Ange, presented with her mural.

This mural, 6 foot high by 8 foot wide, is custom designed for a very special little girl named Ange to celebrate her African birthplace. Born in Rwanda during peacetime and now living in the US, Ang’s parents wanted a mural to evoke her earliest memories of her birthplace halfway around the globe.

To help me get a feel for the environment, I was given photos taken during their stay in Rwanda. We talked about the elements that were important to them, including the blue car they traveled in and a large blue gateway to the entrance where they stayed and the cityscape of Rwanda, set in the background hills.

I produced pencil sketches to start the dialogue about images and juxtapositions that would work best.

My clients agreed that the sketch was very close to what that had envisioned but they wanted to see the continent of Africa with a heart in the center, as seen in the approved sketch, below.

We always prepare a color sample and in this case, because there were so many different elements involved, I decided to produce a full color painting of the whole mural (below, right.)

Full color rendering to scale for Ange's Mural.

When we painted the actual mural on the wall, we  decided to paint Africa higher up and also to use Ange’s actual hand print to indicate the placement of Rwanda. Look closely and you can see a little heart painted in her palm. Ange has recently learned the letter “A”, the first letter of her name and of her birthplace. The butterfly has special meaning for Ange, and so we painted one at about her height.

Ange Sees Mural

Revised and approved sketch.

Sneak peek at the Private Dining Room.

The Fig Tree Restaurant in Hoboken, New Jersey is scheduled to open in April 2012.

We were asked to design and apply the finishes to the three Dining Rooms, in a sophisticated palette of tones of grey.

The Private Dining Room at left boasts an impressive carved wood banquet, originally from the Stork Club in Harlem. The walls above the white beadboard are glazed in grey then hand-painted with boughs of leaves that fall in a graceful sweep around the room

Mantle piece flanked with crystal lights on grey glazed walls.

The grey theme is continued into the Main Dining Room with richly glazed walls to simulate the look of natural stone formations. The room is appointed with crisp white woodwork, large black framed mirrors and delicate crystal lights on the wall.

Grey walls glazed to look like natural stone.

Our signature "paint-on-paint" finish in a rich tomato red.

Red is taken to a new level when it is applied as our signature “paint-on-paint” finish on the walls and ceiling border in this Dining Room.

Our client wanted a rich red palette without a hint of pink. We created a palette based on Benjamin Moore Spiced Pumpkin. To create subtle depths and highlights, we mixed in Iron Ore and Golden Gate.

No matter how saturated the paint that you choose for your wall, a paint-on-paint finish will work to heighten the depth and richness of the color.

Below is the sample that was approved for the Tomato Red wall finish. Every wall finish we design is unique and site specific. No two of our clients have exactly the same wall finish, as everyone has different situations that require their own decorative solutions.

We recommend a “paint-on-paint” finish for it’s subtle texture, resilience and great price. Because there is no transparent glaze used in the application, it’s super easy to repair. The trick is all in the color chemistry, which we accomplish with trial and error in our studio. Once we have your colors customized and mixed, the application is a breeze.

Sample board created for Tomato Red Dining Room.

Sara channeling a Degas ballerina.

Sara posing head to head with handing sculpture

The Sculpture Gardens offers a nice change from our usual visit to NYC or Philly and all the long lines that usually go with it.

We shared a picnic lunch with the local gentry and hoi polloi

The peacocks that roam freely on the grounds may find a place in our next garden mural.

A peacock finds a home in a Conservatory Mural we painted in a Foyer.

Their parent’s thought: wouldn’t it be nice to bring the kid’s favorite place into their playroom?

We all got together to take a look at the room and talk about their ideas for a forest mural.

They envisioned the three children playing in the forest. Ben loves to go fishing so the mural will need to have a pond to fish in!

Mia and Olivia will be playing together as fairies.

Sample board created for the "Fairies in the Forest" mural.

Mia as a fairy playing in the forest.

Black and white sketch for Fairies in the Forest Mural on a 20 foot wall.

We have drawn a layout of the entire mural, to scale, in black and white. The mural wall is 20 feet wide and will be painted to create an overall feeling of being in the depths of the forest. The fairies will be playing in the foreground under the trees. The tree on the right will be painted right over the door to a crawl space that is the children’s playhouse

The Fairies in the Forest Mural, complete

Finished portrait of Ben, fishing in the coy pond.

