Summer is off to a productive start! After being the day of coordinator and stylist for fabulous Bat Mitzvah at the Four Seasons hotel….this became my next big design project! I had worked with Marca, my client and neighbor on the fish tables 
in 2009 and this project had been in the works for a little while.
Marca has a gorgeous place and she wanted to get the look of Namibian blue granite around her fireplace and to create a focal point in the room. To achieve this finish I had to work in layers. Here is the mantle after one coat of silver metallic base and sponging the deepest blue shade.
Next, I added the midtone paint, which was grey. Then, I dabbed in the highlights in white. While the layers dried, I worked on a faux metallic finish on the ornate white carved pieces across her mantle.
On Day 2, I took all the sponging a little further and it was dramatic!
After that layer dried. I came back and balanced out the colors to achieve and even and beliveable finish like the one below.
Here is a glimpse of the final project! The faux metal pieces were softened with a gray-green glaze. I was pleased because everything turned out just as we had pictured it. In a few weeks, we will snap pictures with her mantle and the cool painting that hangs above it, so that you can see how the cool hues of blue granite really balance the warm yellow walls of her living room.
What do you think?
