Bedroom Elegance Crowned in Shimmering Silver

By Jim Connelly & Peter De Sousa
January 2009

Treasured travel memories inspire decor

Demanding careers and extensive travel … this month’s featured home belongs to clients who live life to the fullest! Both wanted to emulate a décor style in their home that would recapture treasured memories of a favourite travel spot

Having previously collaborated on projects with them gave us an advantage in understanding their lifestyle as well as their individual attention to detail and style.

The makings minus the moxie

The Master Bedroom of this grand home is situated on the main floor and is seen from the Great Room. Entrance to the master bedroom is through large French doors where the first thing you see is a large fireplace. The design and scale of the fireplace is perfect for the room – the downside being that it was very predictable, exemplifying a cookie cutter, factory-made appearance. Made from cast stone (meaning it was made from liquid plaster in a mould and assembled on site), it had good bones but no personality – or "historic believability".

We had already painted the other interior walls of the home with a faded tapestry treatment. The wood trim had been banged, dinged and distressed to resemble an old French chateau. Our clients wanted the master suite to have a gentle aged patina to gracefully complement the Great Room.

Crowning glory!

When presenting our design storyboard, we suggested a soft antique faded patina with soft silver dusted stripes. Our clients were hesitant about the stripes. We decided to proceed with only the soft patina and regroup to discuss adding the stripes. Happily they came around and decided to add the stripes.

Excellent! The room was opening up in an atmosphere of chateau elegance. Problem ... the crown moulding while beautiful, looked a wee bit sad next to the newly transformed walls. After consulting with our clients we added a silver powder to an acrylic glaze and antiqued the moulding with a very light application. When this was done our clients found the finish too soft and lacking in glamour. Easily solved by adding a second coat and ... voila! The crown mouldings now shimmer in vibrant silver-dusted glory.

The hearth of the matter

Now it was time to execute a facelift on the fireplace! In contrast to the dramatic walls, it just looked too new. It was very porous with a soft beige colour that didn’t really look like genuine stone at all. We first skimmed the surface of the fireplace with a plaster filler to eliminate the porous texture and create a much smoother, more refined surface to resemble polished marble. Next we painted the surface with an oil-tinted primer and achieved a marble finish by blending tinted glazes and paints.

Our marbling looks like the real deal at a fraction of the cost!

Our clients were extremely particular about the shade of marble as they didn’t want the fireplace to overpower the room or appear too theatrical. They also wanted it to complement the warm tones in the rich wood floor.

We softened the decorative motifs on the fireplace with the same silver glaze used on the walls and crown mouldings and sealed the surface with a satin oil varnish. Last but not least we applied a paste furniture wax and lots of "elbow grease" to maximize the deep luster.

When all was said and a job well done, we joked with our clients, telling them the only thing missing from the room that you would see in a very old chateau, was the velvet cord that when pulled, would summon "Jeeves" to bring a wee dram of Scotch with a splash of water and a glass of grappa for Peter!

And why not we asked ourselves? Stay tuned for we have more tales to tell ...