Faux Finish Powder Room – Antique Bronze

Don’t forget the Fab Finds for the Fourth party this Thursday! What have you been up to? Or what are you planning? Link up any craft, decoration, recipe or red, white & blue!
 
I’ll admit it – I have done any faux finishes for quite some time. I don’t market myself as a faux finisher and I’ve kept my present house pretty simple as far as walls go. But when you’re self-employed and a friend calls and offers work, it becomes a huge blessing. For more than one reason.

Theresa is the faux finisher in our area. When all the other faux finish firms tanked in the economy, Theresa is still going strong. There’s a reason for that. She’s really, really good. And if you want to learn something, try & learn from the best, right?

I had no idea what type of finish we were going to apply. I was just following along. The project was a small powder room with high ceilings.

Neutral wall color, standard ‘knock-down’ texture.

Thank goodness the vanity wasn’t installed yet. I’m so sorry I didn’t take a picture of it. It was sitting in their garage and I just forgot.

First order of business – tape everything off. Notice  how the baseboard isn’t taped off? Yep, Theresa decided we’d faux finish the baseboard too. But she wasn’t ‘feeling’ the knockdown texture.

She disappeared for a few minutes while I continued taping, then came back and said, “Yep, we’re going to ‘float’ it.”

“Float it?” I asked. What’s that?

“We’re going to apply an imperfect smooth finish first,” she explained.

Theresa starts applying joint compound, while I see blogging opportunities.

I had never textured walls before so it was kinda fun. Well, except for the ceiling. Did I mention they were about 11’ high? Try getting 2 people and a ladder into a small powder room. Yeah, it’s a bit tricky.

I came back the next day and sanded it all down. All. Of. It. What a mess. Fine, white powder everywhere. Next came the black basecoat.

Black. Dark.

The more I painted the darker it got, even with the door open & a window.

The next day, I was with Theresa again and anxious to see where we were going with this black finish.

This stuff got rolled on with a foam roller.

Isn’t this gorgeous? And this is just the 1st coat! Unfortunately, it’s really hard to get good pictures of faux finishes, especially metallics because of the reflections & sheens. But you kind of see the textures & the black, don’t you?

Can’t forget the switchplates & light cover. White just wouldn’t work with this finish.

Then we ragged on a lighter metallic. Look how even more textures show up. Can you see them?

Theresa added some black strokes here and there which really made the metallics pop. Then we ragged on a tinted sealer which made everything look even richer.

What fun stuff did you do this weekend? Are you ready for Summer?
Sharing with these great parties –

Colleen