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!

Formal Room Transformations - Final Product

Our team has worked hard this week to transform the three rooms from Mondays blog. I'm sure you've been anxiously awaiting the final pictures. All three ceiling are dramatically different, but flow very well from room to room. The dining room ceiling is fantastic! A warm silver metallic blend with a chocolate glaze. Very elegant!

And the green on the walls is the perfect complement. The drapes aren't in yet, but will really pull the chair fabric and wall and ceiling colors all together. They are a black silk with scrolling leafy vines in taupe, red and green embroidery.

The foyer ceiling carrys the dining wall color along with the bronze from the study and the study drape fabric design. The green metallic plaster gives a beautiful silky shimmer inside the coffering. For the scroll design, I enlarged this picture of the study drapes to print on 4 sheets of paper. I taped them together and taped carbon paper to the back. I centered and traced the design into each of the foyer ceiling panels. Then using a chocolate glaze and a blend of bronze and gold, handpainted the design.

We also painted and glazed the wood trim to blend with the wood front door. Much more dramatic than the flat white before. The final product!

And finally, the study ceiling is a perfect blend of the chocolate, gold and champage. We used the same brown base color on the walls and ceiling. In the tray, we trowelled on three wax colors in champagne, gold and chocolate bronze. This was finished with a chocolate glaze as well. The medallion was painted with bronze metallic and lightly dry brushed with a metallic gold.

With the new uplighting, these ceilings will be conversational, showstoppers. Another happy client! For more great visual ideas, check out my website at www.paintingthetown.us.

Formal Room Transformations

Our challenge this week is transforming the walls, ceiling and some trim in the formal dining room, study/home office and entry foyer. It's a stunning house in a beautiful neighborhood, south of Charlotte, NC. We have some artwork and window treatment fabrics that have guided our color selection.

Here is the before shot of the dining room ceiling. Just a big boring rectangle.

Our homeowners have choosen a beautiful sage green for the walls Benjamin Moore color 2142-40. To add some drama to the space, they have choosen a beautiful warm silver metallic for the ceiling with a warm chocolate glaze. The picture to the left is a sample of we plan to do.



For the study, we wanted some warmth and depth. The beautiful trey ceiling barely noticable as is.

We chose a chocolate brown (Benjamin Moore color HC-73) for the walls and soffit. For the trey ceiling, we chose a multi color trowellable metallic wax finish with a glaze.

The foyer walls we are leaving for another time to flow into the rest of the house. But the ceiling is going to be fantastic! It's pretty unnoticable now. It's a barrel coffered ceiling. But all one color and light.

We are going to paint and glaze the barrel trim to look like wood. Inside the wood coffers, we will use a sage green similar to the dining room wall color. But it's a spectacular green metallic plaster! This sample does not do the finish justice (or maybe it's my phototgraphy skills or lack of?).

This is a trowelled finish and there are numerous metallic plasters out there. Someday soon, when I have enough followers asking questions, I will reveal my sources. This sample shows a beautiful stencil done in glassbeads. We didn't want the raised texture of the glass beads, so we will be using a sheer bronze paint. Once the plaster is complete, I have a custom design we will hand paint in the center of each panel. The design has been pulled from the pattern in the study window treatment. This will keep us busy this week. (Please send massage therapy gift certificates if you are feeling generous.) I hate to leave you hanging, but we must finish before I can show the final product. If you need some immediate visual drama, check out my decorative painting website at www.paintingthetown.us. Otherwise, please check back on Friday to see the finished room transformations.  See after pictures here http://savardstudios.blogspot.com/2012/01/formal-room-transformations-final.html.