Tri-coloured Earthcote Worn Leather wall

DIY: Creating a tri-coloured Earthcote Worn Leather wall

Tri-coloured Earthcote Worn Leather

Guest post by Jenny Mason

Look what happens when you take a bagged wall and apply Earthcote Worn Leather in different colours. Truth be told, this room was not a pretty sight before. It’s a kid’s den in an outside room. And it’s now nicely transformed with paint, thank you very much.

The trick is to be sure that you ‘work’ the paint in vigorously while it’s still wet, at the intersections between the colours. Once dry, seal with a layer or two of Earthcote Worn Leather Wax – buffing it to a sheen. By hand, if it’s a small area and you’re up to it, or with an orbital buffer. The floor was painted in Midas Floor Paint.

This wall was produced by Jenny Mason using Earthcote Worn Leather. If you have any queries regarding this wall, please leave Jenny a comment on her blog Koekalooks and she’ll get back to you with answers.

Earthcote Worn Leather

Earthcote Worn Leather

Click here to download the Colour Card

DIY PRODUCTS: Earthcote Worn Leather

Earthcote Worn Leather and Earthcote Wall Wax is a multi-coat finish. It is the patina of old leather – with a creased, organic look.

Earthcote Worn Leather is:

• For interiors only
• Not for use on any wet areas eg. showers
• Selected colour range and custom tinted colours
• Multi-coat finish lime-based paints & polishing waxes

To view Earthcote palettes, accurate colour samples and colour cards, visit your nearest Paint & Place store. Click here for a stores list.

The Reserve – interior & style

THE RESERVE: The interior & style of one of Cape Town’s most trendy nightclubs

The Reserve is a nightclub in Cape Town – located in the 150 year old ABC building in Adderley Street. The Reserve was once a bank and has ceilings that are almost twelve meters high.

The Reserve boasts an interior & style that is both uniquely historic and highly sophisticated. The interior walls are clad in marble and the building still has all its original brass fittings and spectacular antique chandeliers. The interior of The Reserve was extensively revamped in 2011 by interior designer Manuela Candido.

The Reserve – interior & style

The Reserve interior

As you enter The Reserve you are met by a flamboyant and stylish room, which constitutes the bar area. The interior walls of the first bar are painted in both flat colors in various shades of green with palm tree murals and parrot monkeys as accents. Other interior accents include leopard skin and floral fabrics, palm tree cocktail tables, pink duco tables and other vivid pops of colour.

The style of the bar is pure fantasy, with its proudly kitsch 1950’s Palm Springs look, while the lounge is reminiscent of a Munich-style 1930’s burlesque room. This called for wall décor that would add to the glamour of the interior rather than fade into obscurity – and look shimmery and sparkly at night.

THE STORM WALL OF THE RESERVE

The witty and wild style & interior of The Reserve called for an idea that would be an appropriate backdrop to the palm trees, parrots and pink tables. The manipulated look of the Earthcote Storm Wall treatment creates the perfect mood. This ‘agitated’, spontaneous, hurricane-like style occurred when diluted acrylic wall paint was applied over Earthcote Worn Leather. The lime from the Worn Leather base coat kept burning through, bringing intense movement to the surface.

Click here for a ‘how to’ guide to creating the Storm Wall Hurricane effect

The interior & style of The Reserve restaurant

The Reserve Restaurant

THE CHAMPAGNE-LOOK FROST WALL OF THE RESERVE

This sparkly champagne-like effect was achieved using a base coat of ‘Oyster White’ Dorado – Earthcote’s shimmery, metallic textured paint, with a layer of Earthcote Frost applied on top. Frost can be applied over any colour and it looks quite literally like snowfall on a wall – opaque and twinkly. An insider tip: mix glitter into the Frost to ramp up the sparkle. The ‘Methode Champenoise’ glitter Frost was used on the plaster mouldings next to the solid old marble inlays in the club.

