A quick update on how things are going at the new building. It’s-well, um, frustrating. Please notice that I refrained from swearing-barely. We’ve been down the excruciatingly elusive final details and final inspection for over two months and I am at the point of just maybe accepting certain aspects of really poor workmanship and figuring how to camoflauge things with paint while the building inspector is designing ways to separate me from many pennies!

On the brighter side, we did actually finalize the walls in one room. It’s my own fault, what with my AADD condition (Artistic Attention Deficit Disorder). There are many areas “started” at least….

This office has one feature wall that is clustered with gingko leaves, with more shapes scattered selectively around the room. I have been focusing more lately on combining the Modello Decorative Masking Patterns with our traditional stencils from Royal Design Studio. I’m finding that this opens up a lot of fun alternatives for both mediums!

In this case, we placed the Gingko Leaves Modellos (EasSet 112) and trowelled over them with Portofino, a fabulous metallic plaster that covers beautifully and comes in really yummy colors. We used: Jasmine, Brazil Nut, Chinchilla, Amethyst and Red Rock. Another great thing about it is that it comes in smaller sizes and there are also sample kits available.

After that dried I used various stencils from our Kimono Collection and stenciled them first with the same Portofino colors. The “dazzle” comes from selectively shoosing certain elements to go over with Golden’s Glass Bead Gel. This is a gel medium that is loaded with clear glass beads. When it dries, the colors below are reflected through the glass beads. I have found that it dries a bit milky, so you need to put it on as thinly as possible. You can also color it with metallic colors or micas, which helps reduce that.

On some of the patterns I beaded all the designs. On others I just applied it to certain elements and on others I left if off completely. I think a little Glass Bead Gel goes a long way!! The room is looking quite fun and joyful, and will become even more so when we complete the kick-butt floor treatment. We have it “started”…..