My friend and fellow decorative painter, Denise Kilpatrick, passed this part of her job along to me. Denise preceded me in this Family Room, putting a beautiful, soft glaze on all walls. The homeowners had sustained some water damage to the walls in this room, which had been previously hand painted by the owner, who was also an artist. They loved what he did so much, that they wanted it recreated. Because the job was a few hours north of me, in New Hampshire, Denise took a lot of photos and emailed me so I could see what the job entailed and how to price it.
Here are two pictures of the original work:
There were three walls, all framed out with these birch branches. The artist had done a very good job, so I was hoping I would be able to recreate what he did as closely as possible.
With photos taped on all walls, I began by laying it all out and blocking in the color. This went much quicker than I had expected, so I was able to start the next layer of adding some shading.
The view from the Family Room where I was painting. This was the most idyllic setting to work, by far!
Lunch break at the water’s edge.
Here are two finished walls…
and a close up of a corner.
The only thing I was not really crazy about with the previous work, was the way the birch logs were tied together. It looked drawn on, while the logs looked realistic, so I made a change and painted rawhide ties.
Third wall to kitchen. I only had three walls to paint because the fourth was a long wall that ran into the dining room, broken up by a lot of windows and sliding doors.
All in all, this was a very fun, relaxing job and I stayed with my friend Rose, who lives right near the ocean in Hampton, NH. The first night I was there, we sanded the edges of her kitchen counters that were worn and I applied some Stain & Seal that was a great match. The second night we took a long walk and then had dinner on her deck, overlooking a marsh, with the ocean in the distance. It was like a working vacation! She’s thinking she may want some stenciled stair risers… she’s got the perfect stairs for that!
