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

The home I’m currently working on has a decorator who recently had a nice laugh at my expense.  We’re working on quite a few areas and she asked me to take a look at the main powder bath and think up some ideas for it.  I had provided her some options when she comes in and says, “Regina, the client has the perfect idea! He’s thinking mauve!”

At this point, I start silently hyperventilating, my eyes are darting and I feel a mini-panic attack come on.  You see, I have this thing about mauve. Mauve is The Big Bad for me — I just can’t work with it no matter how hard I try.  Think kryptonite for Superman, water for the Wicked Witch of the West, an empty donut box for Homer Simpson…all rolled into one.  (In the link above, it says that artist James Whistler asserted that “mauve is just pink trying to be purple.” What a perfect description.) So, I start to explain my hard and fast rule about mauve — cue Meatloaf — “I would do anything for faux, but I won’t do that”, when she starts laughing and says “The crew thought it would be funny to bring it up and see your reaction!  Don’t worry, no one is thinking mauve.”

(…did I mention my crew got fired?…I kid, I kid!…I only thought about it seriously for like, a minute. Maybe ten.)

The point of this little story is that it got us thinking about all the left of center requests we’ve had that we’ve never said “no” to.  Sometimes a client will ask for something a little extra that we normally don’t get the chance to do.  (In fact, for the current client we are “adding some patina” to exterior planters and glass etching a full design into the pool bath’s two windows since they are currently see-through and right at body-level.  Really cool stuff.)? Here’s a few:

Backsplashes:  We have created faux backsplashes (left pic), tile backsplashes for future installation in a pool bath (middle pic) and a tile mural for an outdoor kitchen.

  

Fixes: (left pic) The client had an existing glazed ceiling and faux marble border.  They then had cabinetry installed which caused them to have to move a light fixture and break into the pre-painted border.  Our task? Fix the hole, mimic the existing faux marble border and make it look as if nothing had ever happened (right pic).

   

Casts:  Our client wanted an exact duplicate of her kitchen tile incorporated into her range cover.  So, we created a mold of the tile, made a paintable cast and then installed that in a linear design.

                      

Adding some oomph:  (left pic) Our client didn’t like her guest bath’s light pine cabinets and formica countertop.  We painted the counter to look like granite (stopping at the inner edge of the sink) and faux stained the cabinets to an antique cherry color. They are both very durable.  (middle and right pic) Client liked his black wrought iron gate but it looked too “new”. He wanted it to look aged, rusted, weathered. He was happy with the results.

    

Forgotten Fireplaces: The fireplace on the left was chipped, sported a drab color and had basically seen better days. The angel relief also did not fit into the incoming design scheme. (right pic) We removed the angel, filled in the hole, retextured the area and gave the whole piece a warmer color.  We also stained the concrete base for good measure.

   

Statues: Our client had small statues that she treasured but had deteriorated badly. She wanted a fresh, dark tone.  We sanded, cleaned, primed and colored our way to just that.

                     

I think I’ll keep adding “You Gonna Finish That?” posts from time to time.? It’s fun to see the transformation a little fixing and a little painting can have, no?

Title: Quote from Diner