Today’s post was written by guest Fauxologist, Jason Rosales. He is my brother and together we run Garay Artisans. Jason has a deep love of photography and he had a chance to find new subjects and places to photograph when he visited New Orleans, LA for the recent Society of Gilders conference. Thank you, Jason, for putting this together! Now…let’s go on a tour with him, shall we?

Exploring the French Quarter and beyond was a treat to the senses in many ways. From the massive art, culture, all of the beautiful galleries, the vibrant colors used in the architecture of the city, the night life and taking an intense 3-day Verre Eglomise course taught by Miriam Ellner, fun was everywhere to be found. I’ll write about my experience with the workshop on Verre Eglomise, the art of reverse gilding and painting on glass, in my next post so stay tuned for that!

The Napoleon House – Est 1797

I love the old worn look time has given one of the oldest bars in America.

Hotel Monteleone

This magnificent building caught my attention a couple of blocks away. I may need to stay here next time I visit.

One of the many beautiful balconies in the French Quarter. Detailed iron work is one of the main ingredients in the unique look of this area and New Orleans apparently has more iron work than any other U.S. city.

Even the cemeteries glow with color.

Pictured is one of the best bands we had the pleasure of listening to amongst the many talented musicians in this city. This bar was a bit off the beaten path on Frenchman St where the locals go to unwind. I also love the mural in the background.

Thank you for visiting. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself. Now be careful on your way out down those stairs…

A little bit ago, guest Fauxologist Suzanne Rosales of Global Swan wrote a post entitled Using Facebook for your Business.  Because of it, I was finally convinced to start a Facebook page for Fauxology.  I hope you skip on over there to click the “like” button and join the fun.  I’ve got so much good stuff planned!

If you are my friend on Facebook, you’ll note how I’m going to start shifting all my interior design & decorative painting links from that profile onto the Fauxology page.  Hope to see you there!

So, there I was reading a book on the hunt for a Pharaoh’s tomb, when I came across the term “bamboo scaffolding”. Intrigued, I put the book down and Googled the heck out of the term. (You know the meerkats that look around due to curiousity? That’s basically me when I’m “intrigued”.)

Lo and behold, I found this:

Can you believe that? I don’t mind heights but you really could not pay me enough. I found an excellent designboom blog post about bamboo scaffolding. It’s used because of its versatility. You can cut it to any size and it supports the weight of workers and equipment. The pieces are also light to carry when building the structure up. Here’s an image from the post — click on the link above or pic below to read the post and see more amazing images.

How it's tied together. (!!!!) Image via designboom

Here’s some structures and machines we’ve used throughout the years…

Years ago, we used cherry pickers to reach the top of the limewashed exteriors. At one point, we were extended all the way out on a very windy day. My brother, Jason, and I felt the cage swaying and we look down to see the machine tilting off the ground. My brother calmly brought us down while handling my impending panic attack. I cannot express the scariness of the situation. I owe him my life, no joke.

(above) We had a dome ceiling over a winding staircase to finish & then glaze all the walls. This system helped us achieve both.

I'm on the left and Heidi is on the right. We had outriggers on the bottom and as you can see, guard rails at the top. Heavy as all get out, but I love those.

Dome interior on left went up about 14 more feet. On right, glazing all exterior walls.

As for the “ladders” part of this post, I just wanted to throw in this Werner beauty that I bought a few years ago. Paid a few hundred dollars for the 8 foot version. Rolls around easily, clamps down when stepped on, holds two people, has a platform on top and a bar to hold onto. No bones about it, it is da Bomb. See?

4 foot version.

Well, it was bombtastic. We had our company trailer stolen a few years ago and it was lost along with other tools, materials and sample boards. I still haven’t had the heart to invest that much into a ladder again. This is my sorta-tribute. I still miss you, Big Buddy. (sniff) Until tomorrow, dear Readers!

A little bit ago, a designer asked us to add a light aged patina to metal panels going in an upscale bar, the Dungeon Lounge. I’ve since become enamored of metal panels and the different patinas they take on when aged.

A dressing room in Atelier, a NY men’s boutique, with metal panels and cowhide. Designed by David Mann of MR Architecture + Decor. Featured in Interior Design, photographed by Eric Laignet.

An advert for J+J/Invision company, who produce commercial carpets. The carpet is called “Weathered Steel” — the inspiration for the background

Furnishings designer, Jiun Ho, created this ad for one of his lines. The metal panels provide a beautiful backdrop to his work.

As to our lounge project, here’s my brother, Jason, and I working in the studio to patina the panels. A site we’ve written about before was used for inspiration — their metal textures alone make me happy. CG Textures is a reference dream – from bricks to skies to water ripples to rust, you name it, it’s probably there for you to see. Free.

…and below you can see them, in situ. BTW, there were three such areas with a total of 36 panels in all.

Image courtesy of the Dungeon Lounge site.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the post and the CG Textures reference site. See you tomorrow!

UPDATE: Argh! Forgot to leave you one last goodie. There’s a great book available on metal patination: The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals. Enjoy!

