THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503170069
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 141 lines
IF STACKS OF paint chips, fabric swatches and wallpaper books leave you uninspired, intimidated and confused, it might be time to investigate what homeowners all over Hampton Roads are discovering. Hand-painted walls are a fresh and personalized alternative to the standard decorating options of wall paper or paint.
Hand-painted walls are one of the hottest trends in home decor and range from all-over treatments such as ragging or feathering to achieve textured finishes to wildly abstract murals or discreet borders painted to match drapery fabric.
Gypsy and Mike Savvides were decades ahead of the trend when they built and decorated their home in Virginia Beach 20 years ago. Step into their marble-floored foyer, and you are transported to a Grecian seaside village, surrounded by charming villas, sunlit Byzantine ruins and the clear blue of the Mediterranean Sea.
A soft-hued mural wraps around the foyer and stairwell, visually expanding the room with vistas of Mike Savvides' birthplace, Lapithos, Cyprus.
Gypsy Savvides wanted to give their home a personal touch. Coming from a family of artists, she knew that hand painting was a creative and affordable option.
A local artist, James N. Johnson, worked with Savvides' ideas and a handful of snapshots to paint vignettes from Lapithos, creating a striking wall treatment.
``I have always been intrigued by things that are different,'' Gypsy Savvides said. ``Whoever buys this house next might paint over the walls right away, but we love it.''
From the days when ancient Romans used murals to make small rooms appear larger, hand-painted walls were a standard in home decorating until about 1750 when machine wallpaper with repeating patterns became popular.
Angie Lowery, owner of the Decorating Den in Smithfield, explained that the interest in hand-painting is a rebirth of a trend that was popular in the art deco period of the 1920s and '30s.
``We have learned that at the end of a century it is typical to turn back the clock and go back to what was popular before, and hand painting and faux finishes are all part of that,'' Lowery said. ``Hand painting has taken over where stenciling has left off.''
Hand-painted walls can be found in a wide range of homes, from the modest to the most elaborate.
The Tidewater Decorative Painters Guild, an association of decorative artists, recently donated their talents to a Habitat for Humanity home rehabilitation project in the Prentis Park section of Portsmouth. After consulting with the home's future owner, the artists personalized the home with a faux finish in one room and a hand-painted black and white checkerboard border around a boy's bedroom.
While many people will tackle sponging or ragging walls as a do-it-yourself project, the more detailed hand-painted walls usually require an artist's touch.
``Hand-painted walls, furniture and even tiles are becoming more and more popular,'' Lowery said. ``It is not inexpensive, but you get a personalized look and a lot of fine detailing for your money.''
B.J. Nuckols, executive director of Moonrise Galleries in Virginia Beach, frequently suggests custom walls to her clients. ``People don't often think of it themselves, because they assume that it is incredibly expensive because it is original,'' Nuckols said, noting that the cost varies depending on the artist and the size of the project.
``In contemporary homes, rooms have so many angles that there is a lot of waste matching wallpaper patterns,'' Nuckols explained. A custom paint finish on even one wall can make a statement without costing much more than wallpaper.
``Usually I can beat the price of a good wallpaper, depending upon the complexity of the finish,'' said Cathy Cox, a Virginia Beach artist and owner of Brushstrokes, decorative arts specialists. Cox has been doing custom walls for seven years, getting busier each year.
``I have done everything from the real funky to Old World European finishes, but about a third of my work is trompe l'oeil and that is my very favorite.''
Trompe l'oeil, French for ``fool the eye,'' is illusionary art that can create effects such as a three-dimensional fountain, complete with Victorian dolphins spouting sprays of water, on the flat wall of an otherwise ordinary foyer.
Cox recently put her trompe l'oeil talents to work in Dan and Lynn Holly's new home in Suffolk. Three niches had been built into the hallway overlooking the entry foyer. Although they were a dramatic architectural feature, the tall, arched niches were too shallow to hold any decorative knickknacks or even a vase of flowers.
Several days of Cox's magic with a paintbrush transformed the niches into displays of family memorabilia, photos, books, plants and a large floral arrangement.
``First I `build' the shelves and get the right perspective, then I paint everything in, and finally, I cast the shadows,'' Cox said. ``The shadows pop it out and make things look like they were really sitting there.''
Trompe l'oeil also lends a distinctive touch to the Savvides' living and dining rooms. Johnson painted the ceilings so that they appear open to the heavens with fluffy clouds sailing across a blue sky. Doves fly high above the living room, while in the dining room, four neo-classical cherubs suspend a crystal chandelier over the table.
``Before we had much furniture in the living room, we would all just lie on the floor and gaze up into the clouds while my brother played the piano,'' Gypsy Savvides said, remembering the peaceful moments with a smile.
Techniques and materials vary with artists, but Karen Petzinger, a 23-year-old artist from Williamsburg, prefers to use latex and acrylic paints because they have a shorter drying time and less offensive fumes. Frequently she coats the finished work with a polyurethane protective finish.
Although most of her work is in faux finishes, Petzinger is occasionally commissioned to paint a full-blown mural wall. ``I am usually asked to do something more traditional than abstract,'' she said.
Left to her own devices, Petzinger filled a wall of a new home's exercise room with exuberant swirls of teal greens and gold. The contemporary mural delighted the buyers with its flashing energy.
After years of living with hand-painted walls, Gypsy Savvides can vouch for their practicality:
The walls are durable, usually requiring only dusting.
Decorating and furnishing is simplified, because the walls make such a visual impact.
Unlike wallpaper, hand-painted walls have no seams to distract the eye from the pattern or to open up after a few years.
Hand-painted walls give any decor a one-of-a-kind individuality.
Savvides has discovered only one disadvantage. Art tends to inspire art. Small red streaks on one of the Savvides' murals were added by a creative grandchild with a red marker. They are still there years later because, ``They are really love notes to us,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: GARY C. KNAPP
Color Photos
Artist Lisa O'Leary of Smithfield paints a border in a Habitat for
Humanity house.
Scenes from a Grecian seaside village greet visitors in the foyer of
Gypsy Savvides" home.
Karen Petzinger let her creativity run wild with a contemporary
mural in an exercise room.
GARY C. KNAPP
Photos
Artist Cathy Cox uses her trompe l'oeil talents to transform three
shallow niches in the Suffolk home of Dan and Lynn Holly.
by CNB