Adventures in Faux-Finishing

And so the saga of 211 Fellows continues! Our next manual laborer/guest was Miss Nally Steeves, aka The Littlest Sis of the Steeves Clan, aka Faux-Finish Frannie (ok, I made that last one up). Even with her bad back, she was a chipper go-getter and painter extraordinaire! Our mission: the dining room. Her task, help us tackle a "Tuscan" faux-finish. We thought the dining room would be a fun place to experiment with some warm colors and some texture. Jess and I had spent the better part of the past two days doing our now-familiar sand-and-spackle, sand-and-spackle, sand-and-prime routine - so we were ready for Nals!

The faux-finish was pretty neat - we applied a base coat, let that dry, and then Nally and I painted on the 2nd paint in large swathes of "X's" over sections of wall, smoothing them a bit to blend. Then, after letting that section dry for about 10 min (to the point where it was more 'tacky' then wet) we used a "smoother" (basically an expensive piece of hard plastic attached to a wooden handle - we will make our own next time!) to break open the small blobs of white paint that had been blobbing about in the paint - it made the white bits streak a teeny bit and created a kind of marble-like effect on the walls. Subtle - maybe too subtle to be seen in these pictures - but we loved the look! A coat of our 'soft cream' on the trimwork - with Nally's steady brush for the tricky corners - and we were done! It felt so good to have that space turn out well - and to see the results so soon! It was not long, however, before we loaded up the newly painted dining room with ALL THE FURNITURE from the living room - TO BE CONTINUED . . .

We were so glad to have Miss Nally up in the 'Cuse - in addition to putting her to work on the dining room walls, we did take a walk around Barry Park in the rain, introduce her to Dinosaur BBQ (we all managed to stuff ourselves AND bring home loads of leftovers), and enjoy plenty of movie and snuggle time. Nally does come from a long line of champion snugglers, as some of you may know.

Oooh ooh! Also, while Nally was here, our neighbor brought us over a cake - a cherry whipcream cake! I think it was kind of a thank-you for the thank-you muffins I had sent over a month or so ago after they had mowed our lawn several times! Anyway, the cake was delicious. In fact, we've been hauling it out every few hours ever since to steal forkfuls on our way in and out of the kitchen . . .I dont' think I've ever had a pan cake like that that was so moist and good - it is a mystery . . .

Well, that is our post for this go-round - we hope to see some of you the week after next when we come down to Jersey for Nally's Graduation/Bday party!

Love to all
Caitlin and Jesse