Spring Madness Not to Be Confused with March Madness

I know I'm not the only blogger out there feeling the additional pressure that Spring brings. Many of us are publishing fewer posts than normal. Even if you don't blog, this is a high pressure time of year. Pressure to garden, pressure to complete projects before the kids are home for the summer, pressure to enjoy the beautiful weather (Ok, maybe that doesn't count), final exams, school wrap up, weddings, graduations...need I say more? Did your heart race just thinking about it?
So needless to say, I'm way behind. Been busy creating just not posting. My youngest graduates high school in one month. My husband turns 50 at the end of the month. I must be a trophy wife 'cause I'm no where near that age! Ha, I wish. And we typically do a big annual summer party late May. So we need to plan a graduation party, a 50th birthday party and the annual party. My head may explode!
We did get away last weekend with some of our awesome friends. This was our 4th annual wine tour! Fondly called our "One Glass at a Time" tour. Our friends, Terri and David do an incredible job planning this every year.

There are a ton of vineyards/wineries right here in North Carolina. If  you haven't checked them out you really are missing out. We drive a few hours and have lunch, then we start on our pre mapped out tour. We usually hit 3-5 places and do their tour and tasting. A few of our favorites are Laurel Gray and Raffaldini. We always meet great and interesting people.

We end close to our hotel and always have an awesome dinner. This year we dined at 21 & Main in downtown Elkin. I had their lamb chops. They were wonderful! If you find yourself in Elkin you should check it out.

Lamb chops with Mint, Broccolini and Potatoes

Monday, I drove 5 hours to Eastern North Carolina to do the annual faux finish touch up in one of my favorite clients 26,000 sq.ft. home. He is a famous author and most of you can probably guess who it is. Here's a few of my favorite finishes in his home. This is a 22K gold leafed coffered ceiling. My friends at the Gilded Planet were vey helpful on this since I had never used actual gold before. It's MUCH thinner than the imitation stuff.

22Karat Gold Leafed Coffered Ceiling

We embedded the words of the first paragraph of his most popular book in this metallic plaster wall. Very subtle but stunning. With textured products you must use adhesive stencils. Cindy can custom make anything you need over at V-mask Foils and Stencils.

 

You saw this vanity in my last post. We did a champagne leaf finish on the walls in this powder room. Silver leaf with a warm glaze to make it more of a champagne color.

 

 

This powder room was a tissue paper texture with a red metallic paint and umber glaze. We used a graphite glaze on the black trim. 

 

In this bath, we stried a blue metallic plaster, then top trowelled a cream and tan metallic plaster.

 





I spent all day Tuesday touching up minor dings in the finishes, then drove back home. It was a long day and I'm very sad to report my thighs are actually sore from going up and down steps all day. I really need to get back to boot camp.
I have a really cool project I'll be working on this week, so I'll be sure and post about it soon. It involves contemporary circles and silver leaf. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook if you want to see it as it happens.
Then late tomorrow I'm going in for a gastric endoscopy. I've been having some stomach issues for quite some time and am finally frustrated enough to have it checked out. I'll keep you posted on the results.
In closing, I will leave you with this. (My hubby got this for me.. I'm trying not to take it personally.)

 



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?



 



Dramatic Ceilings

I recently began uploading my portfolio to Houzz.com. Another awesome, viral website that is growing like crazy! Anyone looking for new ideas, products or professionals for anything home design related should be looking here. To increase my ranking on Houzz, I need reviews from those familiar with my work. If you are a past client, please take a moment to check it out and let me know if you would be interested in leaving a review. I would really appreciate it! Find me here  http://www.houzz.com/pro/paintingthetownus/painting-the-town-inc.
During the process, I realized I've had some wonderful opportunities to work with terrific clients on amazing projects. Ceilings in particular can be very dramatic. I'm including a few from the past that I thought you might enjoy seeing. Perhaps a little inspiration?

Mediterranean Dining Room design by Charlotte Artist And Artisan Painting the Town, Inc.

Mediterranean Kitchen design by Charlotte Artist And Artisan Painting the Town, Inc.

Mediterranean Hall design by Charlotte Artist And Artisan Painting the Town, Inc.

Mediterranean Entry design by Charlotte Artist And Artisan Painting the Town, Inc.

I am so inspired to create some new and wonderful ceilings this fall!! Will yours be next?