Finishing Touches

Benvenuti a Capri!

“Art is my life!” exclaims Victor Caruncho, owner of Paragon Design in West Nyack, New York. Drawing and painting since the age of four, Victor loves all forms of art including painting, sculpture, architecture, fashion and even music. Victor’s job at that time was as an architectural drafter, but he felt he was being directed to pursue another career—with his passion for art. Paragon Design began on a part-time basis in 2001 after Victor went to workshops at the Faux Effects Studio in Vero Beach, Florida. Over the next three years, he worked diligently on building his company, listening to his client’s needs, working in a professional, reliable, clean and efficient manner. Building upon referrals, Victor took Paragon Design to full time in 2004.

On a recent project, the Scolaros wanted to add some pizzazz to their newly remodeled master bathroom. They were impressed with Victor’s portfolio at a local home show exhibit and asked for his help with ideas for an Old World or Tuscany theme. After a few suggestions and some preliminary sketches, Victor was commissioned to transform their master bathroom into one with a little Italian villa flair and a view of the countryside.

The wall finish started with two coats of Neutral White SetCoat® followed by two troweled on coats of SandStone™. Tonal touches to the SandStone™walls were done with a colorwash of Earth Brown FauxCreme Color™ and water by brushing it on the surface and immediately wiping it off with a rag. Darker accents were applied to age the finish even more in the cracks and crevices throughout the surface.

The ceiling mural began with a blue-toned paint base to replicate the beautiful hue of the Italian daytime sky. Once dry, cloud work got underway using White and Taupe SetCoat® mixed with AquaGlaze®, brushing and blending the areas to create multiple cloud patterns. Columns were built to frame the countryside wall mural by first drawing them out in pencil on SandStone™ and then filling them in with two troweled coats of AquaStone®. Doing this produced a three-dimensional look to the columns, making them stand out in the finish. Once dry, a final coat of SandStone™ was applied on the AquaStone® columns to match the walls. Then, the columns were toned with the colorwash to match the walls as well. “The wall mural was completed from my head to my hand to resemble an area I visited while in Italy on the Island of Capri,” explains Victor. He matched the tones in the ceiling mural to those on the wall for a panoramic feel to the room. All landscape features were painted using multiple tones of FauxCreme Color™, with a bit of FauxCreme® Clear for more translucency, along with the final detailing.

DECORATIVE ART BY: VICTOR CARUNCHO

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: VICTOR CARUNCHO

WRITTEN BY: JOAN SECKINGER

If you enjoyed this article, send
it to your friends on Facebook!