A Fan Of Benjamin Moore Paints

One of my clients phoned me in February (just before I fell ill from the flu) to inform me that she and her husband are having baby number two and they needed to have baby nursery number two ready for the baby's arrival in six weeks. How exciting! I'm pleased to say that little Audrey arrived four days before her due date and I finished her room about an hour before she and mom arrived home from the hospital. I think she was ready to see her new nursery.


The room was based on the parent's choice of fabrics for the crib bedding, chair and curtains.

Can you believe the room started out like this?


Thanks to the new Benjamin Moore Aura paint I was able to cover this room in just two coats. That's right two coats of paint over that aubergine without priming! This paint costs a little more than the paint you'll find at other paint stores, but I assure you it is quality paint and will save you time and materials. If you live in Portland visit my friends Roy, Mark or Russ over at Kaleidoscope Paint - great guys and quite knowledgeable.

Here's the first nursery I did for this client - it is just across the hall from her little sister's room.


I'll be sure to repost pictures of the new nursery once all the furniture, curtains and accessories are in the room.

Busy Life and Catching The Bug

Greetings readers. I just wanted to say a quick hello and let you know that I'm still here. I was quite busy at the end of January and February finishing work for three clients - driving from one location to another getting it all done. Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks! That horrible 'ick' that's making its way around.

I'll be back soon with photos of the projects.

I hope all of you are great and staying healthy. See you soon!

Billiards & Faux Leather Go Together

This post is all about paint color selection and how to compliment a room by highlighting the beauty that already exists.

When I first saw this billiard room it looked like this.


The husband loves this room and each evening he enjoys shooting a game of pool after dinner.

I was shown this room because the husband saw my faux leather board while I was showing the couple my portfolio. He thought the faux leather treatment was so cool that he wanted to see what it might look like in this room. We walked down the hallway and they opened the door to this room with amazing south-western light, a gorgeous antique pool table, a fabulous custom tiffany light, and wonderful carpeting that wasn't even showcased because your eye never rested.

He was responsible for the wall color selection, but wasn't sure that they worked together. Can you see the two different green-blue colors on the walls? The paint color below the chair rail had more blue tint, and enough to throw your eye completely. The colors weren't horrible but your eyes wouldn't rest and settle when you walked into this room. Your eye bounced from the pool table to the walls, to the pool table to the walls. I felt stressed. This room needed to be grounded.

Right away I knew the faux leather would look great under the existing chair rail. My challenge was to convince them that the green on the upper portion of the walls needed to go away. I didn't want to hurt the husband's feelings because he was so proud of this room. But that green needed to go. There's enough of it in the felt on the table and in the lamp above.

Here is the end result.

He loves it! She loves it! I am told that he spends more time in here more than he did before. And the wife is happy because I made that carpet stand out.

Specialty Plasters - Dining Room Walls

So, you lived through another holiday season and have already thought about what you might do for 2008. This past year was fabulous and all the family gatherings around your dining room table were a success. But perhaps something was missing. Perhaps you realized your dining room needs to be showcased a little more than it does now. It needs just the right ambiance to enhance all that glitters and glows.

Dining room treatments were really popular for us in 2007 and we created some spectacular finishes. Our clients asked for all types of faux finishes that would help showcase their dining rooms which seem to get very little focus. Specialty plaster finishes like these were the most requested.

Here you have two examples of the same type of plaster but applied differently and of course tinted different colors. These dining rooms are in homes built by the same builder. Luckily the light fixtures are different or you might not believe me.

Can you envision your furniture in either of these rooms? Can you envision all of your holiday decorations sparkling and bringing these dining rooms to life?

Happy New Year!

I didn't want to wait any longer before wishing you a Happy New Year! Best wishes for 2008!

It's been crazy busy for the last month. We've done a powder room, a large kitchen/great room, and currently finishing up a small wine cellar, and getting ready to work on a new chiropractic clinic. All that and the holidays made for a very busy calendar. There was some time set aside for holiday cheer, decorating and busting out the sewing machine to craft a few gift items.


The images on these pillows were found in vintage children's books. Reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas was a Christmas Eve family tradition which my sister has passed on. I hope my sister enjoys her new pillows. I had such fun printing these out on fabric then assembling them. The sachets are filled with cinnamon and cloves. They are ornament size to help fill a tree, or hang on a door knob for holiday greetings, or can be placed in a drawer for seasonal scent. A perfect handmade gift!


There will be more decorative painting project photos soon -- stay tuned. Thank you for all your suport in 2007!

Fabulous Nursery Or Teenage Room

Are you ready for a lovely transformation? A gorgeous nursery for a baby girl due early January.


The only evidence I have that this is actually a before photo is the bedding. Almost everything else in this nursery is brand new. Babies don't sleep in beds you say? Well, the room also remains a guest room for now. Since the baby hasn't arrived yet, the crib hasn't made it into the room. But the new gorgeous furniture has!

The idea for this treatment came from the Faux International Magazine. When I saw the finish I immediately made a sample for my portfolio in hopes that a client would fall in love with it -- it has been in my portfolio since early Spring 2007.

I knew someday I would walk into a room that screamed for this treatment. Even the base paint in this room was a perfect fit. It was meant to be!

I'm not a fan of builders mudding the walls so thick they create a brocade substrate, but our final treatment in this room actually enhances the plaster technique and creates more ambiance with sparkle.

Don't you just love the two pink chandeliers? Fabulous!

Glamorous Bathroom Walls

In this business we do a lot of dramatic powder room and bathroom finishes. I think its because its a space that allows clients to be over-the-top dramatic - like you would see in a restaurant. Bathrooms are a good jumping off point when adding ambiance and drama to any home. Perhaps I'm showing my idealistic side and its really because most budgets fit this size space, but I'm going to continue to think its because I have clients that want the beauty of a fine finish to be seen by all.

This client's home which has been published several times is full of the most gorgeous interior designs. Word started spreading about this very talented homeowner who as a result of all the successful press and his innate talent for design has recently started his own design business.

The moment I walked into this Portland Foursquare and saw the living room I fell in love. The entire house is spectacular! I didn't want to leave. After listening to the clients telling the tale of this historical home and how they came to live in it, and discussing potential projects I asked for a tour. A tour helps me determine how I can create the best finish that suits the clients. We had been discussing a possible project in their guest bathroom. They had explained that they designed the guest bedroom to feel like a San Francisco boutique hotel suite, and the attached bath was now feeling a little flat. When I reached the second floor landing and saw the guest bedroom I almost screeched. My favorite color of green mixed with black and white and loads of glamor and glitz to make any girl swoon.


Once I saw the bedroom I knew immediately what I wanted to do in the bathroom. When I delivered the sample board a couple of weeks later that clients were so excited. I wanted the bathroom to accent that bedroom and have an updated, yet historical feeling. Most historical Foursquare Craftsman homes were either wallpapered or stenciled. So I created a custom plaster finish tinted to match the sheers on the window. Then I created a custom stencil pulled from the design in the bedding and randomly placed that over the vertical stripes.


This past May the clients were gracious enough to invite me to participate as a volunteer in The 2007 Irvington Home Tour so I could promote my business and talk about the finish. I planted myself in the corner of the bathroom which has two doors so I was able to talk to people about the walls as they flowed from the hallway into the bathroom and then into the fabulous guest room. Most of the people that came through thought the walls were wallpapered. It gave me a chance to explain my process which is a specialty plaster that has an iridescent quality.

Here's a before photo of the bathroom. Don't mind that fantastic Cymbidium getting watered in the tub.

So, if you don't have a huge budget for decorative finishes - start with a powder room or bathroom and go from there. You'll often have fantastic results!