Finished portrait of Mia and Olivia as fairies.

Close up shots of finished mural, featuring portraits of Ben, Mia and Olivia playing around the coy pond. To see the mural painted in day to day progress and the photos we took of the children for their mural portraits, read on!

Painting in the background trees.

Laying in the background on the first day of painting.

On the first day, we laid in the background texture using a watery mix of green and yellow paint. We applied it with a large chip brush, then blended it out with a large sponge. Next, we painted in the background trees with a thin mix of grey paint and little green leaves were painted throughout.

A pond surrounded by a variety of rocks.

The morning of the second day.

Fleshing in the boy's figure.

The figures of the girls are roughed in.

Ben posing with "fishing pole."

Mia posing as a fairy.

Olivia posing as a fairy.

The sample board we painted for a Magical Forest Mural

A little girl named Alexandra will have her room transformed into a Magical Forest on Thursday! The room is now painted a nice, neutral Benjamin Moore# 964. When Alexandra wakes up Friday morning she will see fanciful trees dripping with sugarplums, curly-cue wild flowers tickling up the wall and fairies hovering all about. We’ll share the completed room with you next weekend. Can’t wait!

It is always helpful to “plant the trees” and create a sketch to the scale of the room, as pictured below.

First we layout the trees in the room. With a piece of chalk and a rag handy to wipe off any errors, we draw the trees with our scale layout to guide us.

By lunch time, we have all of our bare trees and wildflowers painted in Bavarian Cream Benjamin Moore flat paint.

Next, we paint in all the leaves and sugarplums. Because we’ve mixed and labeled all of our paints in the studio we can really fly!

All the bare trees and foliage are painted in first.

Leaves and sugarplums have sprouted on our trees!

A chevron wall pattern painted in a day.

There’s nothing like being prepared.

We painted the chevron pattern on this wall in one day.

It looks simple but it can be a disaster if you don’t think it through.

it’s worth the time to first do a layout on paper to the scale of your wall.

sketch of wall drawn to scale

When you’re ready to layout your chevron pattern on the wall, you’ll need:

• an aluminum framing square
• water soluble pencils close to the same color as the chevron. You might want to use a couple of different shades of pencils to mark it our with, because it can get confusing.
• a 4foot level
• lots of blue tape.
  

  Use an aluminum framing square to layout 45 degree angles on wall.

After you have your chevron pattern marked out with water soluble pencils, tape it all out, making sure that you keep the tape on the outer edge of the pencil mark. That way, when you paint in the chevron, the marking line will disappear into the paint. Don’t forget to tape out the entire perimeter, as well.

The entire wall must be carefully taped out before painting.

The tape is sealed with clear glaze to prevent bleeding.

Next, we always take the time to seal the blue tape to the wall with clear glaze and a medium sized art brush. This extra step prevents “bleed”, insuring a clean line and saves a great deal of tedious touch up work at the end.

Cut in the edges before you roll out the larger areas.

Now it’s time to paint the chevron design. Our wall is base painted with Benjamin Moore 2141-50 matte finish, mixed at 50%, so that it is much paler and bluer than the swatch. For the chevron stripe we chose Benjamin Moore 1604 in semi-gloss. When you paint it on the wall, it hardly shows up but dries to just the right amount of contrast.

Note that we cut in at the adjacent edges, and also where the pattern is too tight for the roller to cover.

We used a 4” short nap roller, used for decorative finishes. We allowed the paint to dry for a couple of hours before applying the second coat.

Finally, we carefully remove all the blue tape, holding it at a 90 degree angle to the wall. Have the chevron paint and the wall paint ready for touch ups with a small flat art brush. No matter how careful you are, there will inevitably be areas of bleed and spots of paint.

Our chevron wall was accomplished in one day, with proper planning and the right tools.

The paint is applied with a 4 inch short nap roller.

Wood-grained Stairway: Before & After Installation and Paint Treatment

Wood-grained Stairway

Gold Acanthus Coffers by Murals & Moldings

Gold Acanthus Coffers

Pink Modern Owls Mural: Girls Room Design for New Jersey Designer

Owls: for designer Carly Johnson, Minno & Wasko, Lambertville, NJ