Painter Girl

All Done!

The kitchen is done.  This is the view the homeowners see when they come in from their back entry. 

Now onto the fireplace in the Family Room.  The top picture is the Before Pic.  The fireplace was lost on this wall.  It just  blended in and had no presence. This metallic finish with gold accents made the marble pop  and the fireplace now became the focal point of the room.

For this finish, I used Modern Masters Sage Green Metallic paint for the base and stippled on Modern Masters Ivy Metallic paint, once dry.  A few accents of gold were added to compliment the fireplace insert and the framed mirror above.

Here's a closer look at the finish.

So,  my work is done here for now.  I will be returning in a few weeks to add a little interest to 2 of their ceilings.   

I'm in the Final Stretch w/this Kitchen

This morning when I arrived at my clients home, I could see the "deer in the headlights" expression on their faces.  Although I had explained about "the ugly stage" of the walls when I left yesterday, showed them the sample board of how it will look in the end, they just did not get it.  That always happens with my "newbies", bless their un-trusting little hearts.

As you may recall, this is what I left them with the previous day:

                        

Today, I added the glazes and then went back in with a liner brush and added some detail to the grapes and vines.

                               

The pictures are not doing the finish justice, unfortunately.  I think if you click on the pictures to enlarge, you'll be able to get a better look.

Thank God for drop cloths...and the fact that I actually had one right underneath where I knocked over my container of glaze. 

The homeowners now love, love their new kitchen and see the method to my madness. 

They still have that "deer in the headlights look" about their fireplace though. :-(  I will complete the finish on this tomorrow.

I'm Still In The Kitchen

Day 2 and I'm still on schedule, even with the addition of 2 more smallish areas added today to this project.  My clients decided they want this same finish in a small Butler's Pantry and Back Entryway, both of which are directly off of this kitchen.  I was able to do most of the pantry today while I was taking a break from the main part of the kitchen. 

I am adding some grape vines, randomly placed around the room.  Boy, this is one stencil I have used over and over throughout the years.  It has several combinations of leaf groupings and grape clusters.  Years ago, I stenciled each grouping on mylar, so I can tape them on the wall before actually stenciling, to get the placement right.  Stencils by Royal Designs.

After stenciling, I applied a thin layer of joint compound, which I troweled on randomly.  This is to give a more aged look...so it's not so perfect and new looking.  This will dry overnight and then I will seal and apply some glazes. 

Here is the corner all stenciled with the joint compound added.  It's the "ugly stage" of the process, the stage where I always see horror on the faces of the homeowners. :-)

Kitchen in Progress

Yesterday, I started that kitchen I mentioned last week... The one that goes with this sample board:

                                 

The first layer uses 3 glazes, applied randomly at the same time and ragged out on the wall.  I was able to do most of the kitchen in 4 hrs, much faster than I thought it would go, so I'm ahead of the game... as of yesterday.  I saved the hardest part, over the cabinets for today.  I didn't feel like being a contortionist today, stretching up over the cabinets with all the brushes in hand. 

Today I will finish the remaining walls with the first set of glazes and start in on the next layer.  This kitchen wraps around to a little breakfast area, that you can see in the next picture.  Those walls are also included in this project.

Done!

On Friday I was able to complete all work for the Kitchen/Dining Room job.  It was decided that no olive vines would be added over the 2 remaining doors that were in consideration for this.  The homeowner felt with the addition of the vines on the redone tiles, that was enough.  I am sitting on the fence with this one.  I could see a small branch over the door to the Dining Room, but it will depend on what art work gets hung to the left of the DR door.  It's a good idea to just live with this as is, and add more later if it is felt needed.  Here are the photos from the Dining Room:

Sage Green Lusterstone finish on the top portion of the walls.

Another view.

This view shows both finishes used in this room.  Lusterstone is below the chair rail too, but in a color called Champagne. Both of the these colors are a very close match to the colors that are found in the window treatments that will be hung in this room.

A Good Day!

Wait until you see how these tiles came out!  I am truly amazed.  This is very simple and you may want to give it a try yourself on some dated/unwanted tiles.  The process is too easy!  If you go to the Delta Paint website and read about PermEnamels, there is a step by step guide.  You can find PermEnamels at Michaels and A.C. Moore.  Here again, to refresh your memory, are the "Before Tiles".  They did not match the homeowners new decor in this kitchen.

"Before Tiles"
This was a small project and the first time I have used PermEnamels on tiles.  I only had two small rows of tiles to do.  This one and one below the hood of the stove. 

