Changing the Look to builder’s Vanity

Who wouldn’t want a Master Bath with all the latest fixtures? Wonderful stone flooring, counter tops, shower and bath surrounds. A retreat, spa like, with every amenity you could think of to pamper both body and soul. Vanities that have the look and feel of fine furniture. I think we all have dreamed of such a room.  In remodeling a bath, it can be one of the most expensive rooms in your home to do so. Many times you have to enlarge the space to have all that you want . You might have to rearrange the fixtures that at present, are not working for you in their present lay out. Then there are the ones that are just out dated in their look, every thing works and they are in good condition, but so builders bland.

Many of us would want to start all over when it comes to our bathrooms, but it is expensive and takes many weeks for a change to happen. If you can’t spend the thousands of dollars it would take for that prefect bath, do the quick inexpensive fix of paint, new knobs, new lighting and maybe a little added trim to keep you sane till you can up date.

Such is the case with this nice sized Master bath. When this home was purchased, the walls in the bath were wall papered. That was the first to go and the walls were then painted. The color scheme came from of all things, polished small stones, a small painted iron and wood table, and gold Fleur-de-lis.

The paint color (large paint sample)matches the iron part of the table.  Benjamin Moore #1564 named Beach Glass.

The wood part of this table is painted a green that closely matches BM #474. The fabric for a chair seat and a round ottoman was chosen because the pattern’s scroll was that of this green color but with it’s iridescent quality changes to the blue and had the gold back ground.

A ceiling fan was removed and replaced with an iron and crystal chandelier.

Now on to the Vanity:

Well, we have all seen these, painted the same color as all the trim work in the house.

New pulls were purchased and had a wider spread so first thing was to drill new holes and fill the old. Sanding and priming came next.

 The Vanity and two medicine cabs were painted the same color as the walls.  Then just the fronts of the doors and drawers were Lime washed. *At this point you might want a smoother feel to the vanity and if so, skip the lime wash as this will add a texture to the finish. Also, plaster Fleur-de-lis were applied to the fronts of the medicine cab. doors.

The next part is where you want to work in a messy way with a buff color wash. Spread it on with a sponge brush and then wipe some of it off with a rag.  At this point it looks bad.

 

You will want to add more of the wash to the edges. I should stop here and say that if you need every thing to be in pristine condition, this might not be a treatment you want to try. This is an old looking paint treatment.

 

Add a gold metallic paint to edges and to any crevasses. Again, I didn’t want this neatly done, if you do, there are gold leafing pens that you can use.

  

This is the point that you might ask yourself “What in the heck am I going to do with this mess?”,Well there is more washes to come, so don’t give up and call a painter. Add more washes and wipe off the glaze till it has an old look.

I used two different color glazes for the wash, one in a buff and one in taupe. The taupe color that is darker was used on the outer edges of the doors and drawers and the lighter buff in the centers.

The finish look:

With new pulls in brass that adds a French look to the paint treatment.

The chair that’s cane seat had seen better days was removed. The dark stain was sanded and it was washed in a gold metallic paint then waxed. Webbing was used for the base of seat, foam and batting made up the seat cushion then it was upholstered in the fabric.

Other small changing to this once white master bath was the replacement of the ceiling fan with the chandelier, switch and outlet plates changed to brass, and a mirror that was framed with beveled mirror was framed in wood molding and also painted with the gold wash. The glass block window had plantation shutters installed.

In the Water Closet room the walls were plastered in the green color and a raised Plaster leaf frieze was applied and gold leafed.

 

This was a easy fix for an all white Master Bathroom that didn’t cost that much, and the time to complete was only a couple of weekends. This might not be the look you would want but it might help you to see that even if you can’t have that spa bathroom now,  There is always something you can do now to have that feeling.

The travels that inspire.

After last weeks posting my Dining room Mural, I took some time looking back at pictures from Tuscany that I took. There is some thing that draws visitors to just looking and taking pictures of Doors. These are just a very small collection of some of the doors from Volterra, the place depicted in the mural.

  Love the carving of these doors, I had to have a close look and a touch.

This one has new plantings.

This one has this wonderful color.

This is a back door, seeing only the shutter doors.

Store fronts intermingle with residents, wouldn’t you love having fresh flowers next door to your home?

Or, a restaurant with this quaint out door dining?

Or, fresh Produce displayed every morning, right down the stone paved street?

Is this their version of Boar’s head meats?

Of course there is always laundry day, it is part of living there.

What a happy site to see the Stars and Stripes at this store front.

Back home to the Villa, it has a more modern Iron and glass door with a center lever with lock. I do prefer the older wood doors but this door will get you to look at how it works and locks.

Hope you enjoyed the tour and the small part of their every day life.

