Mercedes Benz Mural Project

Recently I was commissioned by the Mercedes Benz dealership in Massapequa to add some excitement to their client boutique. The boutique not only is a place where people can buy the latest Mercedes a high traffic area where billing is done, appointments are made and general traffic is kind of high. The inspiration for the murals came for two areas, one was a timeline of the car, which many people , myself inclusive find very interesting. To see how the style and shape has changed over the last hundred years is fascinating. I painted 13 models for the timeline on pellon and installed these paintings in a border design around the perimeter of the showroom. The larger murals are of the "founding" historical figures of Mercedes Benz, these murals measure 54"x 82" and were painted on canvas and installed. The murals include six portraits painted in sepia tone, which gives a nice "aged" . Following each portrait is a short paragraph explaining each figures signifigance to the Mercedes Benz company. The murals give customers a little bit of history as well as something nice to look at while in the boutique.

Undersea Marine Life Mural in Whitestone N.Y

I have a wonderful client in Malba , New York, a little "hub" if you will of the lovely Whitestone , Queens. This area is beautiful, overlooking the Whitestone Bridge filled filled with fantastic old Tudors, Colonials as well as massive new stucco and brick mini mansions.I am very familiar with the area as I have been coming here since I was a baby , my "Nana" lived there as well as my entire family has migrated back there now. I met this client about a year ago and developed a very nice relationship with her. My first job for her was a Faux Finish in her kitchen that has since snow balled into a finish or mural in every room of her home. When she started chemotherapy about a year ago I decided to surprise her and do her bedroom for her while whe was in the hospital. When she came home she was very pleased and has since called me back to do 3 more bedrooms. The room I am focusing on here is the boys room. I did a panoramic undersea mural depicting mammals, fish and marine plants, the mural posed a few challenges as it is on a deep slant, and all over head. The finished mural creates a soothing environment fro a kids room and adds color and interest to a large area of ceiling space.

A fine Faux Finish in Brookville NY

Finally finished photos of the Brookville Mansion featuring 13 rooms of faux finishes, murals, venetian plaster and gold leaf. Please watch the attached video to see a virtual home tour of this magnificent home located in the heart of the Gold Coast of Long Island.

Designer Showcase 2011

The 2011 Designer showcase featuring fantastic design trends, interior decorating and artists, is opening Saturday, September 10, 2011 at Chestnut Manor in Brookville. The mansion is filled with great design ideas, artwork, and beautiful wall treatments. All proceeds are non profit and benefit the Millneck school for the deaf. I am very happy to be amongst the vast amount of talented professionals participating this year. My areas are the first floor powder room which I transformed into an ultra feminine panoramic escape, and the back first level stairwell, that leads up to the athletic wing of the house. If you are in the area, and would like to spend a pleasant afternoon perusing the mansion or, if you are decorating your own home and need ideas and professionals to help you stop by and you will be very glad you did!

A busy summer!

This summer has been perhaps one of the best we have ever enjoyed here on Long Island. The weather has been fantastic, hot, sunny and mostly dry. The beaches here have been crowded and beautiful! A summer to enjoy and take in the many exciting sites here on the island. We have enjoyed the many delights the Great South bay has to offer, from boating and jet skiing to a terrific meal at the Singletons seafood shack at Tobay. Painting during these hot summer months can be very inspiring taking in the vast amount of beaches, boardwalks and beautiful scenery at the beaches. We have done some plien air painting as well as taking some fabulous sunset shots from our very own John Burns Park. One of the best days we enjoyed this summer was a nostalgic visit to Lido beach, i remember taking the free beach bus there as a kid, and the fun times my friends and i had there were all but stored away in my memory. I met my brother's family there one Sunday 2 weeks ago, we enjoyed the beach, and the "mushrooms" and after had a great dinner at Jordan lobster farms. They have newly expanded the out door dining area, a very affordable and delicious way to enjoy the sea;s king of the dinner plate! No trip to Lide is complete with out a cone from Marvel, in business since long before I was a kid, this place never gets old, and the ice cream just tastes better!

Allover stencils in Faux Finish treatments on Long Island

The latest installment in my on going coverage of the "big house" project is the use of stencils through out the home. The use of pattern in general was very important to the clients - as it reminded them of their home country of India. We incorporated many stencil patterns through the decoration of the home, picking up the exquisite rare stone floor inlays and the general lines of the home. The master bedroom and foyer/ great room had floor to ceiling patterns of all over stenciling. With high ceilings of over 24 feet the all over pattern is a wonderfully subtle choice in decorative painting. By adding the use of a simple color wash, strie, or simply using a semi gloss paint over a flat or matte finish can yield lovely results.

Raised Plaster Faux Finishes

My next installment in my ongoing re-cap of a project I recently had the pleasure of working on is the Formal Living room , and Dining room . These two rooms are directly located off the main entry way and kitchen area, The rooms had to have a "flow". The color palette and design elements had to work together and compliment each other. The design elements and faux treatments also had to be able to stand alone. As I stated in the previous installment the clients vision had to be reminiscent of his home country. The walls, and designs were selected to evoke a feel of home for them when they walked through the doors. We did utilize many stencils, but each stencil was applied in such a manor that it became so much more than a stencil. In the formal living room we used fantastic stencils from Victoria Larsen. The room had a surround of raised panels, each was painted with Sherwin Williams matte finish paint in "Antique white" We then painstakingly centered each of the 15 stencils in each box, the stencil was plastered with a custom mix of Palette deco and gold paint for a very bright and brilliant gold raised look. The ceiling moldings were hand detailed with gold paint. The dining room also had lovely raised panels, these were octagon shaped and each one had a round stencil, some were from Royal Design Studio , Victoria Larsen and The Mad Stencilist designed our corners for us. These stencils also were treated with a bright gold plaster. The magnificent cofered ceiling had a hand painted gold leaf application on all decorative moldings

Faux Finish, Stenciling, and Mural extravaganza on Long Island

I was recently commissioned to work in a grand home in Brookville, Long Island. The clients and I worked together for approximately 8 months on 12 rooms in the home that would have decorative painting in some capacity. Much of the inspiration came form lovely ornate inlays the clients had imported from India. The inlays adorned floors in bathrooms, foyers, great rooms, and contained fabulous marble , lapis, mother of pearl and other various beautiful stone elements. I used stencils for much of my "back ground" wall work . In the entry way foyer and great room , which boasts 22 foot ceilings and a lovely round "rotunda" style architecture, we used a very soothing color palette of warm shades of white and tans that coordinated with the marble floors. The wow factor in the rotunda comes from the 9 foot diameter dome that is directly above the round entry inlay. We chose to paint this a red velvet faux finish with gold leaf stenciling and hand applied jewels to each individual flower. The columns flanking the balcony in the foyer and great room were faux painted to look like marble and have lovely gold capitals.....My next installment I will cover the formal living areas, Dining room and Living room...

Tropical Murals