The first step is to wash the tiles with soapy water, rinse and dry well.  Next, you apply the PermEnamel Conditioner with a brush to the surface and let dry for 1-4 hrs.  The instructions say if you wait longer than 4 hrs. to continue painting, you must reapply the Conditioner again.  I was at the house doing other rooms, so I began the painting after 1 hour.

I used an Ivory color PermEnamel to base coat over the existing tiles.  It took 5 coats to cover the patterned tiles completely.  I waited 1 hour between coats when applying the paint.  The paint is very thick and you should not work it...just brush on thin layers, no over brushing. 

After this was dry, the next day in fact, I began my design work.  Now, I wanted this to match the olive vines on the walls I did in this kitchen, so I switched to the same craft paints I used for that.  I felt the PermEnamels were too thick for the look I wanted.  I will seal everything tomorrow with the PermEnamel Satin Sealer.  The sealer comes in satin or gloss. 

Viola!  Here's the new tiles! I did a soft 1 color glaze over the Ivory PermEnamel base and then added the vine.  Those rust colored horizontal stripes were blue before.  I used the PermEnamel on those too.

Here are the tiles over the hood of the stove.

I was able to finally glaze the Problem Wall where I had to use a hack saw to get the coat rack off the wall.  That wall is really not in good shape.  I did my best to patch it up, but you can still see where the coat rack once was.  It's faint, but I see it.  Hopefully, the homeowner will put a picture up to hide the blemishes. :-(  You don't see it from the kitchen though, looking out to the back entry. :-)

Now when you look out from the kitchen to the back hall doorway, it all blends.

The Problem Wall.  You can see where the coat rack once was, to the top right of the door. :-( That's why good prep work is so important.  That was not part of this contracted job, but I did do my best.  I felt it was not crucial, because it's up high and in the back hallway where a door opens up onto this wall to the garage.

In the Dining Room...good progress, but no pics to show.  I decided to roll on one more layer of the Lusterstone diluted with water, with a shaggy roller before I troweled more.  This worked great.  I was able to trowel one more layer on almost the entire Dining Room before I left today.  I will see how I like it tomorrow.  I may try rolling on a very, very thin watered down layer with a smooth foam roller as my last layer.  I want to see if this will give it a more "Lustery" look.  I should finish up with this job tomorrow.  I also have a few more olive vines to add over 2 doors in the Kitchen.  We were waiting to see how many and where the vines would go once the tiles were done.

Work Progresses

Good news, bad news today on the job site.  The good news is I was able to cover over those tiles in the kitchen, using PermEnamels.  The bad news... it took four coats to do so and because it was so humid today, it also took an hour to dry between coats.  So, as I worked on the tiles, I also worked on the Problem Wall, still filling in the huge holes left by the coat hook I was finally able to remove.  Again, the humidity slowed the drying time down, so I was not able to work on that wall because I had to fill in the holes a little more and they were not dry enough to continue.  I moved onto the dining room.  I had already primed the once red walls and put my base paint on last week.  Today I was able to roll on the first layer of Sage Green Lusterstone on walls above the chair rail and also began troweling on the 2nd layer of 2 of the smaller walls.  It looks ugly, really ugly at this stage of the game.  I always tell the homeowner upfront that this is the "ugly stage" and most trust me enough to know it will all work out in the end.  I can see these walls are going to need a good 4 coats to look presentable!  The walls are not in great shape to begin with, a bit uneven in spots and just old.  I am behind on this job now by about an half day. I had hoped to finish up tomorrow, but I can see myself still there on Wednesday.  I hope I can transform those ugly green walls into something respectable tomorrow! 

Here's the first coat of Sage Green Lusterstone rolled onto the wall in the Dining Room. That is my sample board propped up, showing what the final finish should resemble.This first coat always looks horrid, in any color of the LS.

Oh, here is the Dining Room before I got my hands on it.  Very deep red, above and below the chair rail.  The chair rail is quite low in this room, not the typical height. The walls appear much smoother in this photo than they actually are!

Second coat of Lusterstone applied...with trowel.  Still ugly, but this is typical of this process.  I like instant gratification, so am always disappointed with this stage.

Can you see this horizontal crack?  It's to the left of the 2 switches.  This is a problem with the wall, I believe!  I hope the next layers will hide this flaw.

Olive vine above archway to back entry in Kitchen. I was unsure about how I liked this vine when I left on Friday, but really liked it when I returned today.  Sometimes, actually most times, I just need to get away from my work for a day or two to appreciate it or to see how i can improve/adjust it!

Smaller olive grouping over Kitchen door to patio.

Here are those tiles now base coated with an off white.  Remember them from the previous post?  They were white with little blue flowering vines on them.  I will be adding some olive vines to these and a few other touches... tomorrow.