Cement fireplaces

Moving from soft plump pillows to cold cement fireplaces...just a different creative surface to play with!  These are two cement cast fireplaces in a beautiful home overlooking Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad CA.  The homeowners commissioned me to warm them up and add a little color to these big chunks of cement !

 Family room fireplace before

Formal Living room fireplace before

 What you don't see here is the two days it took to prep the living room fireplace.  I lightly plastered over the whole thing and filled in all the millions of tiny wholes that are part of the cement casting.  The second day it took two of us to lightly sand it all down to a smooth finish (while trying to contain all the fine dust that goes along with that) and add two coats of a tinted primer to set us up to paint it on the third day.

  On day 3 it was layers & layers of paint (thin coats) to build up the soft marble finish we were going for...and then adding in veins and cracks (my favorite part).

An elegant soft marble finish to enhance the room

Before

After 

Then on to the family room fireplace.  This one was much easier as there was no plaster & sanding involved...just prime & paint.  My clients wanted a natural stone finish here, so all those tiny holes we worked so hard to cover up in the first fireplace, worked for is in this one.

 This was a soft stone finish to work with the Asian screen hanging above...and actually it worked with all the colors in the room.  So much nicer than the cement we started with.  

 Once again my lovely assistant Lucinda was a great help in making these fireplaces turn out so beautifully.  Here she is adding Dead Flat Finish coats to the family room fireplace. 

Before & After

Unfortunately we got so caught up in the process  weren't as good at taking photos every step of the way to show the process!

The best part was our client Jane was canning up a storm in the kitchen while we worked, letting us taste test her creations along the way...ummmmm!

And when we were finishing up...she packed up a few goodies for us to take home...kinda a "gift with purchase" in reverse!

 Jams, several kinds of pickles and oninons

Fall is in the air...and we are two lucky painters who got to smell and taste it while painting...all in a days work.

Go out and create a beautiful day!