Happy Holidays!

Friendly Wishes for

a Warm and Wonderful

Holiday Season!

Susan and Tracey

Finished With Style, LLC.

Spoken for in Westport

Remember when we showed you the photo of the kitchen in the Westport rental...six months ago?!  To make a very long story short, we ended up refurbishing the entire house.  Yep!!  Overhauled  the entire house!!  Plaster repairs, paint, lighting fixtures, tiling, hardware, floors refinished, laundryroom moved, basement refinished. Of course, we had help from the 'trade': carpenter, electrician, plumber, to mention just a few.      

We could go on and on about the state of the house and the extent of work done, but basically this house was brought into the 21st century with repairs and cosmetic updates.  After many weeks of work, all was complete and the house rented after 2 showings.  We think the before and after photos speak volumes, so enough said!!

We have been very busy since the completion of Speechless in Westport...lots of work to show. Business/ blogging  resolution for 2011?  To blog on a weekly basis.

 

Susan and Tracey

FWS

A Jewel Box

Quite often, we are hired by clients who are afraid or unsure of putting color and finishes on their walls and ceilings. Recent clients, Rita & Dave were definitely in this category. After showing them our portfolio of sample boards, they decided to start small in their very grand home. They decided to have us finish a powder room. If they liked that, well, then we would go from there.

We were working with a 6' x 8' powder room, tiled floor, beautiful gilded mirror, sconces and chandelier, custom window treatment. Beige walls. White ceiling. The new color palette was inspired by the window treatment fabric. Finishes were chosen for the walls, ceiling and ceiling medallion to complement the accents in the space.

The walls and ceiling were basecoated, then burnished with tinted waxes, resulting in a high-polished finish, not unlike Venetian plaster. The medallion was basecoated in black, then drybrushed with gold metallic paint to mimic the gilded accessories. The new moulding was aged with a gold glaze, accentuating the carved details.

TaDa!! A beautiful jewel box.

And, now, over their fear of finishes, work has continued throughout their beautiful home.

Much more to follow!!

Susan & Tracey

FWS

Form Follows Function

This was a fun and functional project in Breda's kitchen.  Rather than cluttering up the fridge door with magnets and stuff, why not put a decorative magnetic board right onto the wall?   And why not make it a lovely restaurant-style menu board with gold leaf scrollwork?

That's exactly what we did for Breda.  We selected a 2' x 3' decorative frame stencil to fill her blank wall.  We masked off the area of the frame's scrollwork and painted it out with 3 coats of magnetic paint. 

 

 

The magnetic paint was then given a decorative coat of color with a textured bronze paint.  The stencil was installed on top of the magnetic area and given a basecoat of black paint.

Once the paint was dry, a coat of size was applied. The stencil was then removed, and a variegated gold-leaf was added.

 

And voila! A beautiful magnetic board/wall! Another great idea would be to install this stencil with chalkboard paint, rather than magnetic. Either way, the grocery list becomes a piece of artwork.

 

Susan and Tracey

FWS

Speechless In Westport

Sometimes, there are just no words.

This a rental property 911 emergency call.

Another 'yikes' kitchen...

...we love a challenge.

Updates soon.

Inspiration: Found

The inspiration for Julie's dining room was found in her choice of fabrics, and her desire for an all-over damask.  After presenting the initial sample boards, Julie decided on a combination of technique and color. The damask pattern was then chosen; the same 'chandelier' cartouche used in the samples, 14" high.  For   the ceiling finish, we opted for Lusterstone, custom-tinted to match the draperies with the medallion stencil complementing the wall pattern.

We would like to express a professional opinion here.  We feel VERY strongly about ceilings.  This is the 5th wall...never leave it white!!  Especially if you have beautiful crown mouldings and coffered beams, as this dining room does. Color on the ceiling completes the room, makes the trim pop and will feel like its always been there.  You'll want to paint every ceiling in your home...no kidding...clients have done this!!  Either bring the color of the flooring up, or use a color that is a slight contrast to the walls.  Trust us on this!!

First up...the coffered ceiling.  It was basecoated in Richmond Gold, followed by 2 passes of Lusterstone custom tinted in the same.  The medallion stencil was then installed.

The walls were then basecoated in Blue Danube.  We trowelled on 2 coats of Soft-Tex, also custom tinted to match.  Soft-Tex is a plaster that adds soft highs and lows to the wall, giving the appearance of fabric.

