Antiquing Kitchen Cabinetry in New York City and a Surprise

A short while ago I had to help a client in Manhattan who had had a flood in her kitchen - which marred the cabinetry that I had painted and antiqued nearly 6 years earlier. The only day I could go was when President Obama was in town. That meant I was going to experience some nerve wracking, heart attack inducing traffic as I live on the eastern end of Long Island and the drive to Manhattan can take over 2 or more hours. But the slow traffic allowed me to take some shots along Central Park West while I was waiting to move uptown.

Heading uptown:The large pic on the left is the famous Dakota building, where John Lennon lived

My client's small NYC kitchen had looked darker and smaller with mid toned maple cabinetry - which was in great shape but the somewhat dark tone of the cabinets didn't help the small space. I wish I had taken shots of "before" but who knew then I was going to have a blog!!

The finished cabinetry

The flood had damaged two major areas in the kitchen and all along the baseboard as well.  We first primed and repainted the areas with the same paint we had used - an off white.  After that was dry, I looked at my recipe that I had used for the antiquing and made up a sample glaze.  I used the exact same measurements of tints - some Van Dyke Brown and Raw Umber - but the glaze wasn't matching.  I guess it could have been that the cabinets aged somewhat in 6 years.  I had to add a touch of a warmer brown to match it exactly.

Before...and the application of the glaze with a chip brush

All the glaze is on...just needs to be manipulated and smoothed.  What's that on the right?

Moving and smoothing the glaze first with cheesecloth and then - a badger brush to smooth out

Pardon my fat, old unmanicured fingers - but I thought it would be helpful to new faux finishers/DIY homeowners to see how how I gently age a painted cabinet. The cheesecloth is great for moving the glaze around - you have more control of how much you want to remove.  The cheesecloth can also help you push some glaze into crevices etc to get the look of built up dirt and age. The badger brush - which should be in everyone's arsenal - softens and smooths out a glaze.  It helps to give the cabinet a more natural, softer look.

The right side panel now blends with the rest of the cabinetry

While I was antiquing the cabinetry 6 years ago, the powder room in the apartment was one of the tiniest I had ever seen.  I suggested to my client that while I was painting and antiquing the cabinetry, I could have one of my artists come in and paint a quick, impressionistic mural that would help make the room seem larger...more expansive and interesting.  She agreed - and so it began. Here are some images from the room.

See how tiny this powder room is? You really need something interesting in here - or else you'll get claustrophic being in this space!

So, after a day's work it was time to fight the traffic again and head back home.  It took nearly 3 hours to drive back but I felt great that the day went well and that my client was happy!  I took some parting shots while driving (bad girl), but I thought you might like to see them!

"Slow down, you move too fast!"  Going over the 59th Street Bridge!

Hope you enjoyed my day in New York City.  Let me know if you have any comments or questions - would love to answer them.

Sharing this project at...

Between Naps on the Porch; Nifty Thrifty Things; Saturday Nite Special; Sundae Scoop; Be Colorful; Boogieboard Cottage

A Glimpse into My Glamorous Life

When people see the "after photos" of projects that I've done, most times they don't understand what it took to get to that beautiful state.  All the time it took to gather materials, prepare samples - and, when I am doing a decorative painting project, how crappy I look when I'm doing it!!  When I'm speaking in front of a group or presenting ideas for a project, I look neat and respectable...

But when I am working, I look like mad scientist/painting chick!  And sometimes when I'm on a very tight deadline (and furniture is coming the next day), I sometimes have to work well into the wee hours of the morning.  And no one looks good when they are tired and they still have to work past midnight!

We worked til 2AM on this project - to meet a deadline

Sometime it's just me and the wall (sometimes doing projects I love and sometimes...not)

And sometimes the work is way up high (a dome in a double entry foyer) and the client (a homebuilder) gladly puts up the scaffolding for you. When I got to this job, I was shaking when I went out on the scaffolding, so...

I gave instructions to my crew on what material to trowel first, second, third, fourth and fifth layers - and took pictures of the progress.

I still have to go back and take pictures with the chandelier. 

