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When I was growing up, my Mother had beautiful, hard
bound books of antique architecture that I would stare at for hours on end.
I knew when I grew up, I would have a home similar to the visions on those
pages. Well, it's taken me nearly 50 years to get there but at last, I've
arrived!
As you know by now, I am in the process of re-decorating
our home in Idaho so we can move there in 2009. The master bedroom has long,
very plain walls that have NO architectural interest what so ever. Not even
a stitch of molding!
Columns were the answer in my mind!
Salvaged from an old building in ruin, I found luscious
column tops and created our first "column top" mold.
I cast two of them and painted them the same color as the
wall. I then mounted them against the ceiling, 8 feet apart.
(When mounting a
piece of this weight, you must first drill little holes in a few places,
(yes, the dry plaster drills just fine without breaking, but do use a gentle
touch) butter the back with joint compound, put them in to place and then
tap the nails in lightly with a hammer and using a counter sink to sink the
nail heads down under the plaster exterior. This helps to hold them tightly
in place while the joint compound dries).
Then from my trusty "Home Depot" store, I bought two
1"x6" by 8 foot boards and hauled them home. I attached them with nails and
joint compound to the wall just under the column tops. Now I will use the
same column tops "upside down" as my column bottoms (but I can't do that
until the new carpet is in).
To finish, I spread joint compound in to the crack
between the columns, smoothing it out so as to create a solid and smooth
transition from the wall to the columns edge, let it dry then painted the
entire thing the same color as the wall.
Now I had incredible, REAL columns on my walls! And I did
all this in just 1 hour!!! Can you believe that??? I was giggling and
jumping for joy as I progressed so quickly knowing full well you could do
the same!
What hit me next was the need for a hand painted mural in
between those columns and look what resulted! See that project in the murals
section.
Click photo to enlarge.
Now see them completed with paint and plaster stenciling!
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