Surfaces
Elizabeth Lanier

In discussing ”details” of helping you to create your own authentic home, we’ve talked about the importance of editing and learning to use color to express yourself. Now, let’s talk about surfaces.

“Surfaces” covers a lot, as they deal with the surfaces of your rooms – walls, ceilings, floors, as well as every horizontal plane within your rooms and sometimes, vertical ones too. And, they deal with any texture that is applied to any of these planes. Today, we will discuss walls and some of the details of walls that you can consider in creating your own authentic home.

Your walls are a big part of each of your rooms and form the backdrop for other details – photographs, paintings, prints, and even lighting fixtures. But how you treat them is another detail.

In today’s market, there are many choices available to you as you strive to create an environment that is comfortable and comforting to you and your family and friends. We’ve talked about some of these options previously in these pages. Some of the less obvious choices are a wide variety of wall coverings, from something as commonplace as wallpaper to more exotic stuffs.

For example, a master bath that I re-designed for a client was finished with crisp gray and white tile walls, pale travertine floors and cool Carrara marble countertops. White paint would have worked, but a better choice for this project was a slightly textured, pure white vinyl wall covering – better because the texture created a nice counterpoint to all the slick surfaces and because vinyl is easy to keep clean.

Another example is a client who owned a period Arts and Crafts bungalow. When we re-designed their living room, we wanted to keep the surfaces true to the period. So I designed a simple wainscoting, capped with molding, above which we installed deeply hued grass-cloth wallpaper – providing just the right detail.

A final example was another master bathroom renovation in which simple elegance was the design direction. A stone tile floor and walnut countertop with a vessel sink wanted for something luxe for the walls.

Because the surface above the countertop was fairly small, we were able to splurge with pewter leaf wallpaper, for a quietly luxurious surface. Other wall coverings that I’ve seen used well are flannel suiting, suede linen – even Kraft paper.

Bathrooms, because they are small, are a great place to use something a little outside of the ordinary. Tile is a good choice, and because there are so many different kinds and sizes of tile on the market today you can pretty much design anything you like from the clean look of pale green glass mosaic tiles to large porcelain tiles that look like travertine.

In a bathroom that I designed, my client wanted something cool and masculine to contrast with the light-filled house. We chose granite slabs (the kind you normally associate with countertops) in rich browns for the walls and tumbled brown marble tiles for the floor.

Dens – or other rooms or spaces that house shelves – call out for wood paneling. But, one can think outside the box in the use of wood paneling. In one client’s informal library, I specified that the shelving be painted with high-gloss enamel in a neutral color; the backs of the shelves were painted in a bright accent color to showcase whatever was being displayed.

For another project, we used standard 4’ x 8’ sheets of oriented strand board (OSB), stained dark gray, with a ¼” reveal between the sheets to create a striking, yet inexpensive paneling system. In a more traditional setting, bead board wainscoting can be applied inexpensively and painted in a contrasting color for a relaxed, beach cottage-y look.

Bathrooms, kitchens and dens are great places to use unconventional materials. In one kitchen, because of the existing structure my client’s work area faced a wall away from the spectacular view of the Gulf of Mexico.

My solution was to apply acrylic mirror tiles to the wall from countertop to ceiling. They won’t break, they’re easy to sponge off, but most importantly, they let my client see her view.

In another kitchen renovation, this one very sleek and contemporary, I designed the backsplash to be a sheet of textured stainless steel. Standard sheet stainless steel, or even those that are buffed slightly, remain as difficult to keep glossy as the stainless on your appliances.

But the textured sheets give you the same distinction without the imperfections. On yet another project, I designed a shimmering wall treatment using standard industrial galvanized metal sheets.

One final way of treating your walls is the use of faux finishes. These are ways of manipulating paint to create looks that are other than that of a flat, painted surface. I’ve specified these finishes in a variety of techniques and locations, from a striated effect in a 1930s bedroom to a tissued effect in a dining room to a stippled effect, reminiscent of old plaster, in an old-world kitchen.

Of all the surfaces thus far detailed, these finishes are, perhaps, the easiest and most accessible for the homeowner intent on creating your own authentic space. Check your local hardware or paint store, not only for written and diagrammed instructions, but also for workshops as well, for real hands-on experience.

Think about the surfaces of your walls; what can you do to make them your own?

Elisabeth Lanier is an interior designer and space planner who, with her husband, is co-owner of DesignWorks, gallery and interior design studio, at 2119A Postoffice Street in historic downtown Galveston. (409) 766-7599.