Change is good! Or, one transformation leads to another ...

Change is good, for people and our spaces. In this particular case, my client (and friend) wanted her living room to feel warm and comfortable. She wanted people to want to come into her already beautiful home, sit down and stay awhile. A previous remodel had improved upon "builder white" flat walls with a three-color glaze. Everyday sheetrocked columns had been covered in tumbled marble tile.

Ten years later, my client wanted to warm it up. She had purchased new, comfy furniture, and built-in shelves on either side of the fireplace had been replaced. There was a new mantel and a generously sized TV over the fireplace. Yet, the frosty walls and cool gray tones of the columns were killing the comfy vibe.



New oversized furniture and rustic lamp
with a linen shade are much more casual.






















To begin the transformation, I suggested we bring down the 12-foot ceiling with a warm-toned metallic plaster. A new scaffold I bought myself for Christmas amazingly straddled this enormous sofa so I was able to work on the ceiling without moving the furniture out.

New ceiling is Antique Parchment Lusterstone,
a product from Faux Effects.



But as you might imagine, one project leads to another. And for me, that's not a bad thing. The ceiling turned out so warm and wonderful that my client wondered whether the walls were crying out for a warmer paint color. No problem. We needed to work with the new sofa, and the new ceiling. I didn't even flinch when I painted over my original 10-year-old glaze job with plain old vanilla paint in an eggshell finish. It's Sherwin Williams Basket Beige, to be exact. It blends beautifully with the Antique Parchment Lusterstone, and the sofa, but isn't matchy-matchy. Beautiful white crown moulding defines both perfectly.

After all this beautiful toasty transformation, the columns that had been wrapped in tumbled marble tile stuck out like ... well let's just say they needed a little help, in the form of a wash.

The columns before. Nice, but too cool.







A tinted Lime Wash solved the problem.
It dries lighter.  





The columns now blend in beautifully. And yes,
the white ceiling fan is on its way out. 

  

The change has been amazing and provides a perfect example of what I love most about what I do ... a completely transformed space and a finite sense of accomplishment. Although, from what I understand, the blue walls in the kitchen are now screaming for something warmer ...

(to be continued) 

In praise of progress ...

I can see the top of all of my desk. And for this I am very grateful. Now I can continue onward toward more interesting & profitable ventures, such as painting and completing creative proposals for eager clients.

But one recent development that I'm very excited about is a new retail outlet for pieces of my painted furniture. Finally! In the very near future, you'll be able to find my painted furniture, specifically vintage and antique pieces, at Back Alley Antiques, in Artisan's Alley in San Antonio. Stuff like this, some of which you've seen before:



A favorite piece, sold in an auction and now living out its sweet little life at my friend Marty's house. Lucky table.

This little chest couldn't make the trip to Back Alley. For one thing, it's not an antique, or even vintage.

It used to look like this:

But Wendy at Nesbit Living & Recovery Center had faith I could do something better with it. See, now it is very happy living between these two chairs, holding business cards and brochures. I get to go by and say hi whenever I go up there.

As far as antique stores go, Back Alley is great because the entire store is merchandised like a real store, rather than an overwhelming antique market maze with rows of vendor booths. Those tend to make me confused and annoyed. And God knows I don't need any more reasons to be confused and annoyed.

I painted a set of four ladderbacks with alternating black & camel-colored ostrich. Really fun.



This is a re-purposed find ... half of a table to be exact. I think it will make a great quirky side table or entry table piece. I still have this one and think I may add a little more glitz before it hits the market.

This is a great antique china cabinet I painted a while back for a client. I may not get this crazy at Back Alley, but you never know. This job called for some outlandish thinking outside the box.

I want to paint using some lighter colors, more beiges, maybe some blue or gray, ala Wisteria ... so I'm eager to get into my studio and see what I can whip up. And use the StucoLux product from Faux Effects. I know that's going on a table top asap. StucoLux is the next thing I'm going to become obsessed with ... but you'll have to wait for that because I can't find a photo ...

I'm still looking for another location somewhere around the state ... maybe Houston's Urban Market, so if anyone has a suggestion ... I want to hear from you!

Stars aligned, dream job wrapped, all is well...Amen

Sometimes, everything works out beautifully. A great job comes to me, great clients building a beautiful home in a dreamy development, great builder, agreeable designer. Pinch me. The job I finished today was just such a job. It really was wonderful in every way, this despite the fact that the clients moved in probably a month too soon. Which means they've been living with me, and cabinet makers and stainers and landscapers and pool guys and bobcat drivers and blind installers and bed bringers and rock layers and alarm putter-inner-testers all underfoot, oh just for the last month.

