Office Makeover

There is a dentist in our town who I felt like I knew long before I ever met her. Dr. Kellye Rice has a very successful practice in Franklin, TN. I had seen her picture for years in magazines, on television commercials and direct mail pieces. When I was finally introduced to her she was everything I thought she would be warm, cheerful, intelligent and thoughtful. Our task was to help her with an office makeover that would be an extension of herself. The office had not been updated since the 80's. We love when we can get our hands on a project like this. It makes for some really good before and after pictures. Before and after Brooks applied an Old World Tuscan villa treatment to the walls. He also painted the trim and door moldings a rich chocolate brown. He glazed and aged an existing cabinet and added an embedded design to the cabinet door. Dr. Rice put the icing on the cake by replacing the carpet with rich hardwoods and installing new granite counter tops. The end result is a relaxing comfortable reception area that is a welcoming spot for her patients. Photo credit for "after" shots goes to Nancy McNulty of McNulty Communications.

Painted Furniture

Last year for the Home Decorating and Remodeling Show in Nashville, TN we had a huge booth space and were racking our brains for ideas to fill the space and showcase Brooks' beautiful paint treatments. We came up with the idea to paint some furniture. We found some pieces on Craig's list that we picked up very inexpensively and then gave them a makeover. The pieces he painted turned out to be the hit of the show. We gave away a dresser last year at the show. We also painted this table. This year Brooks painted another table and a buffet. I had been begging him to paint the buffet for my birthday and the Home Show was the perfect excuse for him to get it done. It now has a new home in my foyer. The table is still for sale. If you are interested, drop me a comment or an e-mail.

Well, we met so many wonderful people who stopped to admire the buffet. We also had about 100 people stop to tell us they had a buffet just like it. About half said, "I would never paint it. I can't believe you did that". The other half said, "I love it. Will you tell me how you did it?". So, for those who loved it, this one is for you. We started with the original stained furniture finish. We used a brush to paint it with a product called Set Coat Black by Faux FX. Next we applied a crackle medium to the top along with some smears of Vaseline in a random pattern all over the surface. Then we sprayed on a coat of Sherwin Williams 6758 Aquaduct. After the paint dried, we wiped off the Vaseline areas which took off the top layer of paint creating a distressed look. Lastly we took a fine grit sandpaper and distressed areas that would traditionally see a lot of wear. Then we finished it off with a top coat of a non yellowing polyurethane for protection. There you have it.

If you're not brave enough to attempt this DIY paint project yourself give us a call. We will be glad to help.

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.

How to have a profitable Home Show Booth

This is the second year that we have participated in the Nashville Home Decorating and Remodeling Show. We spent a ton of time, money and energy to pull off this event. We had a good show last year and left with several leads. We didn't end up closing ANY of them last year and this year I was determined to have a different approach. This is a VERY targeted show and a great place for us to meet potential clients. Everyone there is in the market to make changes to their homes. There are a couple of reasons I think we failed to generate any business last year. 1.) The show was in September and the economy tanked in October and everyone held on to their money. 2) I only took the names of people who were ready to work on a project right away and didn't have a way to keep in contact with people who might be in the market later.

This year I made some key changes. My biggest objective this year was to collect names and e-mail addresses for our e-mail newsletter. The way I did that was to ask people to sign up for our e-mail newsletter as an opportunity to win a "fireplace makeover".

I have blogged about a fireplace makeover before and it is my most read post, so I knew that would be a popular giveaway. We also had a distressed buffet that Brooks had painted in our booth. It got a ton of comments from the crowd. Everyone was asking what the process was to get the distressed look. I told everyone to sign up for our e-mail list and I would send out the formula and process for distressing the buffet in our newsletter. We got over 100 qualified people to sign up to receive our newsletter who are genuinely interested in faux. In addition, I also took down the names and contact information for people who were ready to book a consultation on the spot. We got about 15 booked at the show. We had face to face meetings with multiple builders, interior designers and remodelers. Of course we also passed out tons of business cards.

As for our actual booth, we had a huge space. We had 4 booths in the lobby of the convention center. We were in the center with no walls, so we had to get creative. Brooks built a double sided faux brick wall that we hung framed sample boards on. I got the frames at the Habitat for Humanity store for $2 a piece and he spray painted them gold. Brooks also painted a couple of big furniture pieces that were the "show stoppers". Everyone stopped to look at his hand painted scripture table and distressed buffet.

We got lots of table top easels and displayed different sample boards around the booth. We took off cabinet doors and painted doors throughout our house and also brought them into our display. Everyone loved the painted doors and it sparked lots of discussion with potential clients. To make it feel more homey we brought in rugs and lamps and accessories. Basically we emptied our entire house into our booth. We also created an iMovie of recent projects and ran it on a loop on a big screen t.v. at the front of the booth.

Overall, I think the time and effort was well worth the leads we got from the show. I'm praying that we will be able to close lots of business and create a tribe of people through our e-mail list that will be passionate supporters and recommend us to their friends.

Medieval Day at Walnut Grove

The third graders celebrated their weeks of learning about Medieval times with a feast today. Zane and Zoey looked fabulous in their costumes. They each had baskets of goods to barter at the open market after the feast. Can't wait to see what they bring home. Here's video of this morning.

I am just learning how to use I Movie. Hopefully, I will learn how to fade the music. I'll get there. This is somewhat related to faux painting in that Brooks turned an Anniken Skywalker costume from last year into a quasi Knight costume. He spray painted the boots and lapels a shimmery silver and then drew the armor details and the crest on the front. Not bad for a recycled costume.

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.