Behind the scenes
Philippa Radon
“Paint is the quickest and most inexpensive way to change an environment-and you don’t have to have a law degree to paint a room.”
surfaces: Walls, ceilings, floors, doors, cabinets-”anything that wears a coat of paint.”
inspirations: “The earth and all living things. The color combinations one finds in minerals and rocks are intense and vital. When I dig them up it’s like opening a jewel box under the earth.”
materials: Nontoxic water-based paints modeled after old European chalk-based paints. “Most commercial-brand paints use a standard set of universal tints that are all synthetic. You get more depth of color with natural pigments.”
what’s hot: “More complex colors-browns veiled with violet, magenta, indigo, pomegranate, lemon yellow, silver metallics and vital Mediterranean blues.”
why l.a.? “A small third-generation family firm makes my paints in the Valley. Because they are close, I can monitor each paint color. Getting exactly the right hue is crucial.”
project with panache: A home designed by architect Steven Ehrlich in Rustic Canyon surrounded by sycamores. “The entire palette of color for the house was based on the colors of the bark of the trees and the surrounding landscape.
It was beautiful.”
Peter Bolton
“I pride myself in creating a tactile experience. I want people to touch their walls.”
surfaces: Faux finishes. Techniques include sponging, ragging, scrumbling, dragging, flogging, incising, japanning.
inspirations: The Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England. “I swooned when I saw the hallways painted with Chinese bamboo on intense shell pink. There’s so much emotion involved with color.”
materials: Sponges, rags, plastic, rice, steel wool, shag carpet and “lots and lots of 3M low-stick tape for making stripes. I also use vintage rollers, which used to be the poor man’s wallpaper-now they’re a rich man’s finish. I have one that makes paisleys and another for boogie-woogie geometrics from the ‘50s.”
what’s hot? “Incised plaster. People want to touch it. It has a lot of integrity.” project with panache: “Rock singer Lenny Kravitz’s New York City loft. I did a metallic tomato soup color on his bedroom walls-it looks like dense red metal. Also, his psychedelic bathroom painted in Day-Glo orange and green with a ‘60s acid-trip motif.”
appeared in: “Death Becomes Her.” “I painted wallpaper with a mother-of-pearl finish for one of the bedrooms.”
Christopher Stearns
“There’s a frontier mentality here in Los Angeles that allows for new ways of thinking and doing things.”
surface: Hand-assembled linoleum rugs. “I can custom-assemble a rug to any specification with 30 color choices.”
inspirations: “The rich atmospheric colors of California’s natural environment-our sunsets of shocking pink, royal orange and smoky lilac grays.”
materials: Marmoleum and sheet vinyl. “Linoleum was first discovered in Holland in the late 19th century, when they placed torn windmill sails on the floor and sealed them with linseed oil. Marmoleum is a true linoleum with all natural ingredients-wood flour, cork and linseed oil. In the U.S. we add clay, which makes for a more rigid material.”
what’s hot? “Rather than a single color, I’m seeing combinations-lots of milky oranges and greens. I get requests for bits of vibrant color, such as reds in small amounts. It makes for a higher impact. People aren’t as afraid as they used to be of living with strong colors.”
project with panache: “A 25-foot runner in a children’s hallway with a staccato rhythm motif of circles, squares and spirals in primary colors.
The kids loved it.”
appeared in: MTV’s “Real World Chicago.” “I made linoleum rugs for the bathroom and bedroom. It was a fun, hip, mod environment.”
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RESOURCE GUIDE
Philippa Radon, paint and paint consultation, Creative Paint Techniques, Topanga, (310) 455-7242, www.colormerge.com. Peter Bolton’s incised plaster finish, $84 a square foot, available through Thomas Lavin, Los Angeles, (310) 278-2456. Papier-mache gold-leaf dog table with tail drawer, $2,000, at Peter Bolton Painted Finishes, Los Angeles, (323) 650-1722.
Christopher Stearns’ linoleum rugs, Cosmos, 44-inch diameter, $350; 80-inch diameter, $995, at Westling Design, Los Angeles, (800) 690-8007. Page 36: Illuminated Lattice (as shown in 32 units), $3,200 ($100 per unit), at Twentieth, Los Angeles, (323) 904-1200.