So when I say they are great clients, let me stress how wonderful they are because never once did they express seething hatred for anyone scurrying around their new dream home, in their way, at all hours of their newly retired day. I think I'm going to miss them.


This picture hardly reflects the richness of this kitchen island. I can't say how impressed I am with the Faux Effects Stain & Seal. I was always a Gel Stain girl. But on this job, I didn't kill any brain cells (that I know of) using anything oil-based. Yay for my brain, right?

All the cabinetry in the kitchen is stained a dark walnut-ish stain on knotty alder. They're beautiful cabinets, but the island is set off with an antiqued paint finish. The color is similar to Sherwin Williams' Tatami Tan, but it's really a special mix of Camel and Woody Yellow Setcoat, which makes it so much more durable.

The saying "it's all in the details" is such an understatement with this home. This ceiling treatment is so fabulous. It's in the family room and the man of the home's study/office. Gorgeous.

Are these travertine floors to die for or what? They're laid on the diagonal with the little marble insets. These floors delayed the job oh, a month or so. But I'd say they were well worth it. My client just had to have this chair and its twin. I think they look pretty good with my walls, which are very subtle, not screaming at you "look at me, I'm faux painted!!!!"

Here's another look at the hand-troweled walls. My antiquing finish, what we once called "tea-staining" was a custom blend of Faux Effects Faux Creme Clear, Earth Brown and Italian Sienna.

The powder room turned out really cool. The designer wanted to use one of those new hand-painted wallpapers, but the cost was apparently more than the client felt necessary. I was able to come up with something just as dramatic using a basecoat of Dark Brown Setcoat, plus Lusterstone in Charred Olive, Charred Gold, and a couple of gold Metalglow colors mixed with glaze. It is awesome. The picture above gives you a little bit of a hint, but hardly does justice. I seriously need to hire someone to go take pictures of this house and think I will once they really move in and install their artwork and decor.

So that's what I've been doing. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that I don't need to drive almost to Boerne everyday. But I'm sure I'll figure out something. La Posada is calling me: "Samiiiiii, I miss you ..... I'm only three hours away ..... I promise no drug lords will kidnap you while you loll about safely beside the pool with the swim up bar ..... "

Yesterday I was blessed to spend the afternoon in a house where I've done quite a bit of decorative painting. The original purpose of my visit was to discuss colors for our next project in the master bath. But of course when I enter this house I never want to leave, so I lingered and my client and I had a really nice visit. A continuing lesson for me is this: When you slow down and listen, and take time to engage, wow you can learn some stuff. I might not get as much done, but I think it's making me a better person.

In our most recent project, the client had the walls wallpapered, and I transformed the regular old sheetrock columns to complement the wallpaper (but not match exactly) using FE Metallic Bronze Setcoat & Brown Suede Lusterstone. The baseboards and windowsills were also painted with FE MetalGlow in New Penny Gold.

Decorative painting makes me a decent amount of money, but that pales in comparison to the friends and mentors the business has brought to me. That's the blessing part of it. I hope somewhere out there in all my jobs there will be a person that needs something I have so I can return the favor.

This Lusterstone powder room was one of the first jobs I took after recovering

from twin birth ... This is Lusterstone in Tequila Sunrise, Cantaloupe & Green Onyx.

When I first met the really smart woman of this house probably eight or nine years ago, I was told by the interior designer who hired me that the homeowner was "the sweetest woman you'll ever meet." Sweet? I don't know that I would use that word now that I have known her all these years. She is kind, and gentle and very, very wise. But I'm not into sugar these days and neither is she. She's much more than sweet.

My first job in this house was this kitchen remodel.

So anyway, I spent the afternoon doing what I once would have thought was frittering. Now I know it was time well-spent. What's really exciting is our next adventure, which will involve freeing my client from flowery wallpaper and transforming the walls in the master bath with a rich combination of Lusterstone in Bordeaux (a pinky red) and maybe Champagne Mist all mixed together. It's going to be fabulous. And I promise to show pictures just as soon as we're finished.

Do you really want to know this?

It's been so long since I have blogged, I almost wonder whether to blog and why? Does anyone need to know what I'm doing? Does anyone care?

I originally thought I'd blog to promote my work. As an artist, it's difficult to mix in marketing and promotion. In my perfect world, I'd retreat into my garage and not come out until I had created the perfect faux ocelot masterpiece on a shabby little piece of furniture someone had sold at a garage sale -- and then watch as my transformed masterpiece magically sold itself so I could buy some new shoes. When I work, I bust my hump, mostly to suit myself (which is a really hard job). Somehow the client almost always loves it. When it seems like I'm just doing a job for money, and not personally doing my part at beautifying the world, it's no fun. Maybe blogging is self-analyzing. Hmmm.

