Ceiling Faux Finishes
In master bathrooms ceiling faux finishes can get pretty elaborate in Naples Fl as well anywhere else in Southwest Fl
This one was no exception to the rule and as usual it was a lot of fun and unusual as always. It seems the more I do these unique kind of commissions the deeper I get into the work which is why I like the fact that my clients are as unique (if not more) than I am. This ceiling is actually one of the final areas that I had to complete in the latest remodel I was involved with in Naples Fl.
It just proves a point that I try to explain to all my clients that you don’t need to complete everything all at once except maybe the very large and hard to access areas where nothing really changes much.
It’s the smaller areas of detail that get most of the attention and pulls a whole room and/or interior design together and makes other things work together as a whole. Especially when it comes to drapery, floor coverings accents (rugs), ceilings, art niches, bathroom decoration, hall ceilings and even columns and it doesn’t stop there.
Natural seasonal light and shadow has an important role with interior design and what may look great in January may not be as grand in July.
Confusing? Yes it can be, but an experienced professional is going to take all these things into account when designing a custom finish because the last thing you are going to want to do is to go through the expense of refinishing the area because of a play in shadow.
It’s my job as a decorative artist to be able to see a possible issue and have the ability to make the right kind of adjustments to a previously chosen designed finish. Sometimes it does not quite work right with the rest of the rooms interior or even if it is from a “see through” room to room viewing point.
That’s what separates me from others is I can see these kind of things and why it’s rare that I repeat the same exact wall art and custom design a finish particularly for that area.
If you have been following along you should know what I am referring to. Practically everywhere in the home there was a Luster Stone application including the walls in this master bath which is the area of focus of this post. You will see how this master bath ceiling is just crazy with light and shadow that it made me dizzy just looking at it.
The next few images will show you what I am writing about and the complicity of what made this master bath ceiling’s faux finish the challenge that it was.
As I said there is quite a bit going on in this Master Bath when you really start to look at everything individually such as the lamps, plumbing fixtures, chandelier, the clear pear shaped crystals, the gold leaf sconces on the walls, wood trim around the mirrors, not to mention the black marble and the stone backsplash.
There is also a mahogany wooden tub surround that you can’t see from theses photos that also plays a part when you have to pull color from all the elements from around the rooms interior decor.
If you look at this master bath ceiling you can appreciate what I have been referring to when you realize how crazy the light and shadow was in here. There were 5 different light sources coming from every angle you could imagine.
Obviously you can see from this image the many angles of how shadow was bouncing around on this master bath ceiling.
The lower master bath ceiling faux finish is the same as the highest ceiling, but the small border tray is a gold metalic application that was done with a technique to resemble a venetian plaster look that when the third source of light is on it evens out the shadows so that they are not competing with one another.
Looking around the room you can tell that the light settings are an integral part to the mood of the room. However there is a problem with the cool natural light that’s making it’s way to the area through the shower door opening that’s killing the warmer light throughout the rest of the bath’s ceiling and over powering the far right corner.
The natural and coolest light source is the 4th and should be working mostly on it’s own but it still needs to have a play in the overall scheme of things and I will explain how we do this when the time comes. However for now we need to try and push back that shadow and this is the importance of the gold leaf and plays an important part to the roll also.
By using and incorporating a 5th source of lighting which is going to come from the chandelier combined with the use of the gold leafs ability to pick up light we should be able to at least pull out the chaos.
With the chandelier’s up lighting placed on a “dimmer switch” both the lower and upper tray ceilings can be lit to pick up the gold leaf and pushed by reflecting the lighting further into the corners. The variegated (blue) part of the leaf will also bring in some of the cooler colors of the natural lighting and even out the flow of the overall faux finish which has an iron oxide back ground (black metalic) and picks up the grayed purple of the metalic Luster Stone on the walls that was matched to a Pantone color of the year.
I was asked about a week ago by a painting contractor friend of mine if I was busy and of course I told that I have been slammed for the last couple of years and he said that he thought faux finishes were a thing of the past.
Not hardly,
I have been painting decoratively for many years and the art form has been around for hundreds of years. I doubt if it will every leave us but yes it does have it’s slow periods. However if you have experience with many different decorative art techniques you become are very versatile in the field and can give your clients anything they ask for.
What most don’t realize is there are so many styles and techniques to the art form simply moves with what ever is in demand for the current trends and/or economic situations.
In other words there’s always an answer with decorative painting instead of just covering up areas with wall paper that’s going to give you more problems later on.
This particular ceiling faux finish actually came from a design that I had learned nearly 15 years ago from an artist friend of mine Patty Halstead. The interior designer fell in love with it as soon as she saw it but I still had to make some adjustments to it and little redesigning to make it fit with the rest of the master bathrooms decor.
Ceiling Faux Finishing
Is a great way to enhance any room no matter what the trends are. I personally can’t stand a ceiling with out color or any room for that matter because it lacks warmth and personality of a persons home. I look at it this way, pure white walls, chrome and glossy finishes remind me of institutions, hospitals, insane asylums etc. of the old black and white movie classic re runs we use to watch when we were kids, and quite frankly every time I walk into a home like that I expect to see Jack Nicholson chopping a hole through a door and his face popping out screaming “Heresssss, Johnny!” or the thought of greeting people at the door by saying,
“Wendy…..I’m Home!”
but some would not understand the humor behind it
2 thoughts on “Ceiling Faux Finishes”
Are you ready to talk murals /tapestries? The one I have above my bed is 47″by 28.5″ and it is painted in portraiture style but to give my sunset plenty of room I think it should be in landscape. What do you think? I won’t be hanging them together I just wanted them close in size. The one that looked like water was just a little larger but landscape. We will be talk soon….
Hi Terry, yes I am always ready to talk about paint. There is a couple of approaches you could do a landscape. We could paint it in a trompe loeil style as if you were looking out of a window, or a stone door way. Perhaps you may want to frame it or just have it gallery wrapped, if applied directly to the wall then the wall texture could be an issue. Where it will hang can be a discussion all of it’s own sometimes as some will fill the inside of an art niche and have it’s own lighting, or above a bed, sofa, above a fireplace mantel etc. I am assuming you are wanting this on canvas so we already know a few things about the work. But I do have a few questions when you are ready to discuss it in more detail.