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

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!