Michelle's Design Works

Welcome to my blog!

 
 

 Hi! Michelle Bergman here. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoy browsing through the samples of my work and bits and pieces of my life.

With over 10 years of experience in the faux finishing field and a bachelor's degree in graphic design, I have painted everything from walls, cabinets and furniture to murals and designs on concrete. If you can imagine it, I can most likely paint it. I have a portfolio of decorative painting techniques from basic glazes to advanced textures to suit every need and budget. And, if you don't find what you're looking for in my portfolio, I'll create a custom finish to fulfill your vision! I live in Northern Kentucky and have done plenty of work in Oho and Indiana too. Of course, I'm always willing to travel, so you're more than welcome to fly me somewhere. 

I'd love to help you make your home or office reflect YOUR style. You live in that space everyday. . . let's make it beautiful!

Leave me a comment (love those!), tell me your favorites or what you're looking for.

If you have any questions, or would like to set up a free consultation please contact me.

Michelle

Oversized designs = contemporary looks

I’ve been surfing the ‘net for ideas for a new client and have come across stencils and decorative ideas that use traditional icons in an oversized way to give them a contemporary feel.

 

Love this tone-on-tone, large paisley design.

 

It’s just a peek, but this oversized paisley is really cool too.

 

This ethnic damask pattern is large and could be an eye-catching pattern.

 

This brocade pattern gives a big punch.

 

I could totally see this in my house – maybe in the foyer even larger?

 

How about this unusual brocade pattern repeated as an allover pattern? Love the colors!

 

These oversized flowers make a nice panel of “art”. A brocade or paisley design would work equally as well.

 

There’s something about this art deco style oversized design that really speaks to me.

 

Ever since I saw these oversized flowers, I’ve been looking for a place to paint them

Ditto with these dandelions

 

And I don’t think you could ever go wrong with trees. I love how they used the different tones of the same color for dimension.

 

 

How about adding some Hollywood glam style to your home with an oversized peacock? They are always in style. You could pull in colors from your decor if you don’t like the black and white look.

 

I like how these decorative flowers are painted in the corner – so unusual!

 

Contact me if you’d like to add some creative, contemporary style to your home or office. I’d love to work with you!

Bling in the Powder Room

How fun is it to have a glitzy powder room? I love taking a small room like that and making it big and dramatic.

Here’s a peek into a lovely townhome I recently worked in. The view was fantastic, looking out onto the Ohio River. The view of the powder room, however was not very inspiring. But, we took care of that.

My client now has a powder room full of glitz and glamour, with lots of sparkle imbedded in the plaster.

Rich, warm bronze, plums and browns in the finish. It’s hard to get good photos of small, dark rooms like this one. Here’s a close-up:

I even added a faux finish to the ceiling using bronze lusterstone and glaze. Much more interesting than a plain, white ceiling to look at.

Restained Natural Maple Cabinets

Back at the beginning of the year, I said that I wanted to update my kitchen island with paint. Well, I got that job completed and decided to do something with the cabinets as well. This isn’t my kitchen. I took a “before” photo, but long story short, someone who will remain nameless left the memory card out of my camera without me knowing, so alas, no photo. Anyway, the cabinets look very much like these. Light, natural maple wood. Still in great shape. However the color just wasn’t working for me anymore.

So I got out my paint, magic brushes and stain glazes and got to work. Now our run-of-the-mill cabinets look much warmer and work with my new color preferences.

Hand-rubbed, custom finish for w-a-a-a-ay less than new cabinets and loads of construction dust.

Next up is something similar to this finish for the countertop. Yes, I can even paint laminates to look like granite or marble!

If you have cabinets that you’re not happy with, contact me. I can work some magic for you too!

Participating in CitiRAMA Home Show

I was thrilled when asked by Grace Jones of Hoffman & Albers design studio if I’d like to do some work in a CitiRAMA Home Show home. What a great opportunity!

Grace asked me to paint a floral medallion around the ceiling light fixture to coordinate with the bedding she had chosen. The colors were bright and funky and the design had a Moroccan feel. Ceiling work is never fun (literally a pain in the neck), but luckily it was only 8ft. high.

You can only barely see it, but I added some bling to the design too – crystals around the center of the flowers.

The opening is tomorrow night. I did a distressed leather faux finish on another ceiling in the house as well which I hope to get a good photo of. I can’t wait to see the girl’s room and the rest of the house with all of the final decorating touches. From everything I saw while I was working there, I’d be happy to move right in!

Thanks so much to Marilyn Abrams from Lighting Efx for recommending me to Grace. I truly appreciate it!

A most unique request

When I first decided that I was interested in art a loooong time ago I was still in high school. Since then, I’ve drawn in many styles and painted on all kinds of surfaces. In fact, some of my first paid jobs were painting numbers and names on drag racing cars in my uncle’s garage. He was an auto mechanic, into drag racing at a local track and had lots of buddies hanging around at the garage with race cars too. I spent many hours working in a chilly garage or in the grass with the car parked under a shade tree painting freehanded lettering. Between that and painting signs off the back of my Dad’s little Ford pick up truck, it helped pay my way through college to get my bachelors degree, majoring in Graphic Design.

