I recently painted this set of doors and windows to look like mahogany wood.  On the inside they looked like a honey oak color and on the outside the door trim and window trim was white and the rest was the house colors.

Here in this first picture you can see how I go about this sort of project.  I first sand every surface to be painted with a 150 grit sandpaper.  All I want is to scuff sand the surface to break up the smooth skin of the finish that is on there.  Then I prime all the surfaces to be painted and then I apply a basecoat paint.  For mahogany I use a Sherwin-Williams color called Tatami Tan.

Here's a shot of the whole wall.  I have the pieces primed at this point and the window on the right basecoated.

The view from the outside.

The finished look on the inside.  After I finish the painting I apply 2 coats of a clear sealer.

I finished up some garage doors today.  These garage doors I painted to look like a deep mahogany.  This is becoming popular here in St. Petersrburg, FL.

In this first picture you can see I have already primed and painted the doors the basecoat color which is a Sherwin-Williams color called Tatami Tan.

Now here is something I do not understand.  This next picture the color is totally blown out but its the same door using the same camera, go figure.  In this picture you can see how I tape off the individual panels.  The stroke is a horizontal stroke to make the wood grain pattern so I totally tape off the vertical space between the panels.

This next picture shows the panels with the first coat of brown paint.  For a mahogany look I use  a Sherwin-Williams color called Fiery Brown.  As you can see the tape is needed as there is no way not to over paint.   I use the yellow frog tape.  Its for delicate surfaces so it will not pull off the paint.  This is good because I will be taping over the painted panels later in the day and I don't want to pull any paint off.

In this next picture you can see where I have applied the second coat of wood grain color.  This color is made by mixing the Fiery Brown with black in a one to one ratio.  Then I water it down a lot when I apply it.  I like to 'picture frame' each panel by going around the beveled edge with a heavy coat of the brown-black mix.

Ok, in this next picture we are back to the real life color of the door and wood graining.  Again I have no idea why there is a difference using the same camera but there it is.  In this picture all the individual panels are done with both wood grain colors (the fiery brown and the fiery brown plus black mix).  You can also see where I have finished the door trim there on the right side of the photo.

In this next picture you can see I have finished all the panels and the door trim.  The color is good in this one also and probably the closest to what it really is.

I have finished the vertical spaces here in this photo.

Here you can see how I tape off for the horizontal spaces.

And finally a photo of the finished garage doors.  The color is not dead on but not too far off.

A nice little weekend project is to paint a door.  Typically thru time doors will get marked up and perhaps even dinged up some.  It could be so banged up you might think it needs replacing but a new coat of paint will do wonders to refresh a door.   Surface preparation is always the first step.  With this door there were dozens of nicks and scraps on both the front and back surfaces of the door. 

 So the first thing I want to do is get rid of those.  Step one is to sand down the door.  I wasn't too concerned about sanding out the dings.  For one thing typically on the inside doors the door skin is real thin and you are not going to get very far by sanding until you sand thru the door skin.  When you do that you have a whole different problem.   So I sand down the door and then clean off or 'tack' the door by wiping off the dust with a damp cloth.

Then I take a 6 inch wide scraper and apply joint compound all over the surface of the door taking care to make sure all the dents and scraps are filled.  When you do this you don't want to have a lot on there, just spread it out smooth with the scraper and leave it at that.   Take a look at the first picture below.

Here in St. Petersburg it took about 45 minutes for it all to dry before I could start to sand it off.   When dry I use a hand held sanding device that holds 1/3 of normal sanding sheet.   You can see the sanding device in the next picture.  You can buy them at Home Depot and other places for about 6-7 dollars.  You really want to use this too.  Holding the sandpaper in your bare hand will not work.  The reason it will not work good is the joint compound is very soft compared to the hardness of the door itself.  When you sand by had the pressure on the sandpaper is greater where your fingers are holding the paper.   This means that you can sand out the joint compound from the dents and be back to square one pretty fast.   With a flat sanding device it applys an even sanding plain across the surface of the door which will leave the joint compound in the dents and scraps.   Using the sanding device will get you a smooth flat surface every time.  Look at all those vertical scraps in the door.  At this point, which is after sanding, when you run your hand across the door its as smooth as glass.

 You need to prime the door before painting.  Priming will put a consistent coat over the surface so the paint coat will look great without any dead spots or streaking.  After I rolled on a coat of primer the door surface is as smooth if not more so than brand new.  After I get both sides done I typically hang the door back up but leave the door knob off.  I hang the door up because that way you can paint both sides at once.  This is also a great time to put new hindges and a new door knob on.  Chances are if the door is worn and dinged up the hindges and door knob are in sad shape too.

Today was a total rain out.  It started raining about about 6am and its still raining at almost 7pm.  A major storm system hit us here in the Tampa Bay Area with tornados and flooding.  Not fun.  Needless to say I got no work done on the garage doors.  But yesterday I had a really good day painting the garage doors to look like wood.

Here's a before and after set of photos.

I started on a set of garage doors today to paint them with a wood grain effect, a double and a single.  These pictures will show you why not to use any oil based products on a garage door. These doors had an oil based clear coat put over them. The first two are close ups of the paint cracking and peeling away.  This is before I took a wire brush to it.  What happens is the oil based product gets real stiff and has no flexibility at all.  So the garage door expands and contracts a very, very small amount but any movement is enough to crack the oil finish.  Then its down hill from there.

I have reconditioned several garage doors in this shape.  I first take a wire brush to it.  Actually I use a wire brush disk for my power drill and use that.  Thank God for power tools too because it still took about 3 hours to go over both doors.

