Circus Room Children's Furniture Component

If you've been following either of the faux painting projects I've been writing about on this blog, or looked at the different blogs I've been writing for The Frame Maker, you know I've got a lot of stuff in motion at the same time right now.

Much like this time last year, when I had several projects going at once including my contributions to Currant, I've been crazy busy but documenting everything as I go for teaching and reference purposes.

Unlike last year, I'm actually getting useful stuff published online and connecting dots with a lot of different and interesting people through my marketing and sales work at The Frame Maker (more on that next week)instead of just working away up in a lift or in the studio all the time.

That said, one of the most interesting people I've been fortunate enough to meet and work with this year is San Diego woodworker Del Cover . Together we designed a children's desk and bookcase unit for the circus room I've been writing about since May, along with Rancho Santa Fe designer Sandra Osborn.

Here's the concept sketch I did for the visual look of the piece after Del, Sandra and I planned out the functions and dimensions in the space.



Here's a detail sketch I made for Del of themed fascia piece and ornament. This top detail is removable so that down the road, the unit can be refinished to fit into a more adult decor.



My inspiration for detailing this piece came from the concept of a circus wagon and a little online research for specifics. My gratitude to the Dover Public Library in Dover, New Hampshire for the having the following picture up on their website, which became our specific design reference for cabinet composition.



So how did it turn out?

Check out the next few posts to find out.

Definitely trompe l'oeil painting!

Finished up the faux painted brick finish component of the Lucky D's project that I introduced in the previous post.

Since 3 people in the first day commented that they didn't know this wall was "actually" brick, I can claim that "trompe l'oeil painting" definitely wins as the right description for this project (since it means "to fool the eye").



Look again, the brick wall to the right of the seam in the picture is actual brick. (The seam is the corner where the actual brick wall meets the new sheetrock wall.) The brick between the seam on the right and the green "wallpaper" on the left is painted on flat sheetrock.

The "wallpaper" is painted on the same surface. It is the same finish we utilized in the office, with a larger repeat of the pattern adjusted for larger wall. More on wallpaper and more pics in next few posts.

Faux painting or trompe l'oeil painting?

Here's another place where "faux" and "trompe l'oeil" start to mean the same thing. This component of the design I'm working on right now at Lucky D's, a new bar in San Diego's East Village, needs the original exterior brick wall of an historic building to "wrap" around onto to a new sheetrock wall. The basecoat (two color wet blend) is visible at the bottom of the picture; the "bricks" have only been laid on in one coat of glaze so far. Here's me on the lift detailing the next row. More pictures of larger wall coming this week.

Circus Mural Room Pictures

Here's the latest pictures from the children's room I'm doing in Pt. Loma right now with the circus theme:







I'll get going on the really good trompe l'oeil part tomorrow, stay tuned for more photos.

New Faux Painting Work

Here's pix from another faux finish/ decorative painting job I'm working on right now for a restaurant in downtown San Diego.



The design is to reference a traditional almost Victorian style and feel, monogrammed of course with most significant initial (in this case, "D"). You can the pattern more clearly in this picture of the sample:



This finish is done in acrylic glazes and original stencils on fresh sheetrock walls in the restaurant office. We will utilize the same finish in the main bar area -- with a twist, of course. More photos coming as project develops.