Fast forward to now, and I”m still painting some interesting things. The latest unique request was to draw a horse for a friend’s grandfather who was in the final stages of dying. The man loved horses and the family is big and close knit.

 

They wanted to incorporate the names of all the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren in the illustration. It was to be mounted inside the lid of the casket. I felt honored, humbled (and a bit nervous) to help them commemorate their family tree in this way. I hope it did their vision justice.

Thanks Crystal for asking me to help you commemorate your grandfather in this way. I’m grateful that my God-given talents could be used in this way to honor his family legacy.

New Year, new looks

Does anyone else look around their house after Christmas and start a big ole’ “to do” list of things that need some work? I don’t know what it is: things look bare after the decorations are down; winter nesting or just being cooped up in the house too much, but I always seem to have a list of things I’d like to work on in the New Year. Many of the things have been on “the list” for several years, a couple are new.

One of the items that was on my list last year that didn’t get completed is updating our kitchen island. We got a far as buying the needed boards and trim molding, but it’s been sitting there, waiting for hubby to do the woodwork for quite a while. A few days ago I wrote out a projects list and strategically left it where he would see it. Brilliant, huh? Well, he took the hint and got to work yesterday.

He’s built out the edges of the cabinet, added some trim molding and tonight we’ll add the baseboard. Looks great so far. I did the sanding today and it will be ready to paint soon.

The cabinets are a light maple color that I’m less than enamored with, so I’ve been itching to take a paint brush to them. Can’t wait to show you the completed decorative finish I have planned for this baby.

Oh, and while I had the sander out, I thought I might as well multi-task and sand the treads of the stairs because they’ve been waiting to be restained since last year as well!

At least I’ve got a good start on my list for the New Year.

Shiny Bubbles

Like the name of that title? Quite often when I show a faux finish sample board, or do the work on a wall, someone wants to know what the name of the finish is called. Everyone seems to like hearing a creative name for a finish.

Here’s a finish I completed recently at a real estate office. It was created with multiple metallic glazes, painted first on two sizes of bubble wrap, then applied to the wall. Hence, the title: Shiny Bubbles.

This office space is very modern and industrial, so they needed a paint treatment to add some texture and pizzazz near the receptionist’s area.

I like how the colors of glazes show differently as you walk around the area. Adds some nice interest to the area.

If you would like to add some personality to your home or office, contact me so we can get started on your project today.

Make your ceiling glow

Architectural elements such as tray ceilings are nice features in homes, but they often cause decorating dilemmas. What can you do to play up a feature such as this to add drama to your room?

One solution is to add a metallic faux finish to the area to add a glow and bring the eye upward.

This room started out with a plain painted ceiling that I basecoated in black. The wall color is a nice sage color with white wainscoting. We decided to bring some chocolate brown into the area to warm things up a bit.

Then the lusterstone faux finish was applied using brown suede and sage green.

The ceiling now literally glows when the chandelier is turned on. It’s just beautiful!

To finish the project off, we’ll be adding a medallion around the chandelier. It came in white, so it will be painted to match the aged bronze color of the fixture.

If you’d like some personality and color added to your walls, contact me so we can get started on your project right away!

New look for a kitchen island

Many kitchens have an island that’s a bit boring. This is one I recently worked on that received a makeover to add some visual punch. It started out as a basic light maple wood, just like the rest of the cabinetry. Some molding was added to frame it out.

Then I painted the area inside the frames a dark taupe. Base cabinet color is a warm black. I prefer a warm, brownish black to a black black. Does that make sense? A final glaze of walnut stain glaze was brushed on and wiped off to add more dimension. All of the framed areas received a tip of antique gold.

Now the island cabinet really stands out as a piece of furniture in the room!

Marvelous Monograms

I’m always drawn to monograms on just about anything. Maybe it’s the graphic designer in me. I think they make a nice statement in any room and add a personal touch. What a great gift idea too!

Here’s a few pieces that I’ve recently painted, incorporating monograms.

This 12 x 12 canvas is hot off the press, and was painted as a birthday gift for a dear friend. It has a honey linen strie background, warm brown damask stencil, and doodle-style frame to highlight the monogram.

I’ve made several color versions of these tongue-in-groove boards. This is the walnut glazed one with ivory plaque, warm brown damask stencil and black monogram

Here’s another version of the same tongue-in-groove in distressed ivory with a taupe plague, and ivory fleur-de-lis. It’s just waiting for a home so I can add a black monogram

And here’s one last version in a cherry finish.

Any of the styles can be customized for any decor. Mix and match colors combos, stencil styles, etc. If you are interested in purchasing one of these, please contact me and we can talk about all of the options.