“What is she doing?” Dan, my husband, pulls me aside in the kitchen, sounding panicked.
“Shhh! She’ll hear you,” I scold. Then, to explain why the lanky pony-tailed woman is atop a ladder in our dining room, I whisper, “She’s embellishing.”
“She’s gluing cheap jewelry on our ceiling.”
“It will look good. You’ll see.”
The ceiling jewelry was my friend Susan’s idea. I wanted to punch up the faux stencil I’d recently painted on my dining room ceiling around the light fixture. Though the stencil was a big improvement over the nothing there before, it needed oomph. Susan agreed and called over fine artist Liza Whitaker of Denver.
“Is she a gypsy?” Dan asks.
“No, she’s an artist.”
Liza had resurrected an underwhelming hanging light fixture in one of Susan’s bathrooms. Talk about needing oomph. Until Liza worked her magic, the fixture looked like someone had pinned a brooch to the ceiling. She painted a gem-encrusted design around where the fixture attached. The design echoes the fixture’s lines; the fake gems glimmer when the light turns on, and the fixture looks twice as large.
I try selling this concept to Dan. No luck. Like a lot of guys, Dan doesn’t get the power of bling. He’s a wedding-band-and-a-wristwatch kind of guy, and would never wear neck chains or earrings, for which I’m grateful. But I love bling for me — and for my home.
Before Liza started embellishing, she, Susan and I huddled in my dining room, staring at the ceiling like umpires gauging rain clouds, and agreed: The ceiling stencil needed more mass, more texture, more dimension, more hubba-hubba. Liza and I spent the next 30 minutes rummaging through a box of faux jewels, brass baubles and polished glass stones as if fishing for the best jelly beans. We laid our favorites on the table in patterns, then moved them around like chess pieces. Then she set to work affixing gems and stones along strategic points of the stencil using Clear Liquid Nails.
Every time I checked on her, I squealed. And Dan groaned. “We can get them off, right?”
My daughters cycled through, and I slipped them each a fiver to tell their dad how awesome they thought the ceiling was looking. Meanwhile, I kept trying to bring him along. “Just like the perfect necklace or earrings can make an outfit, house jewelry can make a room. Every room needs some bling.”
“Next you’ll be putting makeup on windows.”
Hmmm. That got me thinking.
Liza climbs down from her ladder. “Well?” she asks, looking at us.
“I love it,” I say, rising up and down on my toes like an excited kid.
Because Dan has missed his cue, I elbow him hard. “Oh,” he gasps. “Nice! It looks nice.”
I assure her we love it and help her pack up. The sun goes down. The light goes on. And the ceiling looks like fairies live there.
“See!” I say. “It’s like the room has a tiara.”
“That’s just how I saw it,” Dan says. Then, after a pause, he confesses, “I guess it is pretty cool.”
Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of “The House Always Wins” (Da Capo), available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You may contact her through .
To win sighs, accessorize
A basic interior-design principle says every room should have something shiny and something dull — a suede pillow and a bejeweled picture frame, a velvet chair and a crystal vase. Done well, adding house bling is an inexpensive, fun way to add whimsy and sparkle. Here are some ways fine artist Liza Whitaker suggests adding these qualities to your home.
WHERE:
Put polished stones, shells or faux gems around ceiling fixtures or wall sconces.
Border a plain mirror or fireplace. Consider first painting a border around the mirror or fireplace with metallic paint, then stick on embellishments.
Glam up a dull lampshade, a boring glass light fixture or a tile backsplash.
To add nonstick bling, trade out plain dresser or cupboard knobs for cut crystal ones. Put a brightly colored glass vase, or a sequined pillow, in an otherwise subdued room.
HOW:
Before sticking, lay your pattern out on a table or large piece of newspaper to create your mosaic.
Test your pattern by tacking it up temporarily with hot glue. Once you’re sure, peel off the glue, and reapply the pieces with Clear Liquid Nails or Clear Small Projects Silicone Adhesive. Be sure you like it because then it’s permanent.
Good to know: If you use Clear Liquid Nails or Clear Small Projects Silicone Adhesive, neither heat from light bulbs nor steam from showers will affect it. Just be sure to let it dry overnight before turning on the light or the water.
To embellish a flat surface, select stones, crystals or beads with one flat side.
Find embellishments at bead stores, craft-supply stores, and even flea markets where you can score old jewelry.
CAUTION:
Just as with costume jewelry, when adding house jewelry, consider the style of the room, color, scale and context. Don’t overdo. There’s a fine design line between charming and cheap.
