Long
long ago in places far far away there were beautiful homes with beautiful
walls, made of marble and stone and plaster. Think of Tuscany, Provence and
other locations around the Mediterranean with their beautiful old villas.
Think of castles in Europe. Or beautiful mansions from the turn of the
century on the East Coast with beautifully embellished and plastered walls.
And here on the West Coast, there were the Spanish missions with their adobe
walls.
What’s my point? You never saw an orange peel wall.
Welcome
to modern times. Instead of marble, stone or plaster, drywall has been used
for a long time now for walls, which is fine. To compensate for the less than
perfect surfaces that result from drywall installation, texturizing techniques
such as skip troweling were developed to cover tapelines and irregularities
and create a uniform look. Of more recent times this has become more of a
blown-on texture, which gives an orange peel effect (like the skin of an
orange). The trouble is, you’ll find this same surface in an apartment, a town home
or a 4 million dollar home in a gated community.
Surfaces create the space and the mood. Try eating a gourmet meal in a McDonald’s restaurant and see if the walls and space don’t affect the mood.
In doing custom finishes for
high end clients, we often come into homes with orange peel throughout.
Sometimes we start with doing custom plaster finishes for a few key rooms, and
we figure how to make them work with the orange peel that remains on the other
walls. But more and more, during the process our clients decide that
the only way to go is to create a motif for the whole house, deep six the
orange peel and create finishes for the whole space.
We have done one finish throughout the entire house, but more often, we create one finish for the hallways and main areas and complementary finishes for the adjoining rooms. It totally transforms the entire space into a unique and beautiful experience. These homes already had beautiful furniture and accessories; the difference came from losing the orange peel that was devaluing the space. It’s how to make a beautiful exclusive home realize its potential. Just say no to orange peel.
Molto Bene Calendar Update:
Summer and Fall are
almost totally filled up. We have a few slots open right now. If you have a project, don’t wait to call us! Call us today at 408 448 1683, or email us at molto@earthlink.net.