Here's a shot of the door after I got all the flaking and peeling off that I could.  Tomorrow I will prime and basecoat the doors with 100% acrylic paint.  The garage doors had a wood grain painted on them and it looked good but the top oil based clear coat ruined it.  After I prime them with an acrylic primer and then basecoat them with a Sherwin-Williams superpaint color I will create my own wood grain painting on the garage doors.

Here are a series of pictures from the completed set of the theatre production of Miss Julie.  The play takes place in Switzerland in a time period of about a hundred years ago so the imagery is traditional Swiss motifs.

The first photo is of the entire set.  Cathy is standing with Thad the set builder and Eric Davis the director (who is mostly hidden).  Cathy painted most of the this set.  I painted the white 'birdcage' effect in the back and the floor.  Cathy did a fabulous job on the table, benches, cabinets and staircase and door at the top.  The idea was to paint the set with a feeling of aged use.

Next is the staircase Cathy painted so expertly.  Keep in mind when she started to paint the wood it was fresh from the lumber yard and unprimed and no paint at all.

A nice side view of the staircase below.  I love the way she faded the panels back into the raw wood.

These two cabinets fresh from home depot where painted to look like they had decades of use.

A closer view.

The large table sets in the center of the set. 

My first attempt at adding a video in a blog. 

Pictures From Summer Job

I created a marble look on two columns this week with the help of a young apprentice.

Thanks to the great help they came out ok indeed.

I finished up the commissioned canvas painting this week.  The painting came out great and the client loves it.

I am working on a rather large canvas painting.   Its a commissioned piece of artwork.   Here's the sketch I did to show the client.  The painting is 48 inches high by 36 inches wide and its going to be an acrylic on canvas.

After sketch approval I transfered the image onto the canvas by penciling it in.  Then I always work from the background to the foreground.   So I mask off the areas I do not want to have paint on and begin.

Looking pretty good at this point so I start to paint in some of the palm leaves.

After I get the background palm leaves done I remove the masking agent to expose the foreground elements of the compostion.

So this is where I am now.  I have some work to do on the very bottom of the piece before I can start on the foreground palm leaves.

Being an artist and faux painter I get to do a lot of different things.  Painting a theatre set is one of the more fun jobs.  Both Cathy and I worked on this theatre set.   She painted the floor and I took care of  the walls, columns and frame work.   The floor was black to start off but the rest of the set was white.

I put the finishing touches on a job today.  The small condo I was working in has a kitchen area that shares a wall with the dining area.  We wanted to paint the kitchen backsplash and wall areas a very dark charcoal color but we needed a logical and good looking way to stop it at the end of the counter.

So I went to a local machine shop and had them make me a stainless stell piece to install as a room divider.  It came out great and really looks sweeeeeeeeeeet.

From two different angles.

My wife, Cathy created a faux finish on the living room wall by using two different metallic glazes over the same dark charcoal color.

I finished a faux painted wood grain garage door today.  This door was brand new and white as white can be.  First thing I do is wash the door down really well and dry it off.  Then I prime the door and then paint the base coat paint on.  The first picture here shows after the base coat paint is done and the sun burst frames around the windows are painted in.

This next picture shows you how I tape off the individual panels for painting.  The tape is yellow.

Once the panels are done I tape off and paint the vertical pieces between them.

Then I tape off and paint the horizontal pieces.

Here's a couple of pictures of the finished door.

I finished the three doors today and sealed them with an exterior uv sealer.  Here's a look at how they came out.

Well I could not find the photos I had downloaded the other day of the doors.  So I took some new ones on Wed.  These doors started off white.  In the first picture you can see I have already primed and base coated the doors.  The base coat color is a Sherwin-Williams color Tatami Tan.

In the second picture you can see the progression of how I paint the doors.  I start from the inside and work out.   There is a lot of taping involved and I try to arrange the  steps so that when I finish with a section I do not have to tape over to go on to the next section.  So that means I want each section to have the finished look before I move on.

In this picture you can see the first coat of the wood grain.  I use a Sherwin-Williams color called Fiery Brown for this.  I only use the exterior super paint for doors and garage doors.  When painted correctly this gives the door a very nice wood grain pattern to it.

In this last picture you can see the second coat of brown applied to the door.  What I use for this is I mix the Fiery Brown with a Black paint.  I typically use a black called  Tricorn Black, again an exterior super paint from SW.  This second color I use just plain ol  water to thin it with.  I want to thin it down quite a bit.  This second coat gives the door a deeper wood grain effect as it adds another layer of graining and color.  Now you can see the difference between the two coats and how much richer the door looks.  This is the finisted look of the grain.  I hope to finish the doors on Monday and will post some finished pictures then.

I am working on three exterior doors.  The doors are fiberglass and we are painting them to look like a rich mahogany wood.

I have primed and base coated the doors.  In the first picture you can see the front door.  It is slightly different than the other two doors.  The other two are white.  So what I do to make them all look the same is get them the same base coat color.  These are new doors and supposedly ready to paint but I always prime first anyway.  What I do is get the primer tinted to full tint for the base coat color that I am using.  In this case it is a Sherwin-Williams color called Tatami Tan.   The second picture is what all the doors look like base coated.

Ok so now I cant' find the photos.   will have to look tomorrow I am too tired to hunt them down now.

testing 1,2,3

Well, as these things go I am currently in the process of making closure on a few small things.  You can't be involved in a big project all the time.

On the up side the weather is great.

I haven't posted is quite a while.  In Sept I went to Ashville, NC and painted kitchen cabinets in a beautiful home.

Here's a shot of the kichen with bottom cabinet doors off.  Notice the island counter on the right side of the photo.  That gets a color change.

Kitchen done with the island cabinets painted a different color than the wall cabinets.

This is look at the patio view.  This was taken early one morning.

I guess the owners have about a hundred acres.  They 2 horses, a mule and a donkey.  They have cashmere goats also.  They have great curved horns.

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