We painted the drywall a dark brown.  Then Brenda plastered over it with a texture product called “Sandstone”.  She left some holes in the coverage to let the dark brown base peek through.  Then she glazed the plaster to “age” it.  Here is a video of her glazing the biggest wall.  This work is demanding because once she starts a wall she can’t stop until she gets to the other corner.

Again we made the trek from Kansas City to Bethany to do Phase 2 of  our faux finish on the private saloon.  The new cedar beams were impressive because of their size, but they looked new–because they were.  Our task was to age and distress them.  Brenda had several ideas, including using vinegar that had steel wool dissolved in it.  In the end we used regular faux finish techniques–tools to distress the wood and glazes to age it.

The other part of this phase was to work on the “outhouse” floor.  In the other corner of the barn, opposite the saloon, is the bathroom.  It’s designed to resemble an old stone outhouse.  The wash basin will be an old wash tub on a stand.  I haven’t seen what the toilet will be, but I’m going to guess that it will look old as well.  Our clients wanted something different than plain concrete.  Brenda used an overlay technique to make it look like limestone.

I think the clients like it because they’ve decided on us doing the same treatment on the main floor of the saloon.  We will be going back for Phase 3 & 4 before this project is finished.

In one corner of the barn they are dedicating a 24′ x 30′ room to be their own private saloon.  They found a bar from an old saloon in Wyoming and are designing their space using it as the inspiration.

Our part in the process is to take the new tin ceiling

and make it look rusted.

Our client told us that the tin ceiling is not a reproduction.  The company is located in Missouri and has never gone out of business.  They are still manufacturing the same ceilings they did a century ago.

We had to spray the tin with a clear sealer.  The manufacturer says that the metal has to be coated with either a clear sealer or primed and painted–to keep it from rusting.  We did think it kind of ironic that our first step was to keep it from rusting before we did a faux rust finish.  We used clear shellac for our sealer.  It’s less of a hassle for cleanup and we knew it would yellow less than an oil-base sealer.

The clients love the results.  Here’s a short video of the work so far.

We are going to plaster the walls and perhaps distress some mirrors for this project.  More updates to come.

We did a faux finish on the cabinets for our client last spring.  We painted and glazed over the worn out pickled white finish. On the inside of the built-in hutch we did an accent color with a bronze paint.  As we did the cabinets, Brenda mentioned to them that we could do a faux finish on their back splash.

Their counter tops were covered with a granite overlay, and the tile back splash ran down behind the granite overlay.  Removal would have been difficult and tricky to do without causing damage to the granite overlay.  Our faux finish treatment was a good option for them.

Brenda primed the tile & taped off the grout lines.  The faux finish included accent tiles in the same color as she used in the inside of the hutch.

The result of the final faux finish is a great change from the stark white tile that was there before.  Our clients love the look.

We have seen some of the nightmares people have gone through because they chose the lowest price bid.  We’ve had to go in a fix some of those jobs too.  The job then ends up costing more because we have to undo the mistakes of the low bid faux finish & then start fresh and do the job right.

And now we are on the other side of the fence as we rehab our new place in Kansas City.  We are almost ready to hang the sheetrock.  We’re not going to do it ourselves this time, so we’re talking to drywall contractors.  We are also working with a tight budget, so price is important.  We’ve received 2 proposals and are waiting on 2 more.  The second proposal we received was double the cost of the first.  This would have been a concern for us, but the lower proposal came from a referral.  The second proposal came from a social media contact–one step above picking a name out of the Yellow Pages.

I asked questions about the lower priced contractor  from my referral source.  What quality of work do they do?  Do they work quickly?  Are they messy?  The higher priced contractor didn’t have that kind of referral, but then again, he didn’t try to sell me on his value either.  In fact, some of the things he said about the job put Brenda off even before we knew the price.  We weren’t likely to use him even if he had the lower proposal.

The two other contractors we’re talking to are also from referrals.  We shall see where they come in on the price vs. value scale.  We will make our decision the way that we ask our clients to decide if we can create a faux finish for them–who will give us quality workmanship and get the job done with the least amount of hassle for us and with the least amount of mess in our home?

