Trompe l'Oeil
More and more often, we are magically
transforming our client's rooms using
murals, painted objects, fabrics, Venetian plaster, and faux painting. A
windowless
room can have a stunning ocean view on the beach; a glaring white closet
door (seen on the left) can be transformed into a balcony overlooking the
shoreline; both new and beat-up old walls can be made beautiful practically
overnight.
On the right is a wine cellar that we
created out of a storage closet right off the client's dining room. By
adding proper light fixtures, a wine cooler, finishing off the surround, and
with some creative painting, we transformed the closet into our client's
favorite room. This is the first room they show visitors when they tour the
house!
We can also fire virtually any picture or
painting onto tiles, which gives us great flexibility in designing a kitchen
backsplash, for example. On the right
is a basket of lemons on tumbled travertine being
installed behind a kitchen range.
The door below leads into a laundry
room, and its appearance ruined
what
otherwise was an attractive entry.
Painting drapery that matched the adjacent
living room greatly
enhanced
the entry.
On the right is a photo of the door
leading out of a wine cellar. Not only is the balcony overlooking the Tuscan
countryside an expansive effect for a small room (actually in a basement!), other
parts of the room have the walls painted as
though the
walls
were constructed of heavy stone (left). You practically have to touch them to
realize they aren't real.
On the right is a very good example of the
illusionary
nature of well-done trompe l'oeil. Although painted on a flat ceiling, the
latticework appears to extend directly upward even though on close inspection
the ceiling tiles and lights will be seen. This art is open to public view at
the Ambrosia Restaurant in the University City suburb of
San Diego.
These examples have been painted by Virginia Broersma and Jean Karam.
