I recently unearthed some of my VERY old project images from a forgotten online source, and though they are very rough, I wanted to share them anyway... since this project plays a part in my current love of tropical style.
This isn't a tutorial, folks. I'm just sharing a fun project from my past. I was a decorative painter for a decade, painting murals and faux finishes in homes and furniture for my small retail store.
Back in 2002, my friend and co-worker at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, Linda, asked me if I could 'revive' an old piece she had in her garage. I went over to her lovely home on Mercer Island to see it...
...and oh, what I SAW!
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I gasped audibly when I saw this vintage 1960's bamboo bar - completely COVERED in mint green flat house paint:
I gasped audibly when I saw this vintage 1960's bamboo bar - completely COVERED in mint green flat house paint:
This was CRIMINAL!
My friend hadn't done this, she bought it cheap because it looked so BAD. Now she wanted me to use my painting skills to make it look new.
Her husband doubted I could do it. She persevered. I took the sad bamboo bar home with me, determined to save it!
Armed with some reference images from Linda, I knew what she wanted this bar to look like:
The exterior was to be a golden light bamboo finish.
The top was to be black. The interior was to look like stained wood.
I was, essentially, returning the piece to 'factory settings' - with paint!
I don't have any of my photos of the process - which involved cleaning, sanding, priming, applying two base coats of pale yellow satin finish paint, carefully applying three layers of brown glaze to create the bamboo 'joints' and texture, and one coat of a golden brown glaze as a final sealer over it all. (However, I have linked some newer faux painted bamboo projects below this post, and my method is the same as what I used back in 2002).
But this is how it looked when all of that was DONE:
Yep, that's PAINT! (Much better than the mint green!)
For the bar top, I had an idea and Linda told me to go for it...
After applying two coats of satin finish black paint to the bar top, I used randomly torn paper as a pattern to create faux broken 'tiles', by outlining each piece of paper with gray paint.
This is an awful photo, but it shows how I painted some textural details on a few tiles to add interest.
Then I added a sharp dark gray shadow beside each black 'tile' to make them look dimensional, and white highlights to some edges to further the illusion.
A double coat of clear varnish sealed and protected the bar top.
The interior was painted with medium brown paint washes to look like old wood, then I painted one more 'tile' as my signature. You can see the sharp shadow on the tile's top right, and the white highlights on the 'tile' edges to give it a 3-D effect - just as I did on the bar top.
It took me a few days to finish the project and let the lacquer dry in a heated paint room, then I delivered it to Linda's home. As I uncovered it in the back of my car, she squealed in joy!
We got it into place in the family room before her husband came home - and when he walked in the room, it stopped him in his tracks!
He really was stunned. First he said 'That's NOT our bar!??!'
Then he argued with me that I had NOT painted it, but had stripped it and refinished it! He inspected that bamboo thoroughly and finally stood up and shook his head, admitting that I did indeed PAINT it.
'Oh, you're GOOOOOOOOOD!' was the high accolade I earned from him. I really love what I can do with paint!
It was a fun project to undertake, especially when I hadn't ever tried to replicate bamboo before. I think I did a pretty good job! And it made my friend so happy to finally be able to have it in her lovely home.
I've painted faux bamboo projects in recent years, too... check them out via the links below to see my faux bamboo painting process step by step:
Faux Bamboo Mirror Frame
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