Dramatic Dining Room and Foyer Ceiling Makeover

My client of many years wanted to update the painting in her home. When she moved to her new home, for some reason she hired another artist to do some work for her. They did a fabulous job in the powder room, but the dining room was lacking, for a dining room. It would have been super cute for a kids room or a nursery (see cloud mural below). She wanted to paint over it and do something more elegant. There was also a unique trey ceiling in the foyer as well. We had done a metallic wax finish in the coffered ceiling of her family room several years ago. It had a chocolate base with champagne, gold and bronzey red metallic.

All three ceilings needed to work together. We were repainting the walls to have a warmer, copper undertone. So we decided to do a very similar finish in the foyer. Instead of gold we used copper. We also pulled the copper from the foyer into the dining tray ceiling. Treating the trim the trim of both ceilings with copper leafing added more drama and eliminated some white trim with out feeling the need to do all the trim. Here's the before dining and foyer photo.

Dining ceiling before

Foyer ceiling before

 

Both ceilings were taped off and painted a chocolate brown, including the trim. Then we taped off the trim so we could finish the ceilings. 



 

The dining room ceiling was painted a red bronze metallic in a brush metal technique.

 





When that was dry, we added a copper metallic glaze. This added additional dimension to the ceiling and softened the contemporary feel of the brushed metal technique.





After this dried overnight, we were able to tape off the ceiling so that the trim could be completed. We did the dining ceiling trim and the foyer ceiling trim in the same color and technique. I order all of my leafing supplies from The Gilded Planet. They have everything you could ever need for gilding. For all the foodies out there, they even have edible gold leaf! That's something I must try someday!

Back to our trim. We applied one coat of water based size. It goes on milky, but dries clear. Once dry, it will remain tacky for 24 hours. Size is what makes the sheets of leaf stick to your surface. It dries pretty quick, less than 1 hour. Now the fun part.. we start applying each 6" x6" copper leaf square side by side. I love an old worn look so I don't work about cracks and holidays. It adds to the character. You can get total coverage if you want that look.

It's very Las Vegas shiny at this point. You can burnish it to tone it down but I prefer to glaze it with an umber oil glaze or even stain can work. I talk about metal leafing in a bit more detail in my Silver Leafed Chest of Drawers post. The Gilded Planet also has some excellent tutorials.

After painting the foyer ceiling brown, we applied our 3 metallic wax colors, champagne, copper and burnished red with a brush then blended it together with a flexible trowel. If you are curious about the technique, let me know and I'll do a tutorial.

 



We did the trim the same as the dining ceiling trim. Once everything was dry, we glazed the ceiling and the trim with the same umber glaze.


Copper metallic tray ceiling

Metallic wax tray ceiling



So which ceiling do you like best?



 



Fabulous Copper Leafed Dining Room Ceiling

As you know, I am not a professional photographer. My work is very visual and sometimes the camera just doesn't do it justice. If I have done work for you, I am sure you know decorative finishes always look so much better in person. Throw in the metallic, shimmery element of many of my favorite finishes and it's even worse. That being said, many of my projects go unphotographed or unblogged because they are lost in translation of the photos.
However, this particular project, that was not the case. Leafed or guilded ceilings always look AMAZING!

 

The process is really cool, albeit labor intensive. After all, hand applying hundreds of 5" square, very thin "leaves" takes some time. I've shown you silver leafing on some furniture in the past. http://savardstudios.blogspot.com/2012/04/silver-leafed-1900s-chest-of-drawers.html
http://savardstudios.blogspot.com/2012/05/animal-print-silver-and-gold-leafed.html

Painting the ceiling chocolate

So the process is the same, only larger. We started by painting the ceiling a chocolate brown in an eggshell finish. One coat is sufficient since it will mostly be covered by copper, but you want a color to peak through here and there. Next, it is very important to layout some grid lines so that you can keep your leafing somewhat on track. Otherwise, it will be curving allover the place and your client will think you've been drinking. The lines are more a guideline, but extremely helpful.

Gridlines

If you have a million dollars, they also put the leaves on a roll and you can roll it on in straight lines if that is important to you. I like the distressed old world look, so the old fashioned way works for me. If you forget this step and do it after the sizing, the leafing won't stick to your lines (I know this from experience. I know, I know, but I do occasionally make a mistake). Next, is the sizing (the sticky stuff that the copper sheets stick to). It's milky going on, but dries mostly clear.

Sizing

Then, we start applying the leaves. You can't breathe during this time or you'll blow the leaves to the floor or worse, breathe them in. Mmmmm, six hours with no air...I think I'm beginning to understand my problem. With multiple people applying the leaves we try to spread out in different directions so that we are not all bunched up in one corner of the room at the same time. Reminds me of a Tetris game. A bad Tetris game. If you've played, you know what I'm talking about.

Now that the entire ceiling is leafed it's very shiny. Unless you are a raccoon, it's a bit much for most peoples taste.

So we use an oil glaze or stain to tone it down. I used a rusty tone for the copper to really make it rich looking. It's quite a different look with the glaze.

The finished look is gorgeous! I am newly inspired to work on a few of my ceilings. To finish off the room, we added a soft copper metallic glaze to the walls. It all tied together beautifully! 

I will be posting these to Houzz soon. If you want to keep up with more of my new projects, follow me. http://www.houzz.com/pro/paintingthetownus/painting-the-town-inc  And as always I would love your reviews and feedback and feel free to share. Enjoy!