Koi painted in a bathroom in a private residence in Berkeley, CA Also painted trims, walls, and decorative details 2001

My mom had once mentioned that it might be nice if I repainted her bathroom. I took the initiative to do so when I found myself out of work and itching to do some painting. She was interested in some kind of "faux finish" style painting. I decided that having grown up with the ugly previous fish wall paper that I would like to pay some tribute to the fish theme, but make it pleasing to look at. The house itself is a California bungalow craftsman influenced style, so I tried to make something that would be reminicent of that. I put the detailing on the ceiling. I painted the green and black bands around the wall of the bathroom not covered by tile. The bathroom got less green because I painted off-white & tan "faux finish" on the walls, but still matches the green fixtures and old tiles by small uses of the green and black, and use of green on window trim and cabinets.

Usually the use of "faux finish" bothers me because originally it is supposed to be faux (meaning fake) something. By this, I mean it should be faux marble, faux aged plaster, or faux tile or faux adobe and so on. It really doesn't mean much to say "faux finish" or "faux painting" because it really is a finish or a painting. But at this point, people seem to use it to refer to painting treatments that integrate more than one color paint which softens the look and adds depth, rather than having a crisp, flat single color. I have only done some faux stone, marble and aging. Though it takes considerable more time and skill, I still find it most appealing when a "faux finish" is actually trying to look like something other than paint.