The Power of Paint

Fabulous faux finishes

By: SALLY FRIEDMAN

"Sponge "Sponge
Photos


from "The Romance of Country Inns," Rutledge Hill Press

From


rag-rolling to sponge painting

to creating the look of stone, new products and processes are taking over the market.

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New Home

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   COLOR.
The word itself suggests a brightening of our lives, a welcome alternative to a gray world.

   But here’s the irony: We carefully plan and strategize color in our clothes, fussing over what matches what. We stress-out about the color of our cars. And hair salons practically survive on the insistence of women for that momentous "shade of difference." Yet too often, we look around at our homes and take the easy way out, sticking to no-risk white walls, or, if we’re feeling brave, subtle off-white — and call it a day.

   Well, as Bob Dylan observed a while back, "The times, they are a’changin.’" Our homes, where so many important family moments occur, deserve better. Since families live, at least metaphorically, in Technicolor, so should their walls.

   The answer: Paint! Walls don’t just sit there any more. Nor are they automatically painted off-white. "Faux finishes are really taking over the market, and for good reason — they’re beautiful, they’re interesting and they’re relatively easy to create," said Jeffrey Siperstein, who ought to know. Mr. Siperstein is vice president of Siperstein’s 17 regional stores, including the one in Hamilton, where paint and wall coverings are state-of-the-art.

   And Mr. Siperstein will be the first to tell you that this is not your father’s paint world anymore.

   Today, paint can take on a total life of its own, not just through color palettes that offer even the most artistic and experimental homeowners an embarrassment of riches, but through technique. From rag-rolling to sponge painting to creating the look of stone, new products and processes are taking over the market, according to Mr. Siperstein. And if you’ve vaguely heard these terms, and figure it takes a Michelangelo to do the job, think again. Decorative painting can actually be fun — and the results are definitely worth it.


"Sponge
"Sponge
"Sponge

‘The Romance of Country


Inns,’

Rutledge Hill Press

For sponge painting


(top), dab paint onto the wall, hitting once and trying not to overlap. Go around the entire room using your
eye to judge (middle). Then, using a lighter shade of paint, dab in between the darker shade (bottom).

The Basics

   You can use almost any kind of paint that’s available at a good paint store. And household objects become your artistic "tools."

   The first step is to prepare the wall to be painted by removing dust and dirt and patching cracks and holes. If rag-painting, which imparts a marble-like finish, is the goal, the process involves three paint colors and a glazing liquid. One color serves as a base, then the other two, which are mixed with a glaze, are rag-rolled on top of that base coat.



Glazing/Ragging

   Your tool for the glazing/ragging: the old T-shirt you’ve been meaning to get rid of. It does take practice, but like so many things, rag painting is an acquired skill, according to Mr. Siperstein.



Sponge Painting

   Sponge painting, which offers a soft, mottled look, is achieved through the use of a natural sea sponge or synthetic sponge made specifically for sponge painting. As in rag painting, your tool becomes not a brush or a roller, but that sponge, once a base coat has been applied. There are how-to videos available at Siperstein’s and other paint/hardware stores to get the novice going. "We recommend experimenting first on poster-board," said Jeffrey Siperstein. "It’s cheap, it’s safe and it gets your confidence up."



New Tools

   One of the simplest — but mightiest — devices to create professional-looking walls is the ingenious double-roller, which uses pieces of car chamois for interesting effects.

   "There’s also a big run on metallic and pearlized wall effects, both of which can be very dramatic and beautiful," said Mr. Siperstein, who also notes that earth tones — golds, rusts, greens — are also being seen on the best-dressed walls.



Color

   The experts agree that deeper tones — golds, reds and greens — are increasingly finding their way into homes. And paint color pops up in surprising places, including on kitchen cabinet doors in alternating colors; on the inside of closets and cabinets for more private, but powerful, infusions of color; and on ceilings, that can be painted in soft pastels for contrast.

   Remember, it’s not a black and white world, and paint in strategic places can add instant pizzazz to your home — and your life.



   Siperstein’s is located at 2021 Nottingham Way, Hamilton Township. For more information, call (609) 588
4777.