Mouldings and Medallions

While we were finishing the powder room in Dave and Rita's, there was a whole lot of work going on throughout their entire home. New crown moulding and ceiling medallions were being installed in their kitchen, family room and master bedroom.

New crown, corbels and medallions

Dave & Rita's home is filled with beautiful furniture pieces and carpets that they have collected over the years.  Rather than painting all the decorative trim white, they wanted to accentuate the Old World feeling of the carved wood.  

ALL of the new trim was basecoated in black..ALL of it. Basecoating in black gives the end product an aged patina.  The basecoat was followed by 2 passes of bronze glaze~dark, then high lights were added.

 

Moving right along at Dave & Rita's.  Up next:  the foyer.


Susan & Tracey
FWS

Oh, What A Ceiling!

After completing a powder room, 7 ceiling medallions, 4 corbels, a dozen cartouches and many, many feet of crown moulding, we moved on to Dave & Rita's dining room.  The decor is Empire~Louis XIV, which is quite ornate.  It was decided that we would go big on the ceiling, yet subtle.  Is that possible?!  D and R wanted their dinner guests to be seated, casually glance upwards and...ooohhh!  The wow effect.

So...go big or go home...we brought a carpet (in the form of a stencil) up onto the ceiling, filling the 8' x 10' tray, as well as all four corners.  To accentuate the tray, the 4" soffit was gilded.  And so was the medallion.

We applied Lusterstone in a pale, silvery grey on the ceiling.  The medallion and soffit were base coated in black, then gold leafed.  Just this change alone created a dazzling effect!

Next, the ceiling stencils were installed.  We painted 3 layers: a 1/2 tint of the wall color, the Lusterstone, then highlights of gold.

Wow!!!

Although there were many elements to this design, each was important to the end result.  We had to to keep the design well-balanced.  Otherwise, the dining room would have appeared unfinished.  The ceiling is truly bold, yet subtle at the same time.  Our next project is Dave & Rita's master bedroom...yep, you guessed it...the ceiling!!


Susan & Tracey
FWS

Sneak Peaks of Upcoming Posts

By the last post date, it's obvious that we have been away for some time! There were probably 3~plus feet of snow on the ground back in February. And now,  we are in the middle of a heat wave in July. Triple digits are forecast again for today. Time flies when we are busy!

We've been working on several projects over the past 6 months.  This summer, we have a few weeks of down time...we will collect our thoughts (and photos), and post the completed jobs.

Here are some sneak peeks~

Susan & Tracey
FWS

Gilded Glass

Gilding glass, or verre eglomise is a centuries' old technique of etching, applying metal leaf and paint to the reverse of a glass surface. This is our 21st century spin on the process. We think you will agree that this a very elegant finish.

We first positioned the 'positive' weed stencil on the glass panel and masked off a decorative border. Metallic leaf size (adhesive) is applied to the exposed glass.

When the size is tacky, variegated, metallic flakes are evenly distributed over the entire glass panel.

The stencil design is then backed with copper leaf and burnished with a soft brush. This ensures full coverage of leaf when viewed from the reverse.

A coat of sealer is applied for protection. When the size and sealer are totally cured, the stencil is pulled.

The final installation is the door of a newly constructed bathroom vanity. Stunning!!

Imagine the possibilities! Tabletops, serving trays, french doors, mirrors, sidelights, transom windows...endless!!

More photos to come, as we have several gilding projects in progress.

Susan & Tracey

FWS

The 5th Wall

A few posts back, Julie's dining room, we mentioned our 'strong' opinion regarding ceilings. Well, here we go again, a dining room and it's ceiling. The dining room walls had recently received a strie treatment. Strie is a combed glaze finish created by pulling 1 or 2 tinted glazes over a base color, resulting in a very fine pin stripe. The clients, Mary & Paul, weren't sure if the color or the strie were right for the room. We offered 3 solutions: paint an additional stripe over the existing colors on wall, add color and a medallion to the ceiling or do both.

It was decided to start with the ceiling. Replacing the expanse of the white ceiling with a warm, complimentary color would change the entire feeling of the room. And adding a medallion would anchor the chandelier. Mary & Paul's existing walls were blue and the window treatments gold dupioni silk. We chose a gold lusterstone to 'warm up' the blue walls and balance the fabric and hardwood floor.

We won't bore you with the details of the installation...standard trowelling and stencil procedure for FWS. What we will share was the exuberant reaction of the clients: It's as if the ceiling color and artwork had ALWAYS been there!!! They were beside themselves. And it's true. The 5th wall just shouldn't be ignored.

We are currently doing some personal shopping for them, assisting them in completing some unfinished decorating projects.

No more white ceilings!!

Susan & Tracey

FWS

Simply Beautiful, Simply Green

We would like to showcase one of our finishes...Jadecor. JaDecor is a natural wallcovering created from a unique combination of natural cotton and/or silk fibers. With the addition of dyes, metallics, mica and threads, the decorative possibilities are endless.

Believe it or not, this is JaDecor in it's 'before' state...a big pile of fluff. Hard to imagine putting this on a wall or ceiling. And, believe it or not, JaDecor is applied with a trowel.

In it's wet state, JaDecor resembles oatmeal. Perfect for trowelling!

Because the palette is endless, the finished result can be casual,

elegant,

or casually elegant.

We have installed JaDecor in bathrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, foyers, restaurants and a variety of commercial spaces. Like all of our finishes, JaDecor is a custom, one of a kind treatment. And, FWS is one of only a handful of certified installers in Connecticut.

Simply beautiful!

Susan & Tracey

FWS