Naples Fl. Hot Interior Designs
Master Bedroom Luster Stone Pantone Color of the Year 2014
Luster Stone has been a hot Interior Design choice for modern wall finishes. Continuing with my Naples Fl remodel the Master Bedroom Walls is the focus. This Custom mix of Ancient Gray and Deep Perriwinkle resulted in a color very close to the Pantone color of the year Radiant Orchid. Of course the walls were base painted in a similar color as the Luster Stone mix that happened to be Sherwin Williams color of the year Exclusive Plum 6263.
We sure didn’t want to fight the walls with any contrasting issues that may pop up and by base painting the walls in the right color assists in getting a nice progressive application. I just love how things work out sometimes.
Applying Luster Stone, however can be temperamental and it almost seems to have a mind of it’s own. If you don’t know how to/or ever have applied it before I would suggest finding a large wall to practice on as it can be pretty tedious and frustrating if you have not worked with it and understand what it’s telling you.
This is not like applying venetian plaster and is a slightly more expensive material so it’s a good idea to have your technique down before showing up on the job and just slapping on a couple of coats of plaster on a wall as some would think . You really have to pay attention to your drytimes between layers especially if you want the walls to match your sample that you probably hurried through by using a hair dryer to speed dry the layers. I have already covered this important application fact on another post as to the longer your “scratch coat” dries the harder it gets. When troweling over the harder first coat it will appear different so its best
NOT TO RUSH YOUR SAMPLES, PERIOD!
Understanding the characteristics of Luster Stone is the key to a flawless finish
and knowing what to look for in your substrate is important. Identifying the high and low points and “drywall seams”, “bed joints” “butt joints” “protrusions” and “concave” areas are the main things to look for before starting your wall. Ultimately the architect should specify to the general contractor that a
level 5 type drywall finish
is required for this kind of high level substrate to be able to accept a near flawless finish for both venetian plaster and Luster Stone finishes. However because of time constraints and lack of skilled craftsmen and/or budget costs few finishers are rarely provided this and are left with uneven and short cut techniques that result in uneven wall situations as I have described above. Sometimes these conditions will actually determine of where you start your application and whether or not you may need as many as three to five applicators on one wall. All because of a Level 5 process was not done right from the beginning. So who pays for the extra labor needed to work with a mess like this?
Surely you you can’t expect the applicator to pay for it..
Well if you can catch it early enough before the painters rush through it you can make the builder/drywallers correct the issues.
or I can put you in contact with Earl and he would be glad to help.
Who the hell is Earl?
I really don’t think you want to pay this clown either, but you can check him out if you like.
Personally I did this entire remodel myself as I could not find anyone who could follow and listen to my lead.
Listen to My Lead?
Yes what I mean by that is must listen to how each trowel is scraping and/or coating the surface, i.e. the pressure I am using as I apply the product. An experienced crew who has worked together for any amount of time have a harmony for which they follow. If one person is out of synch that day the rest of the crew will pick up on it immediately and can actually adjust their own selves to match the others . It’s music that only experienced artisans can hear and if something or someone sounds out of place the others will stop and go see what the other is doing that makes it different or new.
As for the importance of a nice Luster Stone finish, if you have two applicators troweling at different compression levels you are going to have two different levels of sheen and/or texture. This is ok if you are working across the same wall in the same direction as you alternate positions to “mix it up” so to speak. But if you are working in different areas of the room you could end up with two different end results but of the same color. This is understandable and acceptable by European standards as they know and expect the individuality of each artisan is unique in style however in the U.S. this is not acceptable to some and they expect a perfect uniform application with no variations.
This is what I mean by getting to know your client and their experiences. If they are experienced world travelers they are going to appreciate the hand crafted differences and expect it, but if not then most times as Americans often do they will expect absolute perfection.
In that case then sell them on wall paper or something else and save your self the aggravation as clients like these have never experienced the art form for what it is about and/or understand the different cultures of the world. Generally clients who are expecting laser line perfection are not going to like hand crafted finishes and are expecting something entirely different . In this case you would just break out the spray equipment to give them the finish they are looking for and avoid the troweling altogether. That is another reason why I love Luster Stone is yes it can also be sprayed and also be used as a fine art medium.
In fact at this point I am actually working on a barrel ceiling design that is hand painted entirely with Luster Stone.
Here are more segments to this Naples Fl remodel