Continuing a theme from last week, I have a few more Stencil Wall-ternatives to share today!

Amy from Playing Sublimely  is lucky enough to have a skilled carpenter husband! Who’s NOT jealous of that?!  He created a custom built-in cabinet at the end of a hallway which Amy promptly painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Not happy with her first try, she tried, tried again, this time opting for a more classic paint treatment and the decidedly “un”classic and ultimately COOL look of stenciling our Zebra Stripe stencil pattern on the back to show off her pretty white dishes. Check out this post also by Amy to see some more Royal Design Studio stencils used on her walls. I’m sure you’ll find her home dreamy and inspirational-especially if you like formal, classic design.

Back to the floor, here is another fun stenciled sisal rug project from Tam at Sew Dang Cute. A project like this is super fast, easy, and economical. Sometimes it’s the little details that add so much!

Royal Design Studio and Modello Designs customer Terry Leibenguth recently sent in some photos of a stenciled ceiling project that I just love!  This one features our ever lovely Allover Flourish stencil on the ceiing of a powder bath.

Check out the added bling Terry added with glitter and crystals.

Crystal embellishments to stenciling has become increasingly popular, and I think that Terry added just the right amount to accent the stencil pattern and tie it in to the lovely light fixtures.

We love to share our customer’s stencil projects. They inspire us and hopefully inspire you too! If you have a stencil project yould like to share and share alike, please send appropriate photos to melanie@royaldesignstudio.com.

Every year for the last 3 years I have had the great fortune to lead a different group of “Peacock Painters” on an amazing journey of art, culture, and discovery to one of my favorite places in the world: Marrakech. Each trip has been unique in the projects that we have done with Maryam (of My Marrakesh) at the increasingly lovely Peacock Pavilions. On our first trip in 2008, this chic boutique hotel was still a major construction site, but we were able to stencil some amazing graphic ceilings and henna-inspired stair risers. In 2009, we returned as Maryam and her family had just moved in to the main house there-with much work still to be done. This trip featured stenciled floors, more stair risers, and a dramatic, Art Deco-inspired mural. In 2010, we inaugurated the hotel as its first guests while we stenciled a beautiful entertainment tent there. As many projects as we have done to floors, walls, ceilings, fabric and stair risers, there are still spaces that are calling for an artistic touch.

And so, I am happy to announce that in October 2011, we will return to make more magic and more memories! And the memories ARE magical. In order to prepare for planning this upcoming trip, I spent a couple of days reliving our past journeys. Each person, each group, each project lives happily in my heart. I wanted to honor that with a special video that (I hope) captures the mystique and the joy that these trips have brought to me and all who have joined me….

Would you like to join me in Marrakech as well?? You can find more trip information here, and download a pdf with all the juicy details here. Space is limited, so don’t delay, OK? See you in Morocco!!

WHOA! Check THIS out….this is an amazing bathroom transformation from the ever fabulous Gracie Reed, of Grace Designs Dallas.I have posted quite a bit of Gracie’s work here, as she is super talented and was also a featured artist and cover girl for our inspiration book, Modello by Design, Volume 2.

For this project, Gracie acted as the general contractor, decorator, and decorative finisher to turn this ugly duckling bathroom into a black swan. Modello masking stencil used: EasCen103. I wouldn’t normally use the word “sexy” to describe a bathroom, but I think it’s totally appropriate in this case, don’t you?

I have blogged here before about Susan Bickford and her decorative finishing business, Singing Walls. Susan is a wonderful, regular customer of Modello Designs whose work has been featured extensively in our inspirational “idea” books, Modello by Design-Inspiring Interiors from Artists’ Portfolios. Susan recently sent me photos of a fabulous ceiling project that, unfortunately, came too late to make it into the most recent book. Fortunately though, it’s NEVER too late for a blog post!

Susan worked with one of our talented graphic designers, Michelle, to customize our popular EasPan114 pattern, which features classic Japanese plum blossom branches, for a bedroom ceiling. You can see how well she coordinated to the colors to the drapery material in the room in the shot above.

As an added touch, Susan and her friend Elaine Castronova added 100′s of sparkling, Swarovski crystal to accent the flower petals.

Some of the photos of Susan’s work which DID make it into the recent book show the heights that she will go to in order to add a pattern that will compliment an architectural feature! Shown here, OrnCen164 in a dome-topped stairwell.

EasPan102 used for a fabulous striped treatment by Susan, along with another decorative artist, Lorna Soble.

Above, a motif pulled from our Ornamental Panel Collection was used in pie shaped dome. I particularly love this photo because it represents how much impact you can get just by using a fairly simple and enexpensive Modello pattern. It’s hard to imagine that this space would have even a fraction of the visual interest it does without the bold contrast of colors and design.

Click here for more information about Modello by Design-Inspiring Interiors from Artists’ Portfolios, Volume 2

PS It just so happens that today, August 13, is Susan’s birthday. Happy Birthday Susan!!

I enjoy showing a lot of pretty final photos of work that our customers do with our Modello Decorative Masking patterns on this blog. You know, TA DA !! You may be wondering, though, “how do they DO that?” The short answer is, “it’s a process”. Recently, Pat Ganino of Creative Evolution chronicalled that process of doing a rather complex custom ceiling decoration on his fabulous message board in this Faux Forum message thread.

What you see above is the pattern “key” that outlines how the individual tiles of cut Modello masking pattern stencils are designed to fit together to cover a LARGE ceiling area. This particular design incorporates many different patterns that were laid out in a customized manner to fit perfectly in the space, and accomodate architectural features that were already in place. 

To assist with this large project, Pat called in Modello grand ceiling expert, Gina Wolfrum. I’ve posted here before about Gina’s fabulous ceilings, and Gina was one of the featured artists in our Modello by Design book. Gina worked with Marc Potocsky to get the pattern pieces installed and lined up perfectly. This is actually the hardest part!

Does this picture make YOU as nervous as it does me??? You can see most of the pattern in place here. The blue material used for this project is our lowest-tack material, and many artists prefer to use this on ceilings as there is less chance for surface damage when removing it later. You see, many times in new construction there are underlying surface issues due to improper prep and priming over dusty drywall. This issue is discussed under Surface Issues on our FAQ page, and sealing with Gardz is another good option.

After removing the transfer tape that holds all the pattern pieces together until they are transferred securely to the surface, Gina gives it all another hard burnish….

…and it’s ready for the fun part-decoration. Because they were using paint for the pattern decoration in this particular project, they also took the extra step to “seal” the pattern by rolling over it with a clear medium. Clear Setcoat from Faux Effects is good for this, but any water-based topcoat will do. This seals the edges of the pattern on the surface, ensuring that the paint to come will not find a way to seep under, and allows for a very clean final print of the design.

Different colors of paint were applied to different areas of the pattern…

…and gold, metallic accent to the banding. Once dry, the pattern is removed…

…and in the matter of a few days a grand, ornate ceiling design is revealed! I so appreciate Pat, Marc, and Gina sharing this with us!! All photos courtesy of The Faux Forum, a great source of information and inspiration-by and for decorative artists from all over the world.

FYI, Pat is now vlogging about his next BIG project-painting two twelve story buildings in Brookly, NY in 60 days.