Aside from my plant based carpet and air duct cleaning business, I have an interior design practice with an in-house faux finishing studio. My father was an artist and a painter and I grew up around painted finishes, and never thought they would hold any significance for me. When I was younger, I didn't really care to learn any of these techniques, and sadly, did not. But, I did always ask my ever patient father to take me to the homes of the rich and famous who were his clients. That was an education in itself and from a very early age, I knew that being a designer would be the most gratifying profession for me. Nine years ago I finally decided to stop hiring others to do decorative painting for my clients and had to reach back into my childhood and re-frame and retrace the steps my father would always beg me to learn. Bittersweet and determined, I did so.
Except now, the way I like to create Frescoes, Lime Washes, Pigment Washes, Venetian Plaster, and almost all decorative finishes presently, is without toxic chemicals and pursuant off-gassing. Here are a few of the finishes we have done recently without the use of traditional chemically laden formulas. Healthier for the inhabitants as well as for the artists. All of the following were done with hand troweled non-slaked plaster, ground earth pigments and soy based waxes tinted by us. They can be used almost everywhere - walls and ceilings, doors, furniture, fireplaces, fountains, sinks, and as you can see bathtubs that used to be white.
