Fort Worth Club--antique mirrors

In November of 2005 I got a call from Gearheart Construction to look at a project at the Ft. Worth Club. There were two mirrors in the Camellia Room that needed repairs and also the walls needed some touch up as well. A local family was going to have a reception there for a wedding and wanted to spruce up the place.
There were a number of pieces broken and missing on the mirrors. The job was to replace those and finish to match the existing work.

Once I had gotten started I realized that I could use some help and called some friends to get the name of a good carver. Dean Cardwell showed up and did his magic. In the second photo you can see the substantial piece in the center that Dean fabricated.

After a lot of gluing, carving, casting, coloring, re-coloring and glazing they were finally done. To the right you can see one of the completed mirrors. Actually both are visible(second one in in reflection of first.) Done in time for wedding. The staff at the Club couldn't have been nicer especially Big Tony. Great experience all around.

Faux polished onyx-bookshelves

The floors had more of a golden ochre color. The walls and trim are all an off-white, probably Ben Moore's Linen White. We went with a terra-cotte glaze for the faux polished stone.

This is a rendering of faux onyx done on

 the back of some bookshelves.

The glazing was topped off with a gloss varnish which does yield the effect of polished stone and the wonderful depth that has.

contemporary dining room near Eagle Mountain Lake

Got a call a few years ago from an aquaintance who had a dining room she wanted to do some work on. The walls had already been hand-textured and had a coat of satin sheened gray on them. The trim had previously been enameled in a neutral off-white. You can see the furnishings that were already in the room. Very smart and confidently executed design. The dining table and chairs are a wonderfully warm, rich brown. The floors have mid-tones of taupe, tan and gray. Classically elegant treatment of a terrific space.

Nikki has very good taste. Easy to do color for her because she can see "it" before "it" is on the wall. Something with a pewter metallic was the obvious first choice for one of the glaze colors. A few sample boards later and we had a wall finish.  This is a two-tone glaze combining the pewter with a slighter darker gray that is was in the base color. Technique was executed with sea sponges and Neon Leons-nylon stipple brushes. I used Faux Effects materials to mix glazes and a semi-gloss latex varnish. Varnish just takes a finish like this to another level. It is not unlike polishing a nice piece of marble. A clear coat gives the finish depth that really makes it sparkle.

Wall fixtures were added after the work was done and such a great fit.

Repairing a Lacquered Top

One of my long time customers had me look at an old lacquered table she had gotten several years ago. It is not an unusually valuable piece but it is, as you can see, charming.

Unfortunately over the years the top has suffered from the effects of coaster-free iced drink glasses.
The problem is to efficiently restore the top to match the existing finish.The very first thing to try is a clean soft cloth dampened with solvent alcohol. This will probably remove the water rings immediately and you are all done. If there is other damage then proceed.
The first thing to do is to clean the top.Test a small area on the table with your cleaner first to ensure that your cleaner will not strip or mar the finish. Liquid sander, PASO brand, is my favorite. Ammonia water or solvent alcohol can also be used. Refrain from the use of lacquer thinner since it will ruin the finish--quickly.
Now that the top is clean it is time to get some good photographs to document the artwork on the top. Digital photos are the way to go since you can check you work immediately and see if you did indeed get some good images. The large image afforded by the monitor is a great help when you need to examine detail.  Once you get some good pics you can break out the artist's acrylics and match the different colors in the top. You will refer to these colors as you re-color the top. You might be wondering why it is necessary to physically match color when you have a perfectly good picture of it. Trust me. If you want accuracy it is not quite the same. You will need to take your color match samples to Metro Paint to get them formulated in an interior latex eggshell finish.
Once you are happy with your matches then you can spray on a coat of dewaxed shellac onto the freshly cleaned top. A couple of thin coats are much better than one thick, globby coat. (And take it out of doors to do the deed. They use methyl chloride for some reason to get it to work out of a spray can. Methyl Chloride is genuinely nasty stuff and is not to be trifled with.)  Be sure that you get "dewaxed" shellac rather than regular shellac. Dewaxed shellac is the universal sealer. Everything sticks to it; it sticks to everything. Also it dries in about 40 minutes. (This is a good time to get your samples matched. The shellac will be dry by the time you return.) This layer of shellac is a "barrier coat".
Once your shellac is dry then you can apply your first of two coats of top coat. One inch blue tape is in order here to keep paint where paint belongs. Take care in pulling tape to avoid lifting fresh paint from top.  Use a good brush-I like Woosters. A cheap brush will ruin the work. Ignore this advice at your peril. Follow directions on label of paint can. Be sure and clean your nice new brush-it will last a while if kept clean. Put dry brush back in stiff paper wrapper(called a "shuck" in the trade.) to keep bristles from deforming.
Once your basecoats have dried then you can begin on copying artwork using artists' brushes or push brooms, if you prefer. Artwork having dried, you can spray more dewaxed shellac onto top. After that dries you can smear on a couple of coats of floor wax and buff that at the appropriate time. I use Trewax (follow directions on can.) which you can also get at Metro. It has carnauba in it and dries very hard indeed. You can re-wax from time to time. Wax gives it such a nice patina. (But you still need coasters.  :)   Hope this helps, Mimi. Blessings to you and Jay.

