Debra Campbell, owner of Wallartistry in Miamisburg, Ohio, had worked on a large house for the annual Homearama in Dayton featuring a new product to the area. A soon-to-be client was visiting the show in hopes to find ideas for the dream home he was building. “He was building his home with Italy as his inspiration and knew he needed the Italian plaster walls that he saw at the show to help him achieve his dreams,” says Campbell.
Campbell met with the homeowner and builder to show them samples of the finishes she offers, including the plaster he had seen at the show along with many others. After seeing the variety of products she had to offer, the homeowner wanted suggestions for finishes everywhere. The home is a large ranch with vaulted ceilings and a walkout basement. In order to not over do it, it was decided to focus on the main level, as that was where he would be spending most of his time.
The first decision was to keep the core of the home — the foyer, halls, great room and stairwell — all the same finish. Furthermore, because the home has such an open floor plan, it was decided that the four season’s room, dining room, library and kitchen would be included with the core finish. Campbell explained that by doing this, you keep that open feeling and the area does not become too busy with texture or color changes. This was all done in a plaster called Aquarello, which is imported from Italy through the School of Italian Plasters.
Work began in mid-January of 2006. Campbell explained that Aquarello is a five- step process that starts with a base plaster made of lime and sand called Prontomuro that is troweled on to cover the surface. Next, a second layer is skip-troweled over the first to give the plaster extra texture. Then the special Aquarello primer and finishers are applied, one at a time, with a large block brush in a circular motion and feathered out to give a durable finish that can be used on the outside as well as the inside.
In the kitchen, it was decided to add some raised stencils to the Aquarello. The homeowner wanted grapes to coordinate with a Tuscany tile mural he was going to be installing behind the stove. After the first two layers of texture are applied, but before the primer and finisher, Campbell laid out the stencil design using single layer stencils from Royal Design Studio. Using a Japan Scraper, she troweled the Prontomuro through the stencil and let it set up before the next stencil was put in place. Once the stencils were dry and the primer and finisher were applied, Campbell used Folk Art acrylics to color the stencils. The strongest colors from the tile mural were used so they would hold their own against the dark cabinets in the room.
To soften them a bit, the library and dining room ceilings were painted and glazed. Then, to add some elegance and to balance the large book shelves in the library, Campbell added gilded stencils. A larger design was put above the chandelier and smaller designs in the corners. The gilding is a loose leaf called Tamise Metal Leaf Flakes from Sepp Leaf Products in Sunshine, which is a combination of gold and copper.
The powder room is off of the garage entry and kitchen. “My philosophy for half baths is that it is a room that is used frequently and by almost everyone that comes over to your house, so it is an important room in which to do something special,” says Campbell. “I also tell clients that they can go darker or bolder than they normally would do for an everyday living space because the room is small and you are only in it for a short period of time.”
So for the powder room, Campbell used a hand-painted paper from Vahallan Papers. The colors in the paper are in the same family as the colors in the adjacent rooms but much deeper and stronger. The paper is applied with a heavy duty clear wallpaper paste in large torn pieces that overlap each other so there are no seams as in traditional wallpaper.
This makes for easy repairs also.
To finish the main level, Campbell then worked on the master suite. The homeowner wanted to do something extraordinary on the ceiling, and Campbell had the answer: Mantavano, which is a specialty lime plaster imported from Italy from the School of Italian Plasters. The exclusive technique dates back to the 1100s.
The application cycle starts out with an even layer of Prontomuro. Then three layers of brown colored Mantavano are applied with a brush and spatula slowly filling in the sandy texture of the Prontomuro. Campbell points out that this is a very labor intensive process. Then the fourth layer of Mantavano is applied in the same manner but with a lighter creamy color. “This really makes it pop,” says Campbell. “The dark color shows through as little dots in the final finish with the light color the main color seen.” Campbell used her signature colorwash on the walls of the master suite.
Campbell used Sherwin-Williams paint throughout the house. When it came to coloring the Italian plasters, she tinted them herself, which gave her the ability to adjust colors on site and get the perfect match.
“Plaster colors translate differently than paint colors because there is never just one shade of the color in the final outcome,” explains Campbell.
“The homeowner acted as his own general contractor and wanted me to step in as a pseudo-designer and sounding board,” says Campbell. “By the end, it felt a little like my house too.”
Congratulations to Debra Campbell of Wallartistry for skillfully transforming her client’s dream home into a Tuscany neighborhood with paint brush and trowel! APC