Happy Accidents

Not everything goes according to plan.  (That should be this year's motto.) With this job I had a major "oops" where the finish I was supposed to do on the ceiling didn't quite turn out as planned.

I had completed the walls last year with a glazed plaster texture and the client wanted to do something on the ceiling that complimented but didn't upstage them.  I also had glazed the trim in her kitchen to match the cabinetry and she wanted to do the same in these rooms too. Normally when I do samples I keep notes and swatches of the different paint colors and mixes that I use. For some reason I didn't do that this time. Don't ask me why. I'm usually good at remembering my process but this time I don't remember what I did. I tried guessing but that didn't quite work. I was about to pull the plug and start over but thankfully my client talked me off the ledge. We came up with a solution that turned out to be even better than the original plan.

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I have to say that normally I would be mortified that the job went south but with a client like this, who is very creative and flexible, was absolutely amazing.

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Its so hard to capture the subtlety so I pumped up the definition a bit. If you'd like to see the finish in person give me a call, I now have a sample that matches!

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The final result is what to me looks like what could be a deteriorated plaster with hints of old wallpaper discoloration on a Parisian apartment salon wall. It has a very subtle crackle with gold peeking though. The colors are all slight variations of taupe, grey, and tan. I am absolutely in love and have tried doing this type of finish several times with no success. I guess you could say it was a happy accident!