After that fascinating peek into my twisted personality, here's a gallery of sorts of what I did last year. Depending on how many images make my cut, it will be my Top 6 or 5. (six or five is just funner to say than five or six). These are in no particular order, because it's just a hassle to move the pictures around.

Patty's powder room. It's just pretty and you want to be in Patty's house because of Patty. Base color is SW Nomadic Desert.

My shower wall. This has everything but the kitchen sink on it, but includes Fauxstone Pull-off and a couple of colors of Lusterstone over SW Blonde. It makes me happy everyday.

Who doesn't love lime green bar stools? The antiquing stain makes them a little edgy.

The client wanted leopard. I procrastinated and couldn't find a stencil locally. I didn't know how to do leopard. So maybe two days before the install, I sat down with a printout of leopard skin and made it happen with a cheapy paint brush from my daughters' watercolors. I was quite pleased. God was with me that day, for sure, because I had no idea what I was doing.

Gwynne's powder room. It was so hard and it looks so good. This is Topaz Venetian Gem & wax, and that's all I'm going to tell you. When you walk into the room, you just have to reach out and touch the wall to see what it is.

Though I wasn't in love with this tile, the paint color on these cabinets was such a rich red. The only problem was the painters had cut it so thin everytime you brushed past them they'd scuff. So I antiqued and sealed them and they were awesome. The growling, teeth-baring, massive barking dog on this job that the client told me was just "all bark" and would "eventually leave me alone" made me really glad to get the hell out of that house.

I really worked on my skins last year. This looks like yummy dark brown leather.

Anything I did in a powder bath with this fabulous light fixture is going on my top list. I just love it. And I love the client with the balls to pick it out. When I am a few years older, I want to be like her. Tough and confident and rich so I can be philanthropic.

And then there was my favorite blog, I mean rant, of the year. If you are curious, just click here.

I miss my girls

I'm away from home again this week, being a rock star faux painter and missing my girls at home. This job entails texturing over old wallpaper, new base coat, and then two coats of Faux Effects' Lusterstone in Brown Suede and Champagne Mist in a master bath. The base coat is SW Nomadic Desert so it's all real neutral and peaceful and warm. And then there's a water closet upstairs that's going to get some new texture, a fix for the sheetrock and then some faux glazing over the top.

Before you think this all sounds real glamorous, let me stress my life on the road is far from fabulous. I don't set out to work all over the state, it just happened that I have some out-of-town assignments all jumbled up on top of each other. Last week I was out on a ranch in Dilley. This week it's Houston. I'm so tired I feel more like the traveling roofers that are sharing this less-than-glamorous Comfort Inn with me. Boy have I become spoiled. This hotel is just not doing it for me. I much prefer the Omni but their weekday rate is $359 "for business travelers." That rate must be for "business travelers" who aren't "in business" for themselves.

Anyway, I thought I would share some pictures of my gorgeous girls that I am missing so much. Here's a picture of Mary. She is 13 and loves taking pictures of herself. She's the light of my life on every day except those days when she's really living out that she's 13 and I'm whining that "she used to be the light of my life."

She can take some artsy photos, don't you think?

Here's a picture of Caroline. She's four years old. My sister-in-law Sallie took this picture at the Guadalupe County Fair & Rodeo when I was out of town retreating in West Texas. Notice the Flashdance, off-the-shoulder t-shirt she's wearing, along with her famous attitude. I did say I was out of town, so you can attribute this outfit to Daddy.

When I've been out of town for a few days, I even miss that attitude.

And finally, here's my little Catherine. These are older pictures, but they're my favorites because they totally "capture" her thoughtful side. I love her deep-thinking nature, and that she'll wear pearls and take her poodle to church.


Could our twins be any more different? Catherine is so girly girl. I took the picture below at her second birthday party. That's just about the time her hair really began to grow.

Everyone marvels over Caroline's blue eyes, but I think Catherine's are exceptional.

I took this picture below on the first day of dance this year. They just started their second year of Hermann Sons Dance and this year they love it. Don't they look like big girls?

This photo marks the first day Caroline agreed to let me put her hair up without a fight. I just love this picture because you can see that Catherine is so take-charge and has such a sassy walk.

I can't wait to get home tomorrow and snuggle them up.

The bathroom wall I'm currently in love with

My most favorite recent faux application -- lucky for me -- is in my very own bathroom. Philosophically, I'm really not into making something look like something else, which I guess what faux painting is supposed to be, after all. For some reason it makes me think of something my grandmother used to say: "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

While Mama was referring to "common" people without breeding or good manners, she hadn't yet seen some of things we can do nowadays with good painting materials and plain old sheetrock walls. Please let me whisper that our family can only claim manners, alas. And some of us don't do so well with those either.

