Finished Product- Holiday Home Show

In case you didn't get to stop by the recent Make a Wish Holiday Home Show, I thought you might like to take a peek at our work. As I have written about in the past we are extremely honored to have been able to provide faux finishes in one of the homes. We worked with builder, Bob Sloan and designer, Donna Henninger to create a real show stopper. Below are the rooms we worked on. First up is the dining room with a faux leopard ceiling with a banded metallic border. Also in the dining room is a black gilded niche. Next is the den where Brooks applied anagylptic wallpaper that was finished in a warm copper metallic. He also completed a faux limestone fireplace. In the study he did a stippled glazed treatment on the walls and an upholstered leather ceiling. Upstairs, he did a mural on canvas and a horizontal stripe of white board paint called, IdeaPaint. You can write on it with dry erase markers and it wipes right off. Brooks won awards for the "Best Make a Wish Room" and the "Best Child's Room" for this room.

Revive a room with Repurposed Style

I'm just back from the preview party at the Make a Wish Home Show and I have a new love. His name is Branan White, and he is an interior designer. Have you ever walked into a home and felt like it perfectly represented your design personality? Branan was able to crawl into my decor dreams and make them come true without ever having laid eyes on me. A master of fusion design, he is known for pairing 18th and 19th Century French and English antiques with repurposed and upcycled industrial pieces. I would like to highlight some of my favorites from the MAW Show and let him inspire you to practice "upcycling" in your own home. Please excuse the picture quality. Although I can't live without my iphone, it does have it's limits.

Holiday Wreath from the 1950's made from the pages of a Christmas Book.

Close up shot

I absolutely adore these chairs.

They combine several of my favorite things, burlap, french design and flair and an aged glazed finish.

Check out this stove hood.

It is made of old tin ceiling tiles and a salvaged beam. While you're at it check out the brick back splash with the oozing mortar. It pulls the look together.

How about this for a pantry door?

It's an old barn door put on sliding rail tracks. Great for a style statement and a good space saver. I'd love to try this look in my master bath. Our door opens in and leaves no room at all.

How about snuggling up for a snooze in this bed?

Let's take a closer look at this headboard.

It's upcycled tin tiles and antique balusters.

Here's a stylish living room vignette. I love the square Louis Vuitton ottoman with the red coral and the animal prints mixed with the vintage tapestry pillows. That ottoman is for sale for $2500. That's a steal for Louis Vuitton.

Don't think I'm not going to put a fringe skirt like this on every chair I own.

This is a bar area complete with vintage seltzer bottles.

Simply stunning the way the green globes pick up the green of the weathered cabinet.

Aerial view of the study.

Again, the use of animal prints mixed with the vintage furniture and original artwork.

Lest you think I have gone off the deep end with my ode to Branan White, I am not alone in my admiration of his style. He was voted, "Best Interior Designer" for the Make a Wish Holiday Home Show. Here he is holding a guitar that will be auctioned for Make a Wish signed by Julianne Hough.

There is a store in Nashville called Preservation Station, it is a great place to look for the architectural pieces. If you know of a good place to shop for these pieces, leave me a comment. I am on a mission to incorporate some Branan White style into my own home.

IdeaPaint Project

I first learned about IdeaPaint from a post on Twitter. Twitter is a great place to stay on top of the latest trends in the painting industry. I follow lots of other faux artists, interior designers, design publications and industry related products. You can follow me on Twitter here. Take a look at who I am following and start following them. They should start following you back and before you know it you will have your own little community of inspiration and information. I am a painting and design junkie, so whenever I can read an article or blog about something new and innovative I am all over it. Such is the case with IdeaPaint. I saw a post with this video of IdeaPaint being used at the Dwell on Design convention and I was hooked. I knew I wanted to try this out, but it would have to be for the right project. We found just the right project with the Make a Wish Holiday Home Show.

We were asked to help design a room that would be a tribute to a child's Make a Wish. Chase Donnell was a local boy who made the news for giving away his Wish. He realized it wouldn't do him much good to take a shopping spree and he was too sick for a trip. He asked Make a Wish to give the gym at his school a complete makeover including new sports equipment and fresh paint. The media caught word of his selfless wish and Chase's story was broadcast on several local news stations. Here is a story News Channel 5 did on Chase.

Chase was a huge Nashville Predator's Fan. While undergoing treatment at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for Burkitt's Lymphoma he had an opportunity to meet and develop friendships with many of the Predator's players. Chase believed that "Too Too power" (from player, Jordin TooToo) would help give him the strength to fight his cancer. Chase passed away in March 2008 before he was able to see another of his wishes come true. He had hoped to sit on the Predator's bench during a home game. The Predator's paid tribute to Chase during a home game last year by placing an honorary jersey on the bench.

Our Make a Wish room has a mural on canvas Brooks created that places Chase on the Predator's bench in between his favorite players. Chase's association with the Predators lives on by giving back to the Make a Wish organization. The Predator's donate frequent flier miles to Make a Wish so that they can continue to fill the wishes of the sick children of our community.We have the News Channel 5 story playing on a loop to tell Chase's story to everyone who tours the house. We used the IdeaPaint to paint a horizontal stripe around the room. Brooks wrote key "Chase phrases" around the room to help better convey his story to the show house visitors. Our design for Chase's room won "Best Make a Wish Room" and "Best Children's Room". Here is Brooks accepting his award along with builder, Bob Sloan and designer, Donna Henninger.The next buyer of the house will be able to use it for a child's or teen bedroom with a big 24" stripe of dry erase board that goes all the way around the room. Who wouldn't love that?

Faux Limestone Fireplace

I wish I had a dime for every house I have been in that has the same builder grade white painted fireplace. BORING. With just a little bit of glaze and a few embellishments tacked on you can create a smoking fireplace with or without a fire. This is an easy do it yourself project. I've written before about it here.

Another way to add some heat to your fireplace is by applying a plaster or concrete micro topping. I would suggest you leave this to a professional faux finisher. We use a product called E-crete. Here is a fireplace that we just finished that was fauxed to look like limestone. It started out as just a shell built from HardieBacker board. You can also put this over top of just about any surface or substrate including tile and wood. Brooks put on the E-crete and then aged it to look like limestone. For more information on E-crete talk to our friend Dirk at Finish FX. So the next time you are ready to add a little dazzle to your home, think about a fireplace makeover.

E-crete Concrete Ceiling

We just finished a very cool ceiling. This client came to us wanting help for the raw concrete ceiling in her contemporary condo. Although she loved her urban retreat, she said when she got in bed each night she felt like she was "sleeping under a bridge" as she gazed up at her industrial raw concrete ceiling. It was E-crete to the rescue. Here are a few pictures of the transformation. E-crete is a very versatile product that is also perfect for counter tops. It goes right on top of laminate, tile or wood which means your existing counter tops won't end up in the landfill. It is also low VOC and a LEED certified product. You can get more information on it from our friend, Dirk here.