Cracking Up in Ruby Hill

 

If you have read our newsletters over the past year, you will see we have done numerous projects in Ruby Hill. There’s a reason for this.

Ruby Hill is a gated community in Pleasanton, California comprised of about 6 –800 homes.  It's a very affluent area with large homes, vast grounds, golf courses, etc. Many of the homes were built about 5 years ago. 

On each of our projects, the background story has been pretty much the same. When the homeowners had the home custom built, they had their home painted in off whites by the contractor. At the time that was the easy and safe choice. After 5 years, though, they’ve grown tired of the starkness. They wanted to put their own stamp on their home, add some color and texture and create the space in their homes around the art and furnishings they had chosen.  This is where we came in.

 Our most recent plaster project was very intriguing. Our clients had a beautiful home with fine furnishings. They have done extensive traveling and our client, being Italian, had a definite idea of what he wanted. The entryway had high walls (over 20 feet) with a beautiful chandelier and a dome capping a circular wall going up the staircase to the second level. Directly off the entryway was a sitting room and long hallway. We were requested to come up with Italian plaster finishes for all these spaces that were cracked and worn looking -- like something that came from an old villa. We also needed to use warm tones that would work with the existing furniture, crown moldings, floors, etc.  Finally,  we had promised to have all the work done for their annual Christmas party, so there was no margin or time for any errors in pulling this off.

 

There are many challenges creating this sort of finish. You want it to look cracked and aged while still being well adhered to the wall.  There are a few different ways to crack plaster. One method is similar to simple paint crackle, where you apply a layer of  a glue like substance between layers of plaster, which creates  pull on the newest layer when drying, thus forcing the layer to split and crack as it dries. This method  is very tricky, especially in this case. The client wanted a number of large cracks here and there and some unevenness, which means you have to create more cracking without getting to the point of it falling off. We created numerous samples and finally came up with one using a grittier Italian plaster troweled smooth, going with a generous dose of Raw Sienna (a dirty yellow) and some burnt umber and a spot of red. Going from large off white walls to this plaster finish was quite remarkable.

Our other challenge was the dining room. Our client loves color and wanted to work in deep reds and black. We will talk more about this project in our next newsletter.

 We were able to create many new and beautiful finishes in 2005.  Since most of our finishes are custom made for the job there’s always a story to be told about each one. However, the common thread throughout this year's work has been color - bold, beautiful and bright.  If your clients like chocolate and strawberry instead of vanilla, call 408 448 1683 today or email at molto@earthlink.net for an appointment to talk about working with us on your next project.