Faux-ward Thinking: The Anatomy of a Wall

A wall can be so much more than…a wall.  It can be more than a room divider, a spot to set furniture against, or a place to hang art.  A wall can BE art.  Case in point: Our Wall.

Yes, our wall: The wall at the front of our gallery space; the wall that separates us from the bathroom. The wall we face, when we are fortunate enough to be sitting at our desks. Our Wall.

Our wall was not in particularly good shape to begin with, well, if the truth be told, it was in terrible shape.  We didn’t much care because despite its flaws, which we had disguised with several different shades of paint, it was still a more than worthy backdrop for some of our larger pieces of art and lighting.  We probably would never have given it a second thought, had we not met Fabricio Fabri.

We met Fabricio, a superb painter and faux finish artist, while setting up for Holiday House, a designer tabletop show we participated in this past December. Our friend and interior designer, Jolie Korek, brought Fabrico in to cover a wall in the space we shared. We were so impressed with his talent that we invited Fabricio to work on a wall in our gallery

As is often the case in our business, a quick redo soon became a full-blown project, and we were swept up in the process.  The metamorphosis was so astounding, that we thought we would share it with all of you.

Excited to begin the transformation, we were thrilled when Fabricio called and said that he was ready to begin.  Like most paint jobs, as well as many faux painting projects, the thrill is in the almost immediate gratification. We were not anticipating a Michelangelo chapel project, just a quick “pick-us” up; a couple of days from start to finish.

Day 1: Fabricio, along with two assistants arrived at the gallery ready to begin the project.  The scaffolding is put up and we begin to realize the scale of this project.  The day was spent removing nails and spackling the holes that covered the wall.  The spackle was allowed to dry and then sanded smooth.

Day 2: The men returned and began the task of skim coating the wall. (A process during which joint compound is spread over the wall in order to make the wall smooth and even.)

Day 3: The skim coating was allowed to dry.

Day 4: The skim coating was sanded and another layer of skim coating was applied.

This process was done two more times and a week had passed.

Week Two began, and we were making larger pots of coffee to accommodate our growing family.

Day 8: Let the primer begin! The first, of two coats of an oil-based primer (grey in color) were used to cover the wall, which was then smoothed out by brush in order to avoid “The Orange Peel Effect” (lumps and bumps on the surface).  The odor was noxious and the neighbors complained.

Day 9. The wall was allowed to dry and the neighbors grew restless.

Day 10.  The second coat of primer was applied and smoothed out by brush.  The fumes forced us to leave our doors open during the bitterest days of February.

Day 11.  With the wall primed to perfection, Fabricio returned with his assistants and they taped the wall in a checkerboard pattern.  Then they began their magic and began to apply the glaze. The first gaze was a beautiful metallic pewter with sand for added texture.  After each square was painted, the excess paint was wiped off and a hard brush was used to create the magnificent striation effect.  When Fabricio finished applying the first glaze, we were so in love with the color, we almost passed on the second color.

Day 12.  The first color was left to dry.

Day 13.  The second glaze color, a warm metallic bronze was applied and allowed to dry.

And….Voila, our feature wall was complete.  Although it took longer than expected, the results far exceeded our expectations and the finished product is so magnificent, we shudder at the thought of placing a single nail in it.  It is, after all, Art.

If you like the work you’ve seen and would like to contact Fabricio his information is below:

F & F

Faux Finish Painting

Decorative Interior & Exterior Painting

Fabricio Fabri (Bill)

349 N. Mac Questen Pkwy

Mt. Vernon, NY 10550

Cell (914) 882 9226

Fax (914) 667 2211