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

They say that on your deathbed, you think of the things you didn’t do — not the things you did.  While I won’t say my life has been without its regrets, I do strive to live in the moment and let my friends and family who surround me today know how much I appreciate them and love them.  Case in point: my brother, Jason.  He has been with Garay Artisans almost from the beginning and I do not know where I would be without his support, artistry and genius.  He is also, without a doubt, one of my favorite people in the world and one of the few with whom you could go out and have a great, full-of-laughter time and yet still have deep, introspective and serious conversations with. 

I’ve spoken before about artists usually having another creative outlet other than the one they work within.  My brother is an amazing artist but he also dabbles in photography.  I thought I’d share some of his work with you (none photoshopped).  I think they have a lot of soul and are breathtaking. 

That last one makes me feel elated.  Hope you’ve enjoyed his work!

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!

Stumped?? Well, we here at Garay Artisans are excited about it!  We just finished filming our latest (ok, second) DIY YouTube video and it features my brother, Jason, teaching this crocodile skin finish for cabinetry.  Yes…you get to learn this finish gratis! This particular look is usually meant for special “glamour” places such as guest baths and powder rooms. In our cabinet workshops, we teach our two most asked-for finishes in the kitchen: aged cabinets and distressed cabinets.  We try to cover all bases for you, folks!

If you haven’t seen our previous YouTube videos, let me introduce you.  Our first DIY Video: Glazed & Gold Powder Bath (still can’t believe it’s been seen over 2,000 times — for me that’s a lot).  For those interested in knowing more about our company and services: Interview by WFTV-Channel 9 and our Garay Artisans promo.

In case you’d like to take our one-day Cabinet Workshops (where you learn everything from prepwork to HVLP spraying to topcoats), click here.  We have a new special where two-person teams receive a great discount.  We already have a few students signed on — the first class in our new facility is Saturday, May 17th.  Here is what one of our previous students, Cape Cod, MA-based Robin Pierson of Robin’s Nest Interiors had to say about her custom training class:

“It was so helpful - I can’t tell you how excited I am about getting started.   Jason was a great trainer and I felt very comfortable with him and the information he provided.  He was more than happy to answer all of my questions and by the time I left I felt like I had all the information I needed.”

Robin’s website has some great cabinet works as well as a cool decorative window line called Reflections. She truly is a wonderful artisan.

Our cabinet video is currently being edited so it should be up in about…oh, 2 weeks.  (But don’t quote me!) We will keep you posted here!

I thought I’d put up pics of a project we recently finished.  It was previously the theatre room of a well-known basketball player’s home.  However, the new owners wanted to make it into the husband’s in-house office.  Out went the theatre seats, the slanted stage they were on, the media system and the heavy drapes. In came an updated cabinet system much more conducive to holding files than DVDs…and still to come is new flooring, drapes and furniture.  (BTW, this room overlooks a gorgeous golf course.  While we were working, we spied an extremely famous golf player doing his thing — we almost fell off the scaffold!)

This is our first project with the designer, Kim Patiry, and we worked really well with one another.  She’s very talented, great with colors and open to hearing suggestions from the trades she works with.  For this commission, we had to match the new bare wood to the existing woodgrain and continue to add black trim to the right areas. We also added a decorative panel to the cabinetry using Modello OrnPan125 which was slightly altered from its original format.  The ceilings had a four-panel decorative trim added (which we metallicized) and we glazed the exteriors and Venetian-plastered the interiors.  Took almost three weeks…what do you think of the results?

Here’s a Before (left) and After (right)

…and another Before featuring my brother coming up with our cabinetry plan…

  …to the After.

 Until next time!

We have been getting A LOT of cabinetry commissions lately — which really does not surprise me in this current housing climate.  In fact, according to AIA Architect, who conducted a Home Trends Design Survey, kitchen and bath projects remain strong as the residential market weakens.  If you are disatisfied with the way your kitchen or bath cabinetry looks — and there is a beautiful, durable and affordable alternative to wrecking the house and starting from scratch, why wouldn’t you explore it?  Plus, it’s great for environmentally-conscious consumers since you are, in essence, recycling what you currently own at the cost of no additional trees.

Here’s a sampling of our most popular finish: bringing in an overall color and lightly glazing the edges and trim.  I also recommend adding crown molding if the cabinetry doesn’t have it — it costs pennies on the dollar and yet adds great re-sale value to your kitchen.

Formica can also be changed (as seen in the laundry room on the left).  On the right, the light pine cabinetry was deepened to a cherry finish…and we didn’t have to sand it all the way to the bare wood and re-stain.

How white cabinetry gets a lot more interesting via the magic of faux bois: woodgraining.  You can see more pics of this project here and here or try another project altogether.

The distressed look is also popular.  Here is a during and after pic — you can see the black peeking through the red.  (Did you see the stripes on the ceiling?)

We are going to be offering two separate Cabinetry Refinishing classes at our studio about once a month.  The first class will be Saturday, May 17 and more details will be forthcoming.  These workshops will be specifically tailored to homeowners who want a change, don’t have a lot to spend but yet don’t mind a little elbow grease.   Each one-day class will teach one specific finish and it will be a jam-packed day: from planning the project to the final topcoat layer — homeowners will also learn how to use an HVLP sprayer for a factory-finished look.

