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

“It’s challenging,” he reported.

The system is gradual, for starters. Sefcik began the considerable kitchen area rework in the Enthusiast District residence he owns with his partner, Andrew Finnan, in November, and a portray crew was nevertheless putting the ending touches on the lacquered-pink cabinets in the butler’s pantry in early June.

In addition, it is an acquired skill.

“You have to have a light touch and not push the brush much too hard against the surface area,” Sefcik claimed.  “The paint has to almost melt off the brush.”

Then there is the weather conditions.

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

That happened when Sefcik’s crew painted the partitions and ceiling of his dining space in a striking peacock-blue lacquer end a handful of summers in the past.  A a few-week challenge finished up getting 3 months.

Even when the procedure goes properly, historic residences like Sefcik and Finnan’s – theirs was constructed in 1908 – need substantial prep get the job done to assure the plaster wall or ceiling is as flat as achievable to get that mirror-like sheen.

The additional difficulty is worth it, although.

“It’s a beautiful complete,” Sefcik reported. “We really like to entertain, and when we flip on the chandelier in the eating place, the partitions and ceiling shimmer like a swimming pool.”

Sefcik and Finnan purchased the residence in 2014, the identical calendar year Sefcik launched Avery Frank Designs, a entire-provider inside style organization. Due to the fact then, he has handled the property as an experiment, of types, occasionally pursuing ideas that his clientele might take into account way too tough on a useful or aesthetic amount.

“If I’m heading to make a error, I want it to be in this article and not in a client’s home,” he mentioned, with a laugh.

The household is also a showroom:  If your designer can do it and make it search that excellent, why should not you adhere to his guide?

A customer resolved to hold custom made Gracie wallpaper in his dining space immediately after seeing photos of it in Sefcik’s second parlor, for illustration. And a number of clientele have incorporated lacquer-painted walls into their designs after seeing it in Sefcik’s property.

Sefcik doesn’t limit his experimenting to wall therapies. He’s furnished the property with an eclectic combine of classic and custom made-created items, with a solid target on European designers and artists. The Artwork Deco type is effectively-represented, too, in a wide variety of light-weight fixtures.

Some of the parts – like the piano in the entrance parlor, a present from Sefcik’s mom – are permanent fixtures. Other people rotate, as Sefcik discovers new pieces. It’s an ongoing procedure, and Sefcik mentioned he is not specifically interested in looking at the household “finished.”

“I continuously take pleasure in making an attempt new colours, fabrics and furnishings, so it will usually be adjusting,”Sefcik said.  “However, immediately after the kitchen area and then the learn bathtub, most matters will be rather small tweaks listed here and there.”

In the course of the renovations, tweaks and adjustments, Sefcik has centered on wealthy colours and refined, large-high-quality finishes and furnishings. And it’s some thing he encourages with his customers, also.

“I’m not scared of a loaded or darkish color,” he claimed. “I inform consumers, ‘When you travel or see a stunning hotel online, why would not you want your residence to appear that way?  Why make it mix in with every person else’s when you can make it abundant and one of a kind?’”