Creating an Old World Range Hood

When we finally redid our kitchen a few years ago, I was beyond happy with it.  No longer was I embarrassed having people over for dinner because I had new cabinetry, granite counter tops, new flooring...in short - my kitchen was finally a place I could be proud of.

My kitchen was featured in HOUZZ!

But...I couldn't make up my mind which backsplash I wanted. Nothing seemed to go with the granite (oh, it probably did...I was just very picky).  So, I finally took the plunge and created my own backsplash (which you'll see a better picture of soon).  Because the backsplash was very old world, textured and rustic, it made my range hood look too new, too light and out of place.  So - that had to change. I took out the trowel...

I used a product called PlasterTex from Faux Effects. It's a wonderful texture for old world effects - plus it takes a glaze well. I stippled the texture on first with an old brush, then I troweled it, giving it that "been there forever" type of look. In the smaller and straighter sections where I couldn't use a trowel, I stippled and then I "mushed" with my fingers (very technical faux treatment!!) Then, after it was dry, I took out a large brush and glazed the entire range hood with some Mahogany Stain and Seal (also from Faux Effects).  I threw in a little bit of chestnut brown and brown glaze as well.  Where it was too dark, I just wiped it back with some cheesecloth. For the onlay on the top of the range hood, I just wiped back a lot of it because I wanted it to stand out...otherwise the depth and definition of that feature would have been lost.

Above, not the best cropping job, but you can see the range hood a bit better. I then used the same glaze and wiped it over the lower molding on the hood.  The question I have for all of you reading this - should I also do the same glaze on the top molding?  I left it cream - like the rest of the cabinetry.  I'm not sure...so I would love some suggestions.

Here's a closeup of the section over the cooktop.

I wish I could say that I painted that middle tile - but I was afraid of messing it up too much, so I had a friend who's a fabulous artist do it for me.  It's a revised version of a section of a toile fabric that I had purchased awhile back. We didn't copy the toile exactly, we changed it quite a bit.  I like to think that the lady is taking the wine bottle away from the man because he's getting a little crazy.  In my house, it's usually my husband taking the wine bottle away from me!  Oh well - in art, you can be a more glorified version of yourself!!

If you'd like to see a few other photos of my kitchen, go HERE

Hope you enjoyed this!

I'm linking this project up to...