Our TeamMark Chamberlain

Mark Chamberlain

    Latest Stories

    DIY Home Decor: How To Paint a Faux Concrete Wall Finish
    A few years ago I wrote about a distressed glazing technique which has a distressed feel to it, a way we developed to add visual texture to your walls that doesn’t like a stock rag rolling. Here, we take this process one step further. The look is both soft and contemporary, works well in urban environments, and is still livable. It’s unique every time, and in this example we’re emphasizing a linear quality, as if the “concrete” was poured into a wood formwork.
    Mark Chamberlain
    Feb 6, 2020
    DIY Project Idea: Painted Black & White Striped Walls
    Here’s a fun way to get a little zip in your life — why not paint stripes in your home office? Architecturally, this was once a big closet. And though there’s a skylight above, the room has no window on the world to speak of, so this is a perfect opportunity for some uplift in the decorating department. By adding stripes here, we’re making this space special in a private way, like opening a small jewel box.
    Mark Chamberlain
    Apr 23, 2014
    Color by Decade: The 50s
    What bland optimism. Just look at all those smiling, happy white people. If there was ever a more striving crawl towards generic homogeneity, I’d like to hear about it. And if this utopia was built in the 40s and disintegrated in the 60s, then for a moment it existed — for some — in the calm center of the storm of the world, 1950s America. Let’s look at the colors used to sell this story.
    Mark Chamberlain
    Nov 12, 2013
    Before & After: Wine Red Painted Console
    A client recently asked if I could paint over furniture — he was sick of the look, but the piece was functional and he didn’t want to throw it out. Why not?You could take your furniture to a shop and have it sanded and sprayed and spritzed in a dust-free environment and perhaps it would last for all time, but that sounds a lot like expensive restoration to me. Or for Plan B, try this:Give your sideboard a light sanding (220 grit), dust it off and paint over it in an oil-based paint.
    Mark Chamberlain
    Jul 25, 2012