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

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 Cascade 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 paints and patinas.

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!