Shimmery silver

A shimmery silver finish looks cool and refreshing on these hot, humid days! There are three main ways to achieve it.

This is a fab silver foil finish done by a Chicago decorative artist. The basecoat color is a silver metallic paint which does not need to have 100% coverage. You ask why not just the metallic paint? The foil adds depth that is just not obtainable with paint only. It is preferable to apply foils onto a similar colored basecoat to eliminate skipped areas from being so obvious.

Notice how the silver foil reflects colors in the room; here the lights are turned on and now it reads gold. The next photo is without the lights on and reads silver. 
 

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This exquisite room was designed by Juan Montoya for the 2009 Kips Bay Showhouse. The decorative painter, Peter Tachkov, striaed Venetian plaster (no easy feat, believe me), followed by a sealer and silver metallic paint, the second option for a silver finish. The striae gracefully add to the metallic shimmer.

NY Spaces   Photo by Peter Margonelli

NY Spaces   Photo by Peter Margonelli

NY Spaces   Photo by Peter Margonelli

This unique mural (sorry- the picture is not in focus) uses silver metallic paint as the background and the trees are painted in a matte paint on top.

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Here is a silver and black crackle finish from a decorative painter in Athens, Greece. The basecoat is a black paint, followed by the crackle size and then metallic paint.

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The same finish was employed on this fireplace.

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I truly admire this decorative painter's beautiful ceiling. He used silver (and gold) leaf, the third way to obtain the silver shimmer. Lots of careful measuring and calculations were certainly necessary. What a grand ceiling this is in the pool room!  

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