RL Suede finish

[Jared]

For those who have not seen it before, this pic should give you a basic idea of how the suede finish looks.

(LINK REMOVED)

(sorry about the bad pic, I think my camera's flash was just too bright for such a confined space)

[DecorativeWalls]

Jared,   I think you need to give yourself a great big pat on the back.     Your picture of the finished room looks great and it does have the appearance of the suede look.

Doing sample practicing on boards are always, always recommended,   even though this won't give you the BIG PICTURE ,  but it sure helps with the technique approach you will be using..   

When doing jobs on large walls or with some texture paints,  I often have extra of the same tools so I can immediately change to a fresh one while the other is cleaning, etc. This helps out alot also  as you noticed with the suede.   Another thing in the tight areas you experienced,  I am sure you probably already do this,  but before I ever do any job I scope out the wall(s) to determine what obstacles there might be before I actually begin doing any of the work.   I want to have all the right tools I need within arms reach for any of those little tight areas .  I also take pictures of the walls .  Planning your strategy and approach to the walls before can save anyone alot of time and less stress.

The tile color looks great with the walls.   Now he just needs to get something on the walls as in artwork , etc.

Super Great job.

[Jared]

OK, back patted.

Your turn!  hehehe

Without your advice, I am afraid to picture how this job would have come out.  I owe you one! 

Yes, sample boards are a critical step when going into a new technique or material - or even when testing a new color choice (sure beats the checkerboards I've seen painted on some folks' walls!).  The sample boards allowed me to become better prepared for the application technique, for sure.

The homeowner was unsure of the suede color "working" with the tile - until the job was complete...  he was afraid the walls would turn out "bandaid brown", heh - but it ended up working just fine.    and incidentally, his interior designer (who chose all the colors and finishes) recommended that he use art to add color to the house - in fact, the whole ground floor was painted in grey, to make the art stand out even more.  An interesting theory, and in this case, it seems to be working wonderfully.

Anyway, thanks once again for all the help & advice - I couldn't have done it without ya!

[DecorativeWalls]

No problem- glad to have helped in some small way.     Been there before  and I am sure I will be there again.  Always learning- love changes and challenges.    You got one up on me-   posting a picture.    Haven't figured that one out yet.       

I am sure the gray looks really good  and any artwork would look great on the wall or wall decor,  metal or architectural.

One thing I forgot to mention-   you may also already do this,  but when you have made your sample boards up for the client to see and approve-    do you get them to inital the back of the board for the "go ahead";    clears up any misunderstandings that may arise.

[DecorativeWalls]

Hi Jared,

I went back and saw where you mentioned about using sample boards for your clients.

What kind of sample boards are these?   Foamcore, poster,  or what kind?

Do you charge for making the samples for your customers?

[Jared]

Actually, I have yet to settle on a material type for my sample boards...

I have tried the Behr cardboard sample boards (waste of time IMO), I kinda like foamcore for the freebie sample boards - but lately I am just using pieces of thin drywall mounted to ply and trimmed with wooden corner trim.  These sample boards look MUCH better - but due to cost of materials and time, I usually do not do these sample boards for free...  these tend to be the sample boards that get added to my "collection", to be reused for future jobs.

As for charging for the sample boards - this is determined by the situation & customer...  most often, my customers do not want to pay for the sample boards - so I end up making them outta drywall/ply and I keep the sample board for future use.  If the sample board is being created to accomodate a change order, I ALWAYS charge for it.  (Just my policy.)  Also a factor involved is how well the customer treats me, and how many referrals I have received thru this partiular customer...  I like to do extra freebies for those customers who treat me exceptionally well.

For just "color testing" with a typical one-color situation, I tend to use foamcore, and offer the sample for free.  It is really just for faux or a specialty finish when I go with the nicer sample board.

[DecorativeWalls]

Hi Jared,
example of the ones I use - [/img].



well, darn gotta take a call. get back in a bit.



Jared,
the ones I use are polystyrene boards.  They are wonderful,  just wonderful.  If you really want to invest in something that will be with you from now on-  and I mean now on,  get you some of these sample boards.  You can't tear them up.  They don't crack, easy to keep a portfolio with some beautiful finishes made up ,  they make a beautiful presentation, you can bend, fold, carry with ease, fit inside of a portfolio case (optional), they will not tear, break, crack, and look mighty fine.  You can repaint over these,  (of course if you have any kind of texture applied on them -you'll want to just keep those as is.     They are a great investment for years to come.

You can get them unprimed already or primed ready to go.  They come in different sizes as well.  Just thought I would pass this on to you.  I wouldn't trade mine for nothin.

[Jared]

Wow!  What material did you use for that particular sample board?  It looks GREAT!

[DecorativeWalls]

that is lusterstone with an embedded random stencil design on the second layer applied. Last layer of lusterstone is thinly applied and burnished as you trowel the material back off.

Hard to sell texture finishes in my area.  People either don't want alot of texture to have to remove later on down the road,  or the price turns them away.   If it can be duplicted with just paint they are fine.   Of course with this particular finish,  it is as smooth as silk,  but there are other ways you can apply it also  to replicate lustersuede.

[Chofman1]

Here is a link to my latest project at home, its the same RL Suede Finish.  This is the first time I've used it, so I tried it on my own bedroom first.  I was extremely happy with the results and am confident in selling it to my clients.  Some of the pictures I tried experimenting with the flash on/off. 

http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/chofman1/?action=view&current=1180817729.pbw

[Jared]

Looks great!  You definately achieved the desired effect.

It is interesting how this finish reacts to flash photography - depending on the angle used when shooting, it can either look incredible or terrible.  I think it is more of a challenge to get a representative photo of this suede finish than it is to actually apply the stuff. 

And incidentally, I have done 2 more suede finish jobs since the one I initially showed at the beginning of this thread - and I have found a better brand of suede paint...  better in that it was cheaper, easier to work with, spattered less, and most importantly, looked even better when finished.  I don't remember who made it, I'll call my distributor this coming week to get the info.

[Chofman1]

Jared,
You hit the nail on the head when you said it's more of a challenge to photograph than to apply.  It was very easy to apply, went further than I thought, in fact I estimated 2 gallons maybe a third but ended up with 3/4 gallon left.  I first primed it with a shade of the suede color and I found that that helped alot with the first roll. Its funny how it had such a modeled look as I applied the X patterns, but then when it dried had no modeled look. 

I am very interested in finding a cheaper product, especially one that isn's so thin, this stuff is much thinner than regular paint.

[Vin]

Looks good I like it.