There is a slight texture underlying this faux finish.  In the picture above it is more prominent because of the angle of the light coming in the window.

The clients are happy and this faux finish will give them a lot of years of good looks and style.

Several years before they had their kitchen cabinets refaced.  They used a local Kansas City company for the job.  Refacing is a process that overlays the base cabinets with a veneer of wood and then puts on new doors and drawers in the same new wood.  The advantage is that the cost is usually less than totally replacing your kitchen cabinets.

Our clients had ordered the new doors and drawers & were excited to get an updated look for their kitchen.  But there was a problem when the order arrived.  The color wasn’t quite right–it was lighter than what they had ordered.  So the company gave them a discount because of the error & the decided they could live with the lighter color.

But after a few years they realized they should have stuck with the color they originally wanted.  They felt stuck.  The cabinets were still in good shape.  They didn’t want to spend the money for another cabinet refacing job.  So they called Brenda and asked what a faux finish might do to help them fall in love with their kitchen cabinets again.

The faux finish glazing process we use was a perfect solution for them.  Our cost is much less than cabinet refacing, and they decided it was worth the investment to have us transform their kitchen cabinets.

The faux finish overglaze process we use keeps the wood grain of the kitchen cabinet doors visible.  There is no stripping of the finish and no heavy sanding involved.  Our glaze and clearcoats are water based and low odor.  We saw that our faux finish process was perfect for these previously refaced cabinets.  We saw that the new doors that had been installed in the cabinet refacing were not as high a quality as the typical kitchen cabinet doors we see on new or even most existing cabinets.  Instead of real wood, they were a composite material with a veneer overlay.  If we had tried to strip off the finish or do much sanding we would probably have ruined the veneer and been in serous trouble.

Our clients were thrilled with the result and loved the fact that they finally had the kitchen they dreamed of.

This week Brenda is painting over a faux finish in a powder room in an Overland Park, KS, neighborhood.  It was a faux finish that was popular 10 years ago or so.

Brenda painted the ceiling gold and is painting a red base coat over the old faux finish.  The next layer is Luster Stone rolled on.  Brenda says that the process looks deceptively easy because it uses a sea sponge roller.  However, if she doesn’t use the right touch the Luster Stone will go on the wall in blobs rather than the random pattern she needs.

She has 2 more layers to complete.  This layer looks like the old sponge painting we used to do, but the pattern of this layer will add subtle variations in the final look.  The next 2 layers will be a troweled finish using red Luster Stone.  Luster Stone is a metallic plaster product that has a slight, soft shimmer and a smooth, soft finish to the touch.  It is super durable and sticks to almost anything.  We’ve used it on floors and counter tops.  With this kind of durability I’m sure that the final finish will be looking good even into the next faux finish decorating trend.  Perhaps we’ll be around to re-faux this bathroom again.

She was also tired of the red brick on the fireplace and the rough cedar beam that served as a mantle.

The walls had a heavy texture that must have been a stucco or concrete material because sandpaper wouldn’t touch it.  We scrapped the sharp edges off and painted it a neutral color.  We also worked on the ceiling beams and did a faux finish glaze to lighten them up.

The entertainment center got some modifications in the trim–we took down some of the rough cedar and put up a simple crown molding.  This took away the rustic look and fit in with our plan to give it a cleaner appearance.

We did our typical prep work of cleaning, sanding, priming.  But in this project we had to do the same to the masonry of the fireplace as well.  Eric was also at work crafting a new mantle to slide over the rough cedar beam.  The mantle was prepped in the same way as the rest of the cabinets.

After painting and the faux finish glaze, the mantle and entertainment center looked totally different.

The brick on the fireplace didn’t receive an overall faux finish.  We merely painted them with a white semi-gloss paint.  Except for the bricks around the hearth.  Those got a faux finish treatment of a bronze metallic.  The contrast really sets off the hearth giving a clean, modern look.

In addition to all of this, we painted the chair rail and added baseboard in place of the quarter-round trim that was there previously.

Our client finished off the transformation with a new area rug.  We had a lot of fun working on this project.  It’s great to see this kind of decorative makeover.  It’s even better when we get to help our client put the ideas together so we can create it.