Here is my brother…everytime we get into our spray gear I always tell him with my best Darth Vader voice: “Jason, I am your sister!”

He told me it wasn’t funny anymore after the 100th time I did it.  Doesn’t stop me, though…:)

We’ve just wrapped up Phase I of a project that took, give or take, about a month to complete.  The construction and design of the bachelor pad was being overseen by a couple who were previous clients of mine — and working with them both was a joy. They were great with colors, firm in their vision and yet laid back enough to let us be artists and do what we do best.  It was a collaborative and enjoyable commission…and some of my favorite work came out of it.

Here are some of the areas we did — please keep in mind the home is under construction so there is no furniture and the usual accoutrements.  We are returning in April or May for Phase 2 — after that, I can then get full on pics of the final design.

We’ll start off big.  This is the Grande Foyer and you can see on the left, we have just finished base painting the insets with metallic paint. Everything in the ceiling was white. On the right, is the final product.  Aged metallic insets, woodgraining on the beams and Modello tiles where we did faux wood marquetry.  In Phase 2, we are going to be getting rid of all the white with a combination of warmer colors and some elegant glazing.

The Dining Room walls (you can see the “during” phase of this room on the before pic above) received a deep blue plaster treatment.  All the colors throughout the house “go” with each other…we had a nice palette of rich browns, blues, warm grays and soft whites with some strong “punch” colors in some rooms.  Remember - this is a bachelor pad.

Guest Rooms — two of the three guest rooms received a finish. One had the Waterfall finish (left) and the other horizontal stripes (right).  The Waterfall room (with its own wing located next to the pool) had a Pottery Barn inspiration — the bed and furniture will be up against it and all the incoming colors and textures will remain crisp and fresh with the wall being the burst-of-color focal point.  One of my sister’s faves is the horizontal stripes — plus it has a balcony where you will be able to go out into and see all the beautiful landscaping.

Special Areas - (Left) Some of the door casings were stained wood and we were asked to make those that had non-stained/non-wood doors blend in with them.  Voila!  (Sorry about the glare.)  On the right, these were two windows that were a bit too bare for the owner.  We were asked to come up with something “cool and funky and not blah” for the windows and there we go.

There were more areas but I don’t want to overwhelm you with pics.  I’ll add more as we move on to Phase 2.  Have a great day!

I thought it would be fun to walk you through one of our most unique commissions. One day last year we received a call from The Evans Group about some areas that they wanted marbled.  We had just met the designers at the HD Boutique show in Miami Beach and they were looking for a faux finishing firm who could tackle this commission for a new Re/Max location here in Orlando.

My brother, Jason, and I met them at the new site.  My brother and I each have different expertises in faux finishing and one of his is marbling.  He simply amazes me — I could never come close to his talent in this field.  So, he definitely took the lead on this one.  The designers brought a 4 inch square piece of marble — an unusual one that had a flat sheen.  They explained that this was to be part of the flooring and we were to reproduce this marble on two large exterior arches. Jason was to use the tile they brought as the guide for making the samples for approval and, ultimately, the large exterior arches.

(Below Left) Some of the sample variations he created…you can see the 4 inch piece of marble used as a guide on the easel’s lower right.  It would eventually be magnified onto two separate arches, each approximately 13 foot x 15 foot. We reached both areas via a cherry picker.  (Below Right) For your reference, a shot of the final marble flooring installed.

(Below Left) One of the arches, pre-painting & pre-skimming.  (Below Right) The same arch after being fixed and base painted.

(Below) This is the first glaze layer.

(Below) After toning and “aging” the glaze a bit, the veins were started.

(Below) Continuing the veins — the blue tape indicates some areas which Jason thought could use a bit more oomph.  He’s extremely detail-oriented.

(Below) Final shot of one of the arches.

(Below Left) The installed flooring again to reference against (Below Right) a close-up of one of the arches.  A good match, no? Each arch took about a week to complete.

The artwork was given three topcoat layers in a flat sheen to mimic the marble completely.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this mini-to-maxi marble tour!

My sister and I took a trip to Italy in April of last year. We were there for three weeks while I was taking advanced Venetian Plaster classes. There is nothing like experiencing firsthand a culture known for their Art, Architecture and Passion for Living.  Thankfully, she and I studied conversational Italian before we left - it truly proved beneficial and we were able to immerse ourselves semi-completely. We even got lost one time while walking around in Verona and found our way back strictly by speaking Italian (although some thought we were fairly fluent and would launch into fast-paced directions…sigh). Here are some of the sights that inspired us…aren’t they amazing?

My sister and I formed an even stronger bond and decided to travel out of the country together every few years. We even came up with a crazy idea to write a Sister’s Guide to Traveling. Here’s us taking down our travel notes…and next to it is one of my all-time pics of Suzy…and St. Mark’s Square in the background doesn’t hurt either!

It’s helped, in my business, to have traveled to other countries and have seen so many different interpretations of artistic expression. There is always something you can learn, something you can absorb, something to inspire a better version of yourself.