Lily's Garden in Williamson AM AND Williamson Herald

Our work on the Lily's Garden Mural was featured today in two local papers, the Williamson AM and the Williamson Herald. You can read it here and here. You can read the story of how we got involved with this project here. I also have been playing around on my new computer and worked on another video of the project. Don't forget to check out Lily's Garden website here.

Chase Donnell Make a Wish Room

We are thrilled to be participating in the upcoming Make a Wish Holiday Home Show at Kings Chapel in Arrington, TN, November 28-December 6th. This community is located in the beautiful wine country of Middle Tennessee close to Arrington Vineyards. We are excitedly putting together our design plans. We will be working with builder, Bob Sloan of Artistic Builders and designer, Donna Henninger of Brentwood Staging. God has greatly blessed our business this year and participating in this home tour is a huge opportunity for us. Make a Wish will receive the proceeds from the event. Each home in the tour will feature a "Make a Wish" room.

We will be dedicating our Make a Wish room to Chase Donnell, a local Murfreesboro boy who lost his battle with cancer last year. You can read his amazing story here. He had two wishes. One was to renovate his school gymnasium at Walter Hill School. This wish was filled by "Make a Wish". His last wish was to sit on the bench with the Nashville Predators during a home game. Sadly, he did not live to see his last wish granted. The Predator's did honor Chase by placing an honorary jersey on the bench two days after he passed away. We would like to pay tribute to Chase and his wishes in our Make a Wish room. We will post pictures of our project along the way. Here's a story that News Channel 5 did about Chase.

Back Yard Burgers Mural Project

Brooks just finished a really cool mural project in Murfreesboro, TN at Back Yard Burgers restaurant. They were converting an existing Calypso Cafe (think Caribbean purple & yellow) into a casual family style restaurant. There was a great eat in area that was accented with 4 columns. They had the idea to transform the 4 columns into trees and to make the eat in area look like a backyard. We painted clouds on the ceiling and a mural on the back wall depicting a family enjoying their back yard. We are hoping that this will lead to additional projects as they update some of their older restaurants. If you are in the area, go and enjoy a burger and some atmosphere.

Faux Blogger List Inspired by "Julie & Julia"

I went to see the movie Julie & Julia last night. It was a "laugh out loud" kind of movie. It was also a great movie for foodies and bloggers alike. I am both. I was very intrigued as a new blogger to watch Julie continue to blog even though she wasn't getting any feedback and had no idea if anyone was reading her blog. She eventually started getting reader comments and feedback that fueled her to keep on cooking and blogging. Even though I have analytics set up for this blog it only tells me how many people are coming and not "who" is coming. I started blogging with a couple of audiences in mind. I wanted to blog to showcase our works in progress and recently completed projects to potential clients. I also wanted to offer some advice and tips to people who wanted to try do it yourself projects. I have discovered a third audience as I have proceeded through the months. This audience is fellow faux artists. I find myself drawn to other artist's blogs for inspiration, to learn the newest techniques and frankly for a sense of community. Imagine my surprise when I was reading my favorite "faux blog", Fauxology, and discovered they had put up a link to my blog. I had a big smile on my face from ear to ear. I felt like we had arrived in the cyber world of faux.

I want to make this post a reference point for blogs by faux artisans around the web. I have started a small list below. Leave me a comment or send me an e-mail and I will add your blog to our list. And by all means, if you see an article or a picture on a blog that you think is cool, leave a comment. As I am sure you are aware artists thrive on praise. Give a little, get a little, that's all I'm saying. It's tough out there, let's stick together and support each other.

"If you're in a good profession it's hard to get bored, because you're never finished- there will always be work you haven't done" - Julia Child

Faux Blog List:

Art Faux

Artistry In Faux

Artsong

Art's The Answer

Billet Collins

Brammer Arts

Creative Evolution

Darrell Morrison

Fabulous Finishes

Faux By Kathy

Faux Haux

Fauxology

Floyd's Artworks

Hand Painted Murals

Icing Studios

JG and Sarah

KB Walls

LuLu Painting

Marietta Mural & Design

Murals by Mindy

Murals & Faux Finishing

Mural Maker & More

Painter Girl

Painted Lady Rachel

Planet Stencil Library

Royal Design Studios

Scandalous Wall Talk

Shakti Space Design

Stencil Talk

Surface Elements

Surfaces with Paint

Stucco Italiano

The Faux Pro

The Magic Brush

The Ornamentalist

Wall Street Faux Finishes

Venetian Plastering, Inc.

Venetian Plaster Finishes Vancouver

Virginia Fair Studios

E-Crete Decorative Concrete

Brooks and I are so excited about some new techniques he learned last week at the International Decorative Artisans League conference in Memphis. Or as I called it his, "faux conference", which makes it sound like a fake conference which it is not, well I digress. Anyway, I'll be writing about some of the new treatments he has learned. Today I'd like to tell you about a product called E-Crete. Concrete finishes are all the rage across the country and especially where we live in Franklin, TN. The developers of E-crete have come up with a formula that is perfect for installation by decorative painters. We are now certified installers of E-CRETE decorative concrete. E-CRETE is a lightweight patented mix of marble and limestone combined with white Portland cement and polymer chemistry. The result is a versatile array of products that combine to offer a wide range of decorative finishing solutions for counter tops, floors, walls, ceilings, furniture, exterior patios and pool decks. The product is completely waterproof and can be used in place of tile in showers, tubs and back splashes. This environmentally friendly product is ZERO VOC and qualifies for LEED credits. You can resurface existing laminate, wood or tile counter tops for a fraction of the cost of granite or stone and keep your old counter tops out of the landfill. Don’t go to through the mess, expense and waste of removing old tile in your bathroom, we can install E-CRETE right over top of your existing tile surface. For more information you can check out the E-crete website here. Photos from Deco Illusions website.