The psychological impact of a room designed with faux finishes is like comparing the blue prints and a completed architectural masterpiece. Rooms adorned with trompe l’oeil, frescoes, murals, and other artistic painting techniques round out any interior design. They provide depth, dimension, texture when applied to furniture, walls, ceilings and other architectural elements within a home.

The ceiling (to the left and below) by Patti Halstead is a custom designed old world fresco finish with gold leaf accent. The design was developed to highlight the green venetian chandelier already in place.

A green groin vaulted ceiling treated by Patti Halstead, owner of Pinellas Park-based Signature Finishes, exemplifies the power of faux painting techniques. The custom technique amplifies the height of the ceiling in her client’s Old World home and accentuates an existent Venetian chandelier. Gold leaf accent within the dome illuminates the green jewels and gold tones of the chandelier. Patterns within the intricate stenciling in the ribs and borders of the dome, further elaborate upon the textures and curvilinear patterns of two sconce chandeliers on the wall and the mullions of the gothic windows. The color scheme takes its cue from the room’s wood trim and furniture, a wrought iron balustrade and the landscaping outside and ample flora inside.

“When you go from straight paint, it creates a depth to the entire presentation, an ambiance,” said Halstead, who was trained in various painting techniques in Paris and Italy. “It can take the interior decoration one step further.”

Artist Chris Salmon manifests the meaning of trompe l’oeil (“to fool the eye”) in his work. For a client’s bathroom he created irrefutable depth and dimension by painting a life-like Asian gold fish pond on the floor. Standing in the room leaves one with the illusion of standing inside the pond. Salmon produced the effect through vivid shades of green, red, gold and brown. Effective manipulation of glossy paints creates an interplay of light and shadow one would see in a real pond, which makes the fish to seem to swim and the lily pads to seem to float. The end result, of course, betrays the smallness of the room and yields tranquility.

Artist Chris Salmon's work for a client's bathroom, features a life-like depiction of an Asian gold fish pond.

“If you pick the right technique and colors then it provides a background and a completely finished look and feel,” said Salmon, who studied at the University of Iowa and the Art Institute of Chicago. “When you implement that it does add (texture). It all has to do with temperature of a color. It can start at the subtle end of the spectrum and go all the way to the dramatic. It affects your psychology and how you feel in a given space.”

Venetian plaster applied to various architectural elements of the Florida Orchestra Guild Tampa’s Showhouse held in May animated the house’s Tuscan theme. The technique bolstered the interior design and architectural theme to make the space feel not like a showcase of interior designers’ talents but like a friend’s home.

“Venetian plaster is an acquired taste,” said Anna Evans, the artist behind the work and owner of Brandon-based Artistic Concepts. While customarily used in traditional homes, it can also function well in more contemporary settings. It grants visual and tactile texture to furniture, walls and architectural embellishments. “It can be done in high gloss finishes and in Old World finishes, and when you (touch) it you can feel the indentations,” Evans said.

She lent a dramatic quality by plastering the master bedroom ceiling in shades of blue to illuminate the turquoise used throughout the room’s design. The hues visually accompany the burned amber glazing on the walls. Above the soaker tub in the master bathroom, Venetian plaster in an Arctic blue expands the ceiling upwards. Fine grained, course Venetian plaster, mixed with metallic paint presents the look of ice, and swirled brush strokes resemble the sky and waves. On the second ceiling, a recessed rectangular box, in the bathroom, a marbleized technique provides texture and density to bolster the Tuscan theme.

Anna Evans, Brandon-based Artistic Concepts: DreamHomeArt.com, 813-313-9988
Patti Halstead, Pinellas Park-based Signature Finishes: PattiHalstead.com, 727-735-4767
Chris Salmon, Tampa: 1-515-991-9423


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