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

“It’s tough,” he claimed.

The process is gradual, for starters. Sefcik started off the in depth kitchen rework in the Supporter District home he owns with his lover, Andrew Finnan, in November, and a painting crew was still putting the finishing touches on the lacquered-red cupboards in the butler’s pantry in early June.

Furthermore, it’s an obtained ability.

“You have to have a mild touch and not press the brush too tough versus the floor,” Sefcik reported.  “The paint has to almost melt off the brush.”

Then there’s the weather.

“Humidity can make the paint dry slower, and it can also give the end a texture that appears to be like an alligator’s scales,” Sefcik reported. “If that takes place, you have to sand it smooth and paint it all over again.”

That transpired when Sefcik’s crew painted the partitions and ceiling of his dining space in a hanging peacock-blue lacquer end a several summers ago.  A 3-week undertaking ended up having a few months.

Even when the procedure goes nicely, historic homes like Sefcik and Finnan’s – theirs was crafted in 1908 – involve intensive prep get the job done to assure the plaster wall or ceiling is as flat as probable to get that mirror-like sheen.

The additional difficulty is worth it, while.

“It’s a wonderful finish,” Sefcik claimed. “We really like to entertain, and when we transform on the chandelier in the eating home, the walls and ceiling shimmer like a swimming pool.”

Sefcik and Finnan bought the property in 2014, the identical year Sefcik introduced Avery Frank Layouts, a comprehensive-support inside design and style agency. Since then, he has handled the dwelling as an experiment, of sorts, from time to time pursuing ideas that his clients may possibly contemplate as well complicated on a sensible or aesthetic stage.

“If I’m likely to make a oversight, I want it to be here and not in a client’s home,” he said, with a laugh.

The house is also a showroom:  If your designer can do it and make it search that fantastic, why shouldn’t you abide by his direct?

A shopper made the decision to hang personalized Gracie wallpaper in his dining place soon after looking at photographs of it in Sefcik’s second parlor, for case in point. And several consumers have included lacquer-painted walls into their styles soon after viewing it in Sefcik’s dwelling.

Sefcik does not restrict his experimenting to wall remedies. He’s furnished the household with an eclectic blend of vintage and customized-built items, with a potent emphasis on European designers and artists. The Art Deco style is properly-represented, way too, in a range of gentle fixtures.

Some of the items – like the piano in the entrance parlor, a gift from Sefcik’s mother – are long term fixtures. Others rotate, as Sefcik discovers new parts. It’s an ongoing method, and Sefcik said he isn’t in particular interested in seeing the household “finished.”

“I consistently take pleasure in trying new hues, materials and household furniture, so it will constantly be modifying,”Sefcik explained.  “However, just after the kitchen area and then the master bath, most matters will be pretty small tweaks below and there.”

All through the renovations, tweaks and adjustments, Sefcik has targeted on loaded colors and advanced, significant-quality finishes and furnishings. And it’s some thing he encourages with his shoppers, much too.

“I’m not concerned of a abundant or dim color,” he stated. “I notify clientele, ‘When you travel or see a beautiful lodge on the web, why would not you want your property to appear that way?  Why make it blend in with absolutely everyone else’s when you can make it prosperous and exclusive?’”