PRETTIEST GIRLS IN THE WORLD

Shot of Olivia Thanksgiving 2012. Here in FW.

Laura and Olivia (Olivia is the short one.) in Jacksonville. Josh took this great shot. Sure miss them.

At Mummum's house Thanksgiving 2012

Olivia's not very diminutive Uncle Mikey.

Trevor's solar screens

My name is Trevor and I am writing this post for my neighbor Rod. I call him Rod for short. I built some solar screens over the weekend for my Mom's house and I wanted to show you all how it went. That is my Mom's left kneecap and elbow on the
left of the photo. Rod is quite the photographer.

I had to"persuade" Rod to let me post this on his blog.(Had to smack him around a little but he finally saw things my way.)

I also had Mansfield SWAT standing by for crowd control because I'm famous. Thanks, guys!   We celebrities can't be too careful these days. Hey Paris! Don't be a stranger, girl!

First I carefully measured the windows to be screened.
(Rod let me use his shop to make my cuts, glue the frames up, paint and then screen them. He is not as bad as the TV people say.)
Next I ripped some 2x6 that I had salvaged from cast-off material from a deck on the South Side.

Skip and Debbie Stemple's place.( Model T mechanic extraordaire and friends even more extraordinaire. ) They had put in a new deck on their house and stacked the old wood on the curb. I had Rod bring it back to the neighborhood so as not to waste. We have put a lot of it to good use.  Skip keeps Rod's clunkers on the road. ( I'm sure
EPA is thrilled but not much.) Kudos with hugs to Skip and Debbie!!!


I cut everything to fit and set up to make dowel joints.
I drilled holes for dowels with a 3/8" drill bit. I crimped dowels with pliers to crush the wood fibers. I applied glue to crimped end and hammered dowels into the holes. The water-based glue causes the wood to swell slightly and makes for a tight, strong joint when the glue is dry. I like Titebond III. I can use it for interior and exterior
 applications. Then I flush cut the extra dowel
 material for a smooth surface. I let my Mom
 help me seal and paint the frames.

Once the paint was dry I rolled out the solar screen, stapled it in place, wrapped the extra screen material around the frame and stapled the
material in place on the back.

(If it looks like Rod doesn't know how to do a blog then that is because Rod doesn't know how
to do a blog. But he's getting there.)

Lastly, a little tap-tap with a mallet and block of
wood and the windows are in place.

Well, here they are. If you look closely you can actually see the solar radiation bouncing off the screen material. Pretty amazing-not just me but the screens also. See you next time! I love
you, Mom and Gigi!!

Trevor's solar screens

My name is Trevor. I built some solar screens for my Mom this weekend and Rod said I could write about it on his blog. ( I had to rough him up a little but I didn't leave any marks on him.)
I decided to have a SWAT team on hand for crowd control. I'm famous, you know.

Thanks, guys!

First I carefully measured the windows to be screened.