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

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