Karen Wight -- NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Last year’s Pasadena Showcase House of Design reminded me that a little

ingenuity can go a long way.

As you would expect, there were beautiful rooms, elegantly appointed.

There were stunning pieces of furniture, exquisite fabrics and trims and

details that were mind-boggling. Of all the many rooms, grand and modest,

the one that stood out was the smallest: the powder room.

This room could be described only as opulent. The details were prolific,

literally floor to ceiling. The docent that was stationed in the room

watched me pore over the wall treatment and furniture finish. I finally

asked her how these obviously expensive treatments were done. Her answer

was “nail polish and Rit Dye.”

I had been duped.

The “gilding” on the walls -- which was considerable -- was finished with

gold and silver colored metallic nail polish. The deep color on the

lavatory console was made from Rit fabric dye rubbed into the wood and

then sealed.

The results were lovely, and aside from the fact that someone had spent a

considerable amount of time with a tiny nailbrush and a rag, the material

costs were nominal.

Tricks such as these can transform an ordinary room into a masterpiece.

Designers often use offbeat techniques to achieve a great look. Instant

style can be acquired from materials found in a grocery or drug store.

Faux finishing can change an ordinary piece into an extraordinary prize.

Do you want a marble countertop for a console table? Get your paint out

and achieve in an hour what took Mother Nature millions of years to

create.

I had a design disaster last year when a marble countertop for a powder

room arrived at the last minute with the wrong marble used and a crack

down the side of the lavatory top. There was no time to have another

piece fabricated, since the owners were hosting a large event the next

day.

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. I grabbed my paint basket

and made my own marble countertop by creating an off-white background and

feathering veins running diagonally over the top of the creamy surface. I

sealed it with diamond varathane (twice) and the finished piece was a

knockout (or knockoff). It matched the real marble in the shower stall,

almost to a fault. The illusion was complete.

If you want to give a fabric slipcover or pillow a shabby chic or antique

look, you can soak it in a tea bath made from large tea bags found at the

grocery store. Fill a bathtub with hot water, steeping several large tea

bags in the tub. Add off-white slipcovers to the brew, allowing them to

soak (the amount of time depends on the desired strength of color).

Rinse, hang to dry and you have a flea market find without the footwork.

One of the most versatile stock items you can have is a can of black

spray paint. Update an oak picture frame by removing the glass from the

frame, clean the wood and spray the frame with the black spray paint. Use

a small amount of gold leaf paste (sold in small tubes at arts supply

stores) around the edges and you have instant elegance.

The same technique works equally well for metal. Give your fireplace

screen new life. Spray it with the black paint and rub in a small amount

of gold leaf paste around the edges and in the corners. Seal it with coat

of clear matte polyurethane spray and you have the look of oil-rubbed

bronze at a fraction of the cost.

Another “technique to cheat” for wood surfaces uses Briwax finishing

paste. If you have a tired piece of pine furniture that needs new life,

try rubbing dark walnut pigment Briwax onto the bare surface of the wood.

The more wax you use, the darker the finish. Allow the wax to dry, then

buff to shine. Instant face-lift.

So turn tragedy to triumph. Instead of replacing those dated pieces

around your house, do what the designers do and go with the faux.

* KAREN WIGHT is a Newport Beach resident. Her column runs Saturdays.