I finally met a Gracie!

No, I'm not talking about a woman named Gracie, I am speaking of the illustrious, highly sought after, extremely expensive wallpaper called Gracie. I have heard of these papers, and seen them on line.
Nothing can hold a candle to it, it must be seen in person! Remember the brown and white floor I did a few weeks back, well that client had custom Gracie paper on 2 of her walls in the dining room. When I did the floors originally a few years back, she also hired me to paint the remaining two walls in a soft stipple to mimic the background color of the Gracie paper. I had the time to stare at the wallpaper up close and take some photos this time around. These were taken with my iPad, as I forgot my camera.

Each area is completely different then the next, not one bird repeats or flower. 

Can you see the fine lines of the feathers?

For those of you who don't know me well, I have shaky hands. When it comes to mural painting, most of my work is unaffected by it, thankfully!  But there is no way I could ever work for Gracie.  Look at the detail! The fine lines...swoon. Sigh.  Someday, I would love to paint a version of their paper, lol, a simplified version! It's exquisite and costs a small fortune. If you happen to go to their website, flip through the gallery and they list prices per panel. A lot of talent and hard work goes into these custom papers. I am glad I was able to study them closer this time around.

Classic Painted Floor

Almost exactly three years ago, I painted a large floor in a foyer in a brand new constructed home.
It was absolute torture. I was 8 months pregnant, it was 95 degrees, no AC in the house. Need I say more.  Thank the dear lord I had 2 wonderful assistants to help me on the floor. Flash forward about 5 months after floor was painted. "The floor is cracking".

Uh-oh.

Well, my first thought was of course it is, they installed a floor in the hot, humid house, so the wood had expanded to bust, and now with the heat on the wood has shrunk, and the floor boards are cracking.

Makes total sense to me, and I am not a floor contractor.  This poor client has lived with the floor for 2 years, last year they wanted to re-do it, but I was again pregnant with our second baby, and said it can't be done now. After the baby. Long story short, it was just re-done this past week. Now, the floor still has large cracks, and some of them almost 1/8" thick. Seriously.  The builder and flooring installer are playing the blame game on each other. My poor client was very happy to see us back, and we tried and fill in as many cracks as we could with paint.  Paint is no miracle filler though. These cracks will more then likely re-appear.

What I love about this floor is it's scale. Two foot by two foot squares, in a deep chocolate brown and white. It just seems so classic and bold. I hope you agree!

Can you see the beautiful Gracie Wallpaper in the dining room? Next post!

Timeless.