Sorry for the lack of posts this week. That is due to not too much of interest to post about! I have some contractor delays on 2 jobs, so I am just waiting around for my turn to be able to get into those houses. In the meantime, I had a new client call, a real estate appraiser who had been in one of the homes I have done, doing an appraisal. I met with him and his wife yesterday and they are anxious to have me do some work in their home. Since my schedule is so insane over the next few months, I told them I could fit their kitchen in if I could begin tomorrow. Their walls are freshly painted with the correct base coat for the finish they selected, so this would be a nice job to slip in. Here is the finish they’ve chosen:
It’s a finish I call my "Tuscan Finish", consisting of 4 glazes. They would have small clusters of grape vines stenciled randomly at ceiling height, around the room. Not too much, just a few here and there. This is a nice, warm finish and goes well with their cherry cabinets and dark granite counters.
They also have a white fireplace surround that needs some interest in the Family Room. They picked out a nice finish and are looking at these design elements. I’ll have to do this job at a later date, when I can fit it in. Also, these designs will have to be ordered.
Whenever I am not out working in someone else’s home, I am staring at my own walls wondering what I can do to them next. I love this wallpaper pattern that you are seeing in all the magazines and design blogs these days: 
Of course, "wallpaper" is a word that is forbidden in my house/world, so I designed my own take on this.
I want to do this on one accent wall in my living room. I’ll do the trees, floor to ceiling, like the wallpaper. This is my base color of my living room walls. I used an off white tinted Venetian Plaster, and dragged a stiff brush through it while wet to form the bark. When dry, I added the brown. It will be easier to do the bark with a graining tool that I lent my friend Stacy, so will wait until I get that back. I may lay it all out on the wall, in the meantime.
More snow, rain and freezing rain here in the Boston area today. I need to go out in this yucky weather to meet with a client to finalize some colors for next week’s job. Hope you are all staying warm and dry!