Mural for the Dining Room

After moving into my new home and taking a trip back to Italy, I knew that I would be painting a mural some where in my house. The dining room was perfect not only in wall space but there were two columns and an arch to the entry into the dining room that I could tie into the mural.  Wanting to remember what I saw everyday while in Tuscany, the mural would be that of the walled city of Volterra and the Villa I stayed in while there.

My Dining Room is a nice size and has room for the 102” long table that I love for entertaining. The ceiling height is 11’ and has nice crown molding, but other then that, the room was really  boring. Paint would have helped, but a mural, faux treatment to the other walls and a marbleizing treatment to the columns would make it a little more interesting.

This is how it Progressed from what it was to what it is now.

     

Plain Walls, out dated swags and side panels, old brass lighting fixture. (and my Boxer, Topper trying to get out of the picture)

Sorry about this scanned picture, but it does show the work in progress. I had drawn a repeat of the real arch when you enter the dining room and columns to match the real ones.

 After completing the mural, I moved on to the rest of the walls with a two color wash. 

 

After the walls were done the real columns had to be painted, but I couldn’t use the same paint as I did on the walls. I would have to match the colors used for the faux Columns,  with Oils.

This was the start of the marbleizing with the oils which took longer then the rest of the room and while waiting for paint to dry, it was very nice to sit back and have a glass of Santa Margherita. I guess one night I had a few too many glasses of that product from Italy and painted in a wine glass to sit on the faux ledge.

Some Wine, anyone??

After a month of living in my paint clothes and in the dining room I was done, well with the painting.

I made a more playful valance to replace the old stuffy stuff and started looking for a new chandelier.

 

I did find a fixture that I like, so it was out with the old.

Now I think I will gold leaf the ceiling and change the flooring.

Technorati Tags: mural,marbleizing,faux painting

 

Taking time off in Louisiana

Taking time off in Louisiana

This past month I took some time off to visit with friends and family in Louisiana. Included in this visit was a class reunion of sorts, with 12 close friends that have been together, some as far back as grade school. One is a very talented, soul sister, named Kitty.

A year or two back she had a wonderful home built in an area that is one fine planned development. From estate homes to quaint shops for shopping, Kitty's home is in a section that has zero lot lines, called Rosewalk. It is a charming neighborhood comprised of eighteen French Quarter-style homes that front a plaza.

At the time of my visit, Kitty was having many wrongs made right with her home so there were painters and trim carpenters working in the house with all their stuff every where and furniture moved out of their way. I did take pictures but will have to revisit when all the work is done and I can take better photos of her wonderful home.

Here are a few of the "Work In Progress" pictures.

You enter the home through iron gates to a covered narrow court that Kitty has furnished with some wonderful pieces. I love the lanterns.

Yes, this wonderful mirror is outside, exposed to the heat and humidity of Louisiana. You can just see the entry front French doors in the reflection of the mirror.

This Statuary stands guard in a sweet way at the entry to greet guest.

Passing through the covered entry court you enter the large open court yard with a pool , fountain, and a out door kitchen that Kitty's husband Billy cooks up some of the best south Louisiana's dishes.
Second story Balconies over look the court yard, this being the smallest one.




Entry hall with view of court yard and stair case. I love this marble and iron table.

Up the main stairway Kitty found this wonderful very old, large trumeau style panel. Even with some small parts missing it is one of my favorite pieces in her home.

In the Living room is one of many fireplaces, this one made on site out of concrete.

Other side of Living room has these great gilded chairs.

This Keeping room off the Kitchen was having some work done to the walls so the furniture was out of place but I wanted to show the Marble fireplace, the mortar wash over the brick wall, and the second stairway. Most of the furniture in this room has slip covers.

Another view of the Keeping room with another Trumeau mirror.

OK, Kitty is going to kill me for putting this picture in, but I just had to show part of the Kitchen. It is far from being staged, but as I said earlier, there was workers running all over the house that day and I am hoping to make another trip when I can take better pictures. This Kitchen is so unique in it's placement it is worthy of a post all to it's self.

Another fireplace, this one in the Master Bedroom.

I love everything about this Master. Again, work being done in this room as I took the picture. If you look real close up in the right hand corner you can see one of the painters.

The floors are old wood painted an off white and all the colors in this Master are the very soft, pale pinks and blues. Note; you can really see the painter in this photo, but I had to show this fabulous armoire.

The cabinet treatment in Kitty's master bath is as soft in color and as beautiful as the Bedroom. I love how she applied the plaster motif to the door fronts that you can also find over door casements through out the home.

I just had to show you these sweet French upholstered beds that are in one of the guest rooms, I wouldn't have a problem staying here for a night.


Another view of the guest room.

This is one view of the bath that goes with the guess room, like I said before I could sure stay here.

I hope you enjoyed seeing Kitty's Home, she is one very talented lady. Please leave your comments I would love to here from you.