 The walls were measured and marked for the registration of the stencil.  The first pass of color was Lusterstone tinted in the Richmond Gold.  Working with a production stencil of 2 images up, we worked our way around the room with the 'whole' cartouche and then went back in to complete the corners, tops and bottoms. 

After the first pass was completed, we toned down the entire damask pattern with a wash of the Blue Danube Soft-Tex. 

The completed dining room walls have a very soft, aged feeling.  A little shimmer, but not too formal.  And the ceiling...the icing on the cake!!  As mentioned earlier, we have very strong opinions about the 5th wall.

This particular ceiling has very dramatic architectural features that were lost against the sea of white.  Now, stunning in gold!!  Need we say more?

 

The sitting room across the hall was completed in a similar color palette: Richmond Gold on the walls, and a very pale blue on the coffered ceiling.  Perfect visual balance upon entering the home's foyer.

Julie recently informed us that she and her family are now using their dining room on a daily basis.  Amazing what artistic inspiration can do for a room.

Until next time...

Susan and Tracey

FWS

Finding Inspiration

 

Some clients know exactly what they want...they have a very clear vision in their head. Others work with a designer, who helps create that vision for them. And some clients are in-between.

A recent client was 'in-between'. Julie had ordered window treatments for 2 formal living spaces; her dining and front sitting rooms. A designer had helped her select fabrics based on existing upholstered pieces. And then recommended us for wall and ceiling finishes, rather than wallpaper.

 

Choosing fabric first is always the best inspiration for selecting paint colors. There are MILLIONS of colors that can be matched to fabrics. Don't arm yourself with a paint chip and expect to easily find fabric to match...let the fabric do the choosing for you.

Once you have chosen your fabrics, grab a fan deck of paint chips, and choose colors in the space to be painted. You will need to purchase samples, paint swatches on the walls, then watch what happens to the color in the changing light. Phewww!!

Working with Julie's fabrics, we selected a palette of blue and gold to be used on the walls and the ceilings in both spaces. Julie had a vision of an all-over damask pattern in her dining room. She knew she wanted some texture and not an extremely formal feeling. Based upon this and other factors (flooring, lighting hardware, adjoining rooms), we created four wall sample boards for Julie to choose from. Sample boards are just what they sound like...samples of techniques and colorways on 1' x 2' hardboard.

After living with the sample boards for a week or so, Julie was having a difficult time making a decision. She loved 2 boards...so we reworked the technique and color, creating 2 more boards to choose from.

Two more decisions would follow the final choice for the dining room walls: the actual all-over damask pattern and the finish for the coffered ceiling and medallion stencil. Our next post will show Julie's choices and the step-by-step process of an all-over damask.

Until then, get inspired and go paint a room!

Susan and Tracey

FWS

That 70's Bath

Back to Sally's apartment in NYC!!   We were puzzled with what to do to this tiny 5' x 7' guest bath.  One wall is mirrored with an open fluorescent-tube fixture;  the remaining 3 walls painted white.  Black and white tile covers the lower half.   Overall, it had a very 70's feel about it.  The challenge again was to update the surfaces without a demo.

Before

Sally had considered leaving the walls white, and hanging large art prints.  Or possibly...dare we say it?..wallpapering the space.  Well, you can guess what we had to say about that!!  We tossed some ideas around and came up with a great design...a custom, all-over art stencil...funky, yet with a deco feel that would work with the existing tile 

First, we started with a slate grey Lusterstone plaster.  Lusterstone has a beautiful shimmer when it is burnished. We also did the ceiling in a very pale silvery-grey.

Lusterstone was applied first to the wall and ceiling. 

Next we transferred the art onto contact paper, then installed the paper.

Installed stencil

 Using an exacto blade, we very, very, carefully cut and removed the negative areas.

Cut stencil

We then applied another coat of the plaster in a much deeper grey Lusterstone.

Applied a 2nd coat of product

Finally, we removed the contact stencil and...

...Ta daa!!

Please note the infinity effect of the pattern in the mirror...this, of course, was by design ;-).

The pattern wraps PERFECTLY around the room!

One bathroom down, one more to go.  We'll post the 2nd bath soon, along with final photos of the apartment...new stainless appliances and backsplash in the refurbished kitchen, and decorating updates in both bathrooms.  Until then, we're back in CT, busy with other jobs.

Susan and Tracey

FWS