Faux Painting (it's not just for girls!)

I just completed a faux finish in a bachelor pad!  It was in the master bathroom...he is not even a metro-sexual...he is a deer hunting, fishing, Duck's Unlimited kind of guy!  (if you understood the Duck's Unlimited reference, you know EXACTLY what kind of man I am talking about!)  In fact, I met him when I was painting in a woman's home all weekend while her husband was on a deep sea fishing trip.  As I was finishing up the lady's project on Sunday, the guys came home and proceeded to unload their catch.  When my bachelor walked in, he was very interested in the transformation that had taken place over the weekend and loved my work.  Before I knew it, we were talking shop, and next thing you know, I was painting his master bathroom.  I don't think he would have ever set out to hire a faux painter, but as fate would have it...we crossed paths.  He had just renovated his master bathroom, and had some very pretty tile work done, along with granite counter tops. He knew he had some texture work to do, so what a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone...have it faux finished with a textured treatment.  Now, this fella is from Louisiana, so fleur-de-lis are his thang!  I just so happen to love both Louisiana and fleur-de-lis, so I was very inspired!  It was wonderful, because he told me what he wanted, and let me run with the ball.  Let me tell you, that is the best way to get your money's worth out of me, because I will pour my heart and soul into a new idea that gets my blood stirring.  His tile was in the earthy beige tones, and his border work was a metallic pewter fleur-de-lis pattern, so that got the ball rolling. 

Pure inspiration right there!  I had my entire vision when I walked in the room.  His cabinets and doors were "factory" white, so I shared a vision with him of rustic cabinetry and trim, after that, he was hooked (notice how I picked up the fishing lingo so quickly?) so we proceeded with paint from ceiling to floor! 

First I had to apply the texture to the wall.  This is done with a trowel.  I named my trowel, because she is my most prized possession!  I use her for almost every job I do.  I call her Lucy, and Lucy is a hard working lady!  Later on you will meet Ethel and Little Ricky!  I use a texture called Rough Irregular Texture, made by Proceed.  http://www.proceedsystem.com/  This is a line of products that was created by artists but designed specifically for faux painters.  I have used almost all of their products at one time, and I highly recommend them!  In Houston, their products can be found at Epic Paint on Jones Rd. 

After two coats of texture dried a bit, we added a raised fleur-de-lis stencil, randomly on  all walls.  This was done by troweling the texture over a fleur-de-lis stencil, and carefully removing it.

All of this had to dry overnight.  The next day, the fleur-de-lis were painted pewter, an oil based glaze (for bathroom durability) was added, along with a hint of sparkle.  (just a hint...remember Ducks Unlimited!) A Dark Walnut glaze was added to the cabinets in short strokes and shading to look just like wood.  The ceiling was painted with an old world application of silver and pewter to match fleur-de-lis on wall and tile.  I went back at the end and added shading anywhere I thought it needed it.  I basically aged around the top of walls, corners and fleur-de-lis for dimension.  Behold the reveal.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

There's more:

Note the hint of sparkle?  How about the pewter ceiling, this was something new for me, I usually put bronze on the ceiling with a treatment like this, but I wanted to tie in the pewter from tile and fleur-de-lis on walls. 

This turned out very rich, luxurious, but not to feminine.  It is a very earthy and masculine look.  He loved the end result, and was especially pleased with the cabinets and doors that look exactly like we carved them out of wood!

So as you can see, faux painting is not just for girls.  Would your husband or significant other dwell in this bathroom?  You would be surprised, I will show you my daddy's bathroom in a later blog.  As he would say, "This is one fine crapper!"

On that note, I will leave you to have a wonderful day!

Hugs and kisses,

Nee' Nee'