Transitioning Color & Texture

 

One of our most recent plaster projects was very challenging. Our clients had a beautiful home in the gated community of Ruby Hill. The home had good sized rooms with 16 foot high walls, white wainscoting and wide crown molding throughout the space. They had built the house five years ago, with the standard California orange peel texture in an off-white color throughout the house. Every area was the same except for a front office that had beautiful dark paneling.  They decided it was time they put their stamp on it, and that it needed some color. We were called in to do  Venetian plaster for the front entry, hallways, a front sitting room, a formal dining room and a powder room. Our clients wanted  each room to be distinct. Doing one Venetian throughout would have been too bland and only been a slightly upgrade over the existing paint.

Here at Molto Bene, we use 9 different types of plaster to create our finishes. For the sitting room, we came up with a green marmarino like finish. We used a grainy product but trowelled it on smooth. This created the perfect backdrop for the beautiful furniture and pictures in this room. 

 

The formal dining room had four white columns, high walls, a fireplace and large French doors going out to the garden. This allowed us to use a very dramatic finish. The clients liked red and gold. We created a plaster finish that started with a red layer, over which we applied a gold plaster and finally a thin layer of metallic red. This created a gold foil type look. Very elegant. We used this again for the ceiling and walls of the powder room. 

Now the trick was to come up with a finish for the entry and long hallways that would create its own space, not be too too busy and still connect the sitting room and dining room with their very different finishes. We used an Olive colored LusterStone to which we added gold to create a high level of iridescence and reflectivity. This also gave a lot of depth to the walls. The white wainscoting halfway up the wall and white crown molding allowed us to use this darker color yet still get enough play from the light. The hallway also had many pictures with wide gold frames, the finish created an excellent backdrop for this.

With everything done, we still had one problem with the fireplace in the dining room. It was made of sandstone, but the color didn’t fit well with the new walls. We didn’t want to get into using an entirely different plaster finish, as it would have made the room too busy. What we did was base coat it with the same paint color as the columns and trim (a slightly off white), applied a wax with Gold Mica Powder mixed in, all  brushed on with a chip brush. This lightened it  up, sealed it with the wax and gave it a bit of glow without intruding. The overall job was a great success allowing us the freedom to create a number of different finishes with different colors that worked well and are very pleasing to the eye.

 

We take a great deal of pride in coming up with the right colors, textures and look for each of our clients.  We don't leave until the client is thrilled. Call now to set an appointment for your clients to see our sample boards and talk about the right color and texture for their rooms. Call 408 448 1683 today.