Anyway, back to my favorite wall. Its basecoat is Sherwin Williams Blonde, which is a pretty great color in a light-filled house. I can be a little muddy in a dark little room without much natural light. Then, I used Faux Effects Lusterstone colors Antique Parchment, Silver Moss and Charred Gold. But my favorite part is the white, which is Faux Effects Fauxstone Pull-Off. That's my favorite product ever.

Sorry. This photo is a little blurry because I was trying to take the photo without a flash, in natural light. Still, you can get the idea.

I really love how how the Antique Parchment catches the light and looks gold. I did a similar application in a house on Treasure Island, in the middle of Lake McQueeney. Remember this?

This is the house with the sexy sink. I didn't do a very good job taking this photo and it looks a little blotchy, which it didn't in real life.

Now I need to go see about being a faux mother and cooking some real dinner.

Back on Task

Remember the little potting shed I painted for a powder bath. The sink was to be a bucket and the faucet a pump. Well there it is, installed. My client Susan certainly is clever, isn't she?

Sadly the walls in that powder room are still builder beige, but I have plans to transform them one day....

Here's the finished result of a brand-new cabinet that the painters mistakenly painted white. This cabinet was constructed to hold a Mega TV on top and other electronics behind the center doors, which will have glass. It was a brand new piece, but she didn't want it to look new. The top is Faux Effects' Venetian Gem in Tiger Eye. You can't see it very clearly in this picture but the front face has a very subtle stencil design that is raised over a background of Venetian Gem in Sage Green, which looks more blue than green if you ask me.

The insets on the drawers are the same Tiger Eye. Someday they'll probably feature hardware but my client is one of those thoughtful people who likes to live with pieces before deciding what they need.

Here's a closeup:
Once they move into their wonderful home in the country, I hope to be able to take some photos showing the rooms all set up. This TV cabinet is going to live to the right of a grand fireplace.

To Update You Before I Run Away

I'm running away to West Texas this weekend to bask in the peace and love of quiet isolation with my husband sans kids. We're really excited that we'll be able to converse without interruptions and mostly just lounge about. I can hardly wait.

I promised that I would bring you up to date on my recent endeavors so please forgive me if there is no rhyme or reason to this blog. It may be kind of like cleaning out the fridge and calling it dinner.

This is a kitchen island I am currently destroying, I mean transforming. It's going to be antiqued red and black when I'm finished. Mostly black, with just some sexy metallic red peeking through.

Get a load of this dramatic powder room. Isn't that just a special potty? What I like about this bathroom is that the homeowner rediscovered that painting in a guest bedroom or somewhere she never saw it because it was hidden by a door. My clients mother redecorated her bedroom when she was a girl and bought this painting at that time, 30 years ago or so. If I had seen that painting and used it for inspiration it couldn't have been a better match. There's a lot of gold on the walls that you can't really see.

Here's the sexy sink in the powder room. I wish my camera took better pictures of my walls. Trust me that they look better than this. It's a combination of Faux Effects Lusterstone and Faux Stone Pull-off.

OK, this is my top pick for cool powder rooms. First, how could it not be with that absolutely fabulous light fixture? And then, see the very subtle stencil applied in metallic silver ever so often around the room? I may have shown you this before, but I just love it. And it wasn't even my idea, by the way. That's why I'm raving about how cool it is. The subtle use of stencils is one of my current obsessions.

Here's an artsy shot of the light fixture over my dining room table. Too bad my finger found its way into the picture. This was free because it used to be shiny brass and ugly. Not any more. I would like to get some really wild chandelier shades. If you know where I should look, do tell.

And finally, here's a shot of my dear husband leading our sweet little Caroline to the car after my cousin Neal's wedding. Is that not the most beautiful picture? She's got her little bean bag puppy in one hand and her Daddy's hand in the other. We got there somewhat late and had to sit on the back row, where she flirted with her little friend Cade the entire ceremony.

Just to be fair, I'd better show you how beautiful Mary and Catherine looked that day:

Catherine is all about doing what will "make my hair grow long." Sometimes it's taking a bath, sometimes drinking water. It's a big motivating factor because even though she was born with more hair than her sister, it took her hair longer to get going. Once Caroline's bald head kicked into gear it grew really fast, into blonde ringlets. Catherine's hair really getting long, isn't it? Her hair reminds me of my grandmother's which was dark and curly to show off her really light skin. Catherine's middle name is Mae, after my grandmother, so that's just one of the reasons we think her "really long hair" is special.

Mary and her beautiful cousin Elyse. Mary's on the left. They were best little cousin friends when they were babies. However I just noticed they're not babies anymore.