This project came out so beautiful - despite my knocking knees.

More to come in future posts.  Just thought I'd show you some pics of the glamorous side of me!!

I'm Trying to Keep My Home as Designer-Perfect at all Times - But Life Takes Over!

I love my kitchen and I love my backsplash and countertop.  Many times I cannot always see my backsplash and countertop because there's "stuff" on it.  I have almost given up putting things away - because they always return. Apparently my husband, Richard, needs to have the toaster, plus the coffee grinder and the bag of coffee - plus our coffee mugs - with a spoon in it (for morning efficiency), the spoon rest, his favorite glass, the dishdrain, the sugar bowl, dish detergent (even though I had a dispenser installed), a sponge and one or two other cleaning untensils, Windex - you get the picture. 

Looks better than the toaster, the coffee grinder, the bag of coffee etc

The frying pan apparently needs to be on the cooktop - at all times too. I guess he doesn't want to bend slightly to open one of the 4 huge drawers that we have underneath to store it. And - to top it all off - he always puts the dish towel to "dry" over my antique ceramic rooster.  And it's never the countless pretty dish towels that I've purchased that go with the decor.  Oh no - he dredges these up from I don't know where (he has a secret stash of 70s memorabilia that slips out every now and then).  I need to search and destroy (or at least hide this stash so I don't have to see it!) The one that's on the "drying rack" now is adorned with strawberries - and it used to be white but now it's a lovely shade of gray.

How can I be a designer and decorative artist (and a home stager) - and my kitchen coutertop is always crowded with "stuff." It's just life and life isn't always how you see it in magazines.  My studio space (with half done projects and samples, brushes, paint cans) and office (with fabrics, folders and countless slips of paper with notes) isn't the designer showcase that he would love to show off to his friends...so I guess I just have to continue to put stuff away when company and clients come!

My cook top:  When we were re-doing our kitchen I tried really hard to get a gas range (Viking preferably) but my very sensible engineer husband said that houses with gas usually blow up. So - no beautiful gas burner for moi.  In the beginning everyone was careful cleaning the cooktop.  Then life took over. My kids and step kids cooked with abandon and "clean up" wasn't in the vocabulary.  So, our cooktop doesn't look like it did when it was first installed.  It's not noticeable from afar - but when you're right on top of it - oh boy.  So maybe the frying pan on the cooktop IS a great idea!

But today I wanted to clean it, so I asked Richard to get me the glass cooktop cleaner. He gave me this...

I guess he doesn't understand French.  But I used it ('cause I hardly understand French) and it didn't do anything.  I guess I should have looked more closely at the container...because when you switched it around

It was a Stainless Steel Cleaner! So then I proceeded to clean the microwave, the oven and the warming drawer (which I didn't want to do until after Thanksgiving).  Then - back to the cooktop.  After using the right product - it improved.  Not perfect - but better. 

So now I guess I just have to buy a beautiful copper pot - that I won't use - to hide the worst ring on the cooktop.  Richard will just have to bend to get the frying pan out of the drawer!

If anyone is interested - the backsplash is all hand troweled with textures...it's not tile.  It took awhile to do because I wasn't sure of what colors I wanted and how I was going to approach above the cooktop.  The space had taped out diamond shapes for quite awhile until I decided on colors! But once I made samples and designed the smaller squares and the handpainted middle square over the cooktop - it went fast. It cost me a lot less than if I had purchased tiles.  I looked at so many tiles before I did this.  I just couldn't get the right colors - so I took things into my own hands...literally!

Here are some recent pictures...

Ahh...there's the dreaded cooktop!  Looking better than it did. I also did a Tuscan texture on my range hood.  I think it looks more cohesive than before, when it was cream colored.

Close up of the "tile" over the cooktop.  Adapted from a toile by Covington Fabrics. I like to think that the woman is saying to the man "Don't take away my wine," which is a pretty accurate picture of what goes on in my house sometimes! Oh yes - I love wine!

So now that everything is clean - just bring on a messy Thanksgiving to dirty it all up again!  Hope you all have a Happy!!