For a local interior designer, ‘home’ is a beautiful experiment | Featured real estate articles

“It’s tough,” he said.

The process is sluggish, for starters. Sefcik started the extensive kitchen remodel in the Fan District household he owns with his partner, Andrew Finnan, in November, and a portray crew was continue to putting the ending touches on the lacquered-crimson cabinets in the butler’s pantry in early June.

Plus, it’s an acquired ability.

“You have to have a light contact and not press the brush way too challenging towards the floor,” Sefcik reported.  “The paint has to nearly melt off the brush.”

Then there is the climate.

“Humidity can make the paint dry slower, and it can also give the complete a texture that appears like an alligator’s scales,” Sefcik said. “If that transpires, you have to sand it clean and paint it once again.”

That took place when Sefcik’s crew painted the partitions and ceiling of his eating home in a striking peacock-blue lacquer finish a several summers ago.  A three-7 days challenge ended up getting a few months.

Even when the procedure goes perfectly, historic houses like Sefcik and Finnan’s – theirs was created in 1908 – need in depth prep do the job to assure the plaster wall or ceiling is as flat as doable to get that mirror-like sheen.

The extra problems is value it, even though.

“It’s a beautiful end,” Sefcik claimed. “We adore to entertain, and when we convert on the chandelier in the eating room, the partitions and ceiling shimmer like a swimming pool.”

Sefcik and Finnan acquired the residence in 2014, the exact same yr Sefcik launched Avery Frank Layouts, a entire-service interior style and design business. Because then, he has dealt with the residence as an experiment, of kinds, from time to time pursuing ideas that his clientele could take into consideration way too hard on a useful or aesthetic stage.

“If I’m heading to make a mistake, I want it to be below and not in a client’s home,” he reported, with a laugh.

The home is also a showroom:  If your designer can do it and make it appear that very good, why shouldn’t you comply with his direct?

A consumer made a decision to hang tailor made Gracie wallpaper in his eating room after looking at pics of it in Sefcik’s next parlor, for illustration. And various customers have integrated lacquer-painted partitions into their types soon after looking at it in Sefcik’s residence.

Sefcik does not restrict his experimenting to wall remedies. He’s furnished the house with an eclectic blend of classic and personalized-manufactured items, with a potent target on European designers and artists. The Artwork Deco design and style is properly-represented, far too, in a range of gentle fixtures.

Some of the pieces – like the piano in the entrance parlor, a gift from Sefcik’s mom – are everlasting fixtures. Some others rotate, as Sefcik discovers new pieces. It’s an ongoing approach, and Sefcik reported he isn’t primarily interested in looking at the house “finished.”

“I constantly appreciate seeking new shades, materials and home furnishings, so it will often be modifying,”Sefcik reported.  “However, following the kitchen area and then the master bath, most items will be rather small tweaks below and there.”

In the course of the renovations, tweaks and changes, Sefcik has targeted on wealthy hues and subtle, substantial-quality finishes and furnishings. And it is anything he encourages with his consumers, far too.

“I’m not afraid of a wealthy or dark colour,” he said. “I convey to purchasers, ‘When you vacation or see a lovely hotel on the internet, why wouldn’t you want your house to search that way?  Why make it blend in with everyone else’s when you can make it abundant and exceptional?’”