Sneak Peaks of Upcoming Posts

By the last post date, it's obvious that we have been away for some time! There were probably 3~plus feet of snow on the ground back in February. And now,  we are in the middle of a heat wave in July. Triple digits are forecast again for today. Time flies when we are busy!

We've been working on several projects over the past 6 months.  This summer, we have a few weeks of down time...we will collect our thoughts (and photos), and post the completed jobs.

Here are some sneak peeks~

Susan & Tracey
FWS

Gilded Glass

Gilding glass, or verre eglomise is a centuries' old technique of etching, applying metal leaf and paint to the reverse of a glass surface. This is our 21st century spin on the process. We think you will agree that this a very elegant finish.

We first positioned the 'positive' weed stencil on the glass panel and masked off a decorative border. Metallic leaf size (adhesive) is applied to the exposed glass.

When the size is tacky, variegated, metallic flakes are evenly distributed over the entire glass panel.

The stencil design is then backed with copper leaf and burnished with a soft brush. This ensures full coverage of leaf when viewed from the reverse.

A coat of sealer is applied for protection. When the size and sealer are totally cured, the stencil is pulled.

The final installation is the door of a newly constructed bathroom vanity. Stunning!!

Imagine the possibilities! Tabletops, serving trays, french doors, mirrors, sidelights, transom windows...endless!!

More photos to come, as we have several gilding projects in progress.

Susan & Tracey

FWS

The 5th Wall

A few posts back, Julie's dining room, we mentioned our 'strong' opinion regarding ceilings. Well, here we go again, a dining room and it's ceiling. The dining room walls had recently received a strie treatment. Strie is a combed glaze finish created by pulling 1 or 2 tinted glazes over a base color, resulting in a very fine pin stripe. The clients, Mary & Paul, weren't sure if the color or the strie were right for the room. We offered 3 solutions: paint an additional stripe over the existing colors on wall, add color and a medallion to the ceiling or do both.

It was decided to start with the ceiling. Replacing the expanse of the white ceiling with a warm, complementary color would change the entire feeling of the room. And adding a medallion would anchor the chandelier. Mary & Paul's existing walls were blue and the window treatments gold dupioni silk. We chose a gold lusterstone to 'warm up' the blue walls and balance the fabric and hardwood floor.

We won't bore you with the details of the installation...standard trowelling and stencil procedure for FWS. What we will share was the exuberant reaction of the clients: It's as if the ceiling color and artwork had ALWAYS been there!!! They were beside themselves. And it's true. The 5th wall just shouldn't be ignored.

We are currently doing some personal shopping for them, assisting them in completing some unfinished decorating projects.

No more white ceilings!!

Susan & Tracey

FWS

Simply Beautiful, Simply Green

We would like to showcase one of our finishes...Jadecor. JaDecor is a natural wallcovering created from a unique combination of natural cotton and/or silk fibers. With the addition of dyes, metallics, mica and threads, the decorative possibilities are endless.

Believe it or not, this is JaDecor in it's 'before' state...a big pile of fluff. Hard to imagine putting this on a wall or ceiling. And, believe it or not, JaDecor is applied with a trowel.

In it's wet state, JaDecor resembles oatmeal. Perfect for trowelling!

Because the palette is endless, the finished result can be casual,

elegant,

or casually elegant.

We have installed JaDecor in bathrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, foyers, restaurants and a variety of commercial spaces. Like all of our finishes, JaDecor is a custom, one of a kind treatment. And, FWS is one of only a handful of certified installers in Connecticut.

Simply beautiful!

Susan & Tracey

FWS

Bathroom Nightmare

This was truly a bathroom nightmare. Very scary cherubs painted on a light blue bathroom ceiling. In the ladies' room... of a restaurant. The restaurant owner had expected roly-poly cherubs. Instead, she got skinny elves with pointy chins.

We are not bashing the artist. The client was just not happy with the work. She had let go of the idea of a cherubic ceiling and was looking for a quick fix. And a quick fix it was!

We went in immediately and painted the offensive ceiling black. Getting rid of the blue ceiling (not to mention the cherubs/elves) was an immediate improvement. The walls had already been glazed with a metallic bronze over black, so the black ceiling gave the ladies' room a more cohesive look.

Of course, we did not stop there. We decided to layer a stencil over the bronze glaze. And since this was a quick fix, we went to our library of stencils. The large damask cartouche that we had used in Julie's dining room was the perfect fit. The all-over stencil went up quickly, using a copper metallic glaze.

The owner was thrilled with results.

Small bathrooms can be jewel boxes. Have we mentioned this before? A professional opinion here: the best way to ease color and pattern into your home is in a small bathroom.

Start with a bathroom!

Susan and Tracey

FWS

Yes, We Do Windows

Yes, we do windows...

and roosters

and fountains

and mosaic counter tops

and a Celtic Cross.

Bring it on.

Susan and Tracey

FWS

The Blue Buffalo Co.

The folks at The Blue Buffalo Co. are sooo lucky.  They get to bring their dogs to work!!  Blue Buffalo is a natural, holistic pet food company, based in Wilton, CT. Very cool company...the dogs and their people.

The Blue Buffalo Co. offices had moved into a new location, prompting a redesign of the lobby. Although an interior designer was involved with the overall plan, the company had a very clear idea of what they wanted. The vision was to feature the logo on an accent wall of imported barn siding from Canada. Kind of a vintage, old feed store look...as if the buffalo logo had always been on the side of that old barn.

We first projected "Blue", the buffalo, onto the wall. Next, we used a Modello stencil for the positioning of the lettering. All images were painted with iron paint.

Once the paint had cured overnite, we carefully spritzed and sponged on a metal reactor. This is a solution that forces the iron paint to rust. We let the images 'rust' over the weekend.

Having achieved the desired rustiness, we dry-brushed the images with a custom blue glaze, then randomly sanded back color and rust. We went back and forth with the glaze and sandpaper, until we felt the logo was as aged as the barn boards.

The end result was just as The Blue Buffalo Co. had envisioned. It's as if their logo had, indeed, been on the side of that old barn in Canada.

Bring your dogs to work if you can!

Susan and Tracey

FWS