bathing at tiffany's

since the previous owner bought so much white tile, the tile place most have thrown in a few bonus tiles with color - dark teal. these were placed in a border in the shower of the spare bathroom - you know, the one without the toilet. to complement the one splash of color in the house, we chose a tiffany aqua for the walls and a dark teal for the trim and baseboards. we also did a stippling technique on the cabinets, previously awful, dime-a-dozen, white, laminate cabinets.

before & afters:

the fifth coat is the charm

having done traditional faux finish techniques (ragging on/off, sponging on/off) at lori's condo, we thought we'd go for something new and exciting - a leather finish. we bought a special stippler and off we went. it turns out that the stippling technique is quite time-consuming and the paint dries once you finish the first strip. faux finishers out there know that dry paint and faux finishes do not mix. after several tries and an ill-fated frottage attempt, we discovered our new best friend, floetrol - a paint conditioner that extends dry time.

before & afters:



the faux finish wall (a picture cannot do 5 attempts justice):