Old World Plaster Finish in Garrison, NY

I had the privilege of working in a beautiful home this past week doing a painting overhaul in a master bedroom and bath. I worked closely with my clients figuring out what colors they both enjoyed and what direction they wanted to go with in terms of a faux paint finish.

They have an octogon shaped alcove in the bedroom with several windows wrapping around. It was the perfect place for a faux finish. They decided on a plaster finish called Old World Plaster (one of my favorite finishes). The other half of the room, we decided to go with a rich mauve / burgundy regular paint color.

We then decided to bring in the same plaster finish into the bathroom but in colors a couple shades lighter than the finish in the bedroom.

Here is a picture of the alcove prepped, plastered, and ready to paint. As you can see, I take great pride in my prep job. Taping is extremely important when doing any faux paint finish. Click Here for more paint prepping tips and ideas.

The Old World Plaster finish is a great finish for walls that are slightly imperfect. The simple texture and glazing brings so much depth and life into a room. This finish can be done in any color as long as you start with a light base paint. The glazing over the top is what brings out the texture. Check out this video to see how the actual glazing process over the textured plaster.

And lastly, here is a close up shot of the gorgeous Old World Plaster finish.

Ragging Faux Finish in Church Welcome Center

I always enjoy painting for my church. They have blessed me so much over the years and it is always my chance to give back to them for all that they have done for me.

This job was pretty easy. I was able to start with a clean slate (white walls and an empty room). They gave me the reins and allowed me to choose all the colors and what finish I wanted to do. I chose to do a burgundy red color below the chair rail and a beige / gold above with the rag faux finish technique.

This is a close - up of the finish. The color is way off though. The flash kept causing a glare on the wall, so I took it off, but it made the picture pretty dark. But at least you can get a feel for what ragging looks like.

My husband and I worked on this together. He calls me "Boss" when we are painting. LOL

We went through probably 25 rags for this job. The rags get soaked with the glaze / paint mixture and once that happens the finish can get blotchy. So, starting over with a fresh rag is always important.

I am a huge perfectionist. I tape off everything before I start so the trim, moldings, baseboards, and ceilings are protected. When I remove the tape after the job is done - I am left with a clean straight line with only a small amount of touch up (It's great).

I also like to take a step back while I am faux finishing so I can see if there are any spots that are too dark or too light. The trick about doing a really great looking faux finish is making sure that you have smooth & blended transitions between areas that you are glazing.

So, what do you think? Look nice? Love to hear your comments!