Today is Nate Day — the day I find myself in NYC for a whirlwind few hours to see The Nate Berkus show. It all started when I received an e-mail from the show staff saying:

“Hey, we’re putting together an audience of design bloggers. Yup, all in one room and before you say it, we’re aware that’s crazy. By the way, you’re invited. Regina? Regina? Oh, you’re in shock. Girl up, Garay. We’re busy around here, show to run and all that. Are you coming or not?”

That’s how I read it. I concede it might have been more professional than that… I have been in DC and Virginia over the weekend so I’m going to take a quick jaunt to NYC and then head right back out afterwards to continue our hotel project in Sebring, FL. It’s so incredible that I’m going to see the show I wrote about back in June — along with other design bloggers whom I correspond with, collaborate with and respect. It all started on Twitter with a wonderful idea by Julieann Covino from the CreateGirl blog and then the ball was taken by Joy and Janet, the Moggit Girls. A big thanks to them is warranted and also, of course, to Nate Berkus. It truly displays the power of social media and the blogosphere.

Pic Above from Nate’s own blog

And, of course, the power of “screaming” because, quite frankly, we’re a lively bunch. (Case in point – Topic #nateday921 over on Twitter.) We’re all talking about possibly getting together afterward for dinner and drinks. Oh, yes: “Ruh-oh” is right. Hopefully, I can squeeze it in — I do have a plane to catch!

I’ll take as many pics as possible but, alas, no cameras allowed in the studio — an anathema to a blogger. I’ll be posting soon enough about how the day went, who was there, is Nate as cute in person, etc. I do not believe it is a live taping, but I’m sure they’ll advise us. If there’s a future air date, I’ll pass it on. Stay tuned…

P.S. If I decide that I’m not looking my best while sitting in the audience, ya’ll might not be getting the date to watch it.

We’ve been very busy here at Garay Artisans. At one point in August, my brother, Jason, and I were running three job sites at once and all of them full and luscious. We finally had to establish some time parameters. It’s hard to say “no” when the client is wonderful and keeps adding work, the finishes are fun and you’ve experienced some dry spells and would like to keep busy. I think most artists understand this situation, no?

One of the projects we’ve been working on is the Inn on the Lakes in Sebring, FL. Owner Christine Pavlo is an admirer of Kelly Wearstler’s work and so am I. We were perusing her latest book, Hue, and came upon this picture.

Photography by Grey Crawford

Although it has large abstract woodgrains on the ceiling, Christine wanted to use that idea with flowers instead for the public Ladies Room. She wanted the ladies to feel as if they were walking into a large bouquet of roses. It was decided to let the roses be the star of the space and the wall finish more neutral, with several layers of light Lusterstone and gold foil peeking through. We also pearlized the crown molding.

I tag-teamed with a separate artisan for each finish — Monica Arrache for the roses and Debbie Jackson joined me for the plasters and crown. Starting with the roses, we drew color inspiration from the Maya Romanoff Aphrodite wallcovering outside the entrance and the elements inside. I drew out the designs loosely with a graphite pencil, Monica came behind to start shaping them, we both shaded and she finessed them to completion. It’s all about teamwork and I couldn’t have done it without them. Thank you Monica and Debbie!

Monica getting her Michelangelo on...

Shot of the Ceiling

Below: During the plaster phase, we started with splotches of gold foil (left) and you can see how it’s all coming together with the first layer of plaster (right). The third pic shows a finished plaster area. Here’s a closeup. We were working to compliment the gorgeous onyx on the counter and Debbie and I worked layer upon layer to achieve it — a lot of Lusterstone!

Below: It was decided to also do the roses on accent walls in the three smaller stalls. You can see this particular stall closeup here but another one follows. The one large stall also had the designs placed on the ceiling.

To give you an idea of the transformation, the ceiling was plastered over, the doors were replaced and stained, crown molding added, the tile and countertops were changed, the flooring upgraded…well, here’s the only Before pic I have:

Before

After

BTW, you know how I always talk about interiors following fashion? Like maybe this post, or this one and maybe this one. Check out a preview of some of the upcoming Fall 2010 collections. Cool, huh?

It’s hard to see but the pearlized moldings really added an elegant kick. We still have a few small details to attend to but I thought I’d share these images. Also to come, gorgeous light fixtures, decorative mirrors and beautiful accessories. Until tomorrow!

As you read this, we’re in the midst of an unusual (and yet, so so cool) finish with oversized flowers for a hotel project. Pics soon, promise. It brought to mind to give you two of my fave images using flower motifs. You like?

I’ve used this image as inspiration before — in fact, it helped fuel a 5 a.m. “a-ha” moment. Source Unknown.

Pretty, no? Not only a larger than life design but also with a linear flourish. Source Unknown.

Inspiration can also be found in other surfaces, such as textiles and papers:

Antique prints can prove a great visual resource. Image from Architectural Digest.

I especially like how flowers can adapt to any design style — here, within the Arts & Crafts movement of the early 20th century. Textiles featured in House & Garden years ago.

By the way, I’ve written about Flower Power before in case you’d like to see more images. Have you worked with a flower motif in an unusual way? Would love to hear about it!