and it’s been a bit crazy trying to keep all our ducks in a row.  The other day, my sibs and I were knee-deep in a conversation when it dawned on us that we were each talking about a different project.  I think we realized it when we gave each other the “Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis?” look.  :)  As I was moving things around the studio, I came upon some of our business cards and thought I’d share a marketing idea with the professional decorative painters that read Fauxology.  Check it out:

Soooo…you know all those samples that we create for clients that eventually just start stacking up?  An idea dawned on me as I was preparing for a trade show.  I picked all the ones that had great finishes but were not portfolio-bound and started cutting them into square pieces roughly the size of our business cards.  Then I arranged them into groups of two or four by putting together nice color and finish arrangements.  Using a hole puncher, I then cut an opening into top corner edges of both the cut samples and our business cards and bound them together with a pretty ribbon or pins.  I then took a scissor with a nice design and cut the ends of the samples to make them look a bit more finished. 

At the trade show, I put them all in a gallon container we silver-leafed.  They were a huge hit and potential clients and designers stayed a bit to talk while they were going through the container to find their favorite “set”. 

We now use them when we can — even outside of trade shows.  These business cards always get nice comments, are more memorable and potential clients get to see a bit of your work even if you don’t happen to have your portolio or pictures on hand.  Hope you like the idea!

I hope the holiday break was wonderful to all of you.  I spent it in Miami visiting both my husband’s family and my friend Elisa who recently lost her mother, Maya.   Maya was a kind and fun-loving person — we spent some time talking about her and about how to appreciate your family and friends every day.  It was both a sad and hope-filled weekend. 

Well, I’m going to give you a few nibblers to chew on while I put together some bigger blog posts for later on this week.  I hope you enjoy them!

DIY

A good blog I like is Apartment Therapy.  Their motto is Saving the World, One Room at a Time.  Love that!  They recently posted two cool (ok, one cool and one sorta questionable) How-Tos and I thought I’d share with you.

Painting Embossed Wallpaper - This is the cool one

The Top 10 Affordable Wall Treatments - The suggestion to use Blik? Very nice.  Aluminum foil?  Not so sure about that particular one…but I will go to crazy lengths for my DIY readers, so here you go…

ENTREPRENEUR

Ladies Who Launch is a great group and website.  It’s all about female entrepreneurs and (1) finding the right resources and contacts/friends, (2) connecting with others and (3) spreading the word about your personal business.  They’ve just opened their online social network to allow for everyone to register for free.  They even have a meeting group in some states where you get together with other powerful women for a few weeks to discuss each member’s business and work to better it, promote it and bring in fantastic new ideas from each other.  I wish they had one near me here in Florida!  I think it would be very inspirational. 

FREE SUBSCRIPTION

If you are an artisan in the decorative painting field, Decorative Arts magazine is offering a free subscription to decorative professionals.  Please click here for the registration page. 

Well, I’ll talk to you soon!  Coming up, we have some great new Faux-cus on the Pros interviews, our Book-of-the-Month selection and of course, pics of great design and great finishes.  Plus, you’ll be getting information on The Fauxtastic Four.  Who are they?  You’ll have to come back around to Fauxology to find out! 

Until next time…

I hope everyone is enjoying wonderful company, delicious food and spectacular fireworks!

Here was the scene this morning…looking online…googling architecture…reading stuff…came across this video…and ran to my husband.  Me: “Dude!  You have got to see the most beautiful thing ever!” Him: “I am, right here.”  (Proceeds to give me a kiss.)  Me: (Blushing, enjoying the moment.)  “Uhm, wow, thank you.  But, really!  Run!”

So, I showed him this video — the coolest building ever: The Dynamic Tower in Dubai.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t want to move to Dubai. 

Thanks again, Home Rejuvenation!

An old friend of mine contacted me out of the blue and it was so nice to hear from him.  He inspired me to look up friends that I thought about every so often but had lost touch with.  I went crazy googling and writing — it’s been wonderful getting chatty and excitable e-mails back and I’m happy to have “re-started” many friendships.  Of course, with all the good must come some bad. 

In 2002, I met Carol Petalas in a now-defunct paint store.  While striking up a friendship, she mentioned she needed help with a few homes, both local and out-of-town.  My brother and I came on board temporarily and traveled with her.  Although she was primarily a muralist, she taught us many things about faux and expanding our creative horizons.  She also infused a love of Greece to us, having lived there for a portion of her life.  A highly respected artist, she was chosen by HGTV to be featured in their Modern Masters series in an informative episode.  She was also the subject of many art gallery shows and media pieces.  After helping Carol for a time, we turned back to our own commissions but we did speak on the phone occassionally.  One day, we met up for lunch and promised to keep in touch more frequently…and you know how that can go.  Sadly, my brother and I found out that she passed away two months ago from stomach cancer.  We were both so upset and we vowed to find out where we could pay our respects, even at this late hour.  The world has lost a tremendous artist. 

Here is some work we did with her — sorry the pics are not the best quality but they are about six years old and taken by an early digital camera version. 

The wild tortoishell…I’m not the biggest fan of borders per se, but I do like how the matching border adds a nice touch.  The border was handpainted with no stencils used.

I like how Carol decided to have us take the faux beyond the set border…why color within the lines?

Two others…the faux and/or colors in these are just a bit passe, but this is a post of our work with Carol, so in they go…

Today, I also found out that another friend who recently contacted me (she was my best friend in high school and in my 20s) lost her mother this past week.  Heartbreaking.  I suppose that’s the current mood…finding comfort in memories.  I’m going to try my best to be aware of and appreciate all the moments we are given with those we cherish for they have a way of passing us by, no?