A wonderful resource for anyone who is making over a piece of furniture or cabinets is Patty Henning over at Fabulous Finishes. Patty, an excellent decorative painter, is also a distributor for Caromal Colours and CC Caldwell paints. A quick stop over at her website will reveal a wealth of "how to" information about the product lines she carries. While I have never personally met Patty, I have talked to her on the phone at length about her finishes and products and have ordered custom made samples to show my clients.
Last week was a perfect example of how accomodating Patty can be. I am working with a client through an interior designer, and we will be updating his Master Bath. The last time I did this bath was back in 2004, and it has sustained some water damage and the entire bathroom is just ready for a new look.
My inspiration piece is this fabric sample, which will be the used for the window treatment.
There is a white laminate vanity and one other wall mounted, matching storage cabinet in this bathroom that are very blah. The homeowner does not want to replace, but is open to possibly painting. Some times it is difficult to convince a client of the durability of such a procedure and how it will truly look in their setting. What I love about Patty is, for a small fee, she will make a custom sample on a piece of molding, and ship it off to you.
When I was doing some research online for this bathroom, I just happened to come across this bureau done by Elizabeth Tiseo-Olivieri, with a mention that she used products from Patty.
Ask and you shall receive. I spoke to Patty on Wednesday afternoon and by Friday, I had the sample in hand! Look how perfectly it goes with the fabric and samples!
My client is away on vacation for a week, so I will meet with him and the designer when he returns and we'll see what he decides. I know he will be going ahead with one of these wall finishes, but the icing on the cake will be to do the vanity and cabinet too. I think it will just give this tired old bathroom a whole new look without the added expense and inconvenience of construction work, which is what he wants to avoid at this point. A big thanks to Patty for making and shipping this sample so quickly!
