Color Outside the Lines: 02/29/12

While I have to confess that I am a bit of design book hoarder, rarely do I find one so captivating that I want to share it with all of you. With over 100 in my collection, the best of the best get top billing on the living room table, where I pick them up and read them to avoid the chores of CDLV.

My newest addition is "Segreto: Secrets to Finishing Beautiful Interiors", by Leslie Sinclair; and is by far the most beautiful collection of rooms that aren't just gorgeous, but charasmatic, atmospheric, and covetable. Sinclair, who owns Houston based Segreto Finishes, specializes in paint finishes applied to walls, ceilings, cabinets; she even joked on her Skirted Roundtable Interview that if you stand in one place too long, you might end up with a subtle glaze! These finishes include a newly engineered gypson plaster application, glazes, faux stones, and murals.

Many houses I have shown in the past four years have been those where Segreto applied their magic. And magical is exactly what their finishes are. There is no way to adequately describe how beautiful Leslie’s finishes are. You almost have to experience them firsthand to truly understand their worth. The finishes are subtle and textural – wrapping the room in a soft color while adding an air of sophistication.

I thought a great way to end our Kitchen Inspiration Month, would be to share a few of the beautiful kitchens in Leslie's book, highlighting her amazing paint techniques - let's take a look.

Gorgeous right? Can you believe those cabinet finishes? This isn't your grandmother's faux finishing. In fact, I don't even like to think of Leslie's work as faux finish - but rather art. And I think that every high-end designer in Houston would concur.

For the past 16 years, Leslie and her team have been working on kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, you name it - they've painted it! Most surprising, Leslie has never been classically trained as a painter! She just picked up a brush and began to release her creative genius. And genius, it is! Her techniques are unique to her, seeing the finish in her mind, and then working on canvas until she gets the look perfect. The result - in one word: Inimitable.