Jean's villa in...Lakeville, Minnesota?

A close up showing the faux stone.  I didn't tape the wall, as wallpaper will be installed against the "stone", and bleeding the paint helps the paper hanger get a better looking edge.

As promised last week, here's the rest of the story of the doorway to Italy.  I love it when a job goes exactly as planned, especially when we made major changes midway through, dropping the iron gate, and creating the dimensional stone surround.  The biggest challenge was getting the stones to match the darkest tile colors, and also play nice with the darkest tone in the wallpaper.  I glazed them to match the stone first, then came back over with a hint of a slightly greener brown, rubbed in here and there.  The difference wouldn't be spotted  in a dye lot of cultured stone, but it creates an imperceptible bridge between the apricot tan of the wall tile and the burlap tan of the wallpaper.

The stone, made from roughly trowelled joint compound, is base coated, then glazed with artist acrylics thinned with glaze.

I rarely get to work in a totally bare bathroom, so this was a treat, not trying to straddle the stool for four days.  On the other hand, it doesn't make for the prettiest final shot, just yet.  The crown molding arrived yesterday morning, and the wallpaper gets hung tomorrow, so by the time I go back in a few weeks for the dining room glaze, this room should be put together.  I'll show you what other gorgeousness Jean's designer loads into this tiny space then.

Care to go for a stroll across Italy?

Bookazine update:  Aaaaaallllllllmooooooossssssst ready.  Website nearly up, too.  Thank goodness we have a web designer for that one, 'cause just learning page layout in "modern" programs is stretching my poor old brain quite enough.  I do have some computer design experience, but yes, boys and girls, there was a day when it was done manually, on light tables, with strips of type, photos, Xacto knives, and tissue overlays with directions for the guys downstairs, and yes, I'm old enough to remember it (but, on the bright side, not old enough to have forgotten it).  365 Being, coming soon...

When I'm not struggling with bookazine pages, I do still paint murals like these, for people like you.  More ideas, and how to hire me at theartofthehome.com.

DIY questions?  Ask in the comments, or email me at dawnmariedelara@gmail.com.