THE HURRICANE AT THE RESERVE

The 150-year old space inside The Reserve is absolutely incredible. Andrea Graaf, Interior designer to The Reserve, describes the club as “a fantasy of creating two different areas that patrons can explore and enjoy, while always admiring the different visual and sensual elements.”

Apart from the specialised palm tree murals, there are lots of leopard skin and floral fabrics with palm tree cocktail tables and just color, color and more color. It offers a real kitsch, 1950’s Palm Springs vibe while the actual lounge offers luxurious banquette seating surrounded by dance floor podiums.

The Reserve Decor

The birdcage is the ‘piece de resistance’ – made out of mild steel and finished in gold leaf. It is totally over-scaled and is definitely one of the ‘wow’ factors in the room. In fact the whole style is totally eclectic which can be seen from the bright duco’ed pink coffee tables to the ‘Rietveltesque’ mild steel cocktail tables.

The Reserve hosts carefully thought-out and executed themed nights on a weekly basis to crowds of 30 plus. Themed parties are held every weekend but you have to be on the guest list by contacting The Reserve to receive access to these exclusive parties.

More from Earthcote Scrap Book:

• Change Your Perspective Campaign
• Earthcote Heritage Colours and Pierre Cronje

Change Your Perspective campaign

NEW PERSPECTIVES: Earthcote ‘Change Your Perspective’ campaign a great success

Earthcote has always been a brand that challenges people to reconsider how they look at things – visually and aesthetically. The 2011/2012 Change Your Perspective campaign does just that by making people do a double-take each time they see these photographs.

“In the 90s we asked people to really look at how they were painting their homes – to consider whether flat paint really was the only way to coat an exterior of a house. It wasn’t”, says Earthcote Marketing Director, Simon Fraser.

“People started looking at the mottled, trashed feel of Cement Paint and thought ‘hey this could actually be quite lekker on my house.’ It’s always been a brand that takes a different view to the conventional approach, and many people remember our ads from a decade ago where we showcased gay marriage and cross cultural fashion at a time when that was all still a bit radical”, says Simon Fraser.

Change Your Perspectives campaign

The photographs used in a three-part series of magazine ads during the 'Change Your Perspective' campaign (Photography: Antonia Steyn)

The guy running with a cup of coffee looks like a guy running with coffee; until you realise that nothing is spilling out of the cup. Because actually, he’s lying down.

The girl who is jumping away from the mouse is of course also lying down. A bit of clever hair and costume manipulation helps to create the illusion that she’s leaping away from the tiny mouse (which is in fact a small rat). You may find it interesting to learn that the law requires that animals be properly handled on shoots, so the rat performer had a dedicated handler looking out for him at all times during the Change Your Perspective shoot.

“The levitating guy was interesting to do,” says art director Penny Waterkeyn. “The stylist had to get the folds of pants and t-shirt looking just right, to make the weird perspective work. It’s not easy to keep your legs endlessly crossed like that. He was an excellent model, and very patient – likewise with the other two. Our coffee guy had to be very patient with that cup of coffee in his hand. Incidentally, all he was holding was a cup. We dropped the coffee in in post production, with Photoshop.”

The shots pictured above and used in the Change Your Perspective campaign were taken by photographer Antonia Steyn, who was hoisted up onto a five metre high scaffolding. This enabled her to shoot directly overhead at the perfect distance from each subject – providing a change in perspective.

Products featured: Earthcote Pandomo, Granite Paint, Worn Leather

More Scrap Book posts: Earthcote Heritage Colours & Pierre Cronje

Storm Wall Hurricane Effect

STORM WALL: Creating a hurricane effect with manipulated Worn Leather

THE Reserve in Adderley Street, Cape Town was recently taken by storm and hit by a hurricane. Fortunately this was not your conventional wet and wild hurricane type, but rather an Earthcote Worn Leather style that has become fondly know as Storm Wall.

The manipulated hurricane-like treatment left quite an impression on the walls of The Reserve – creating an emotional and unruly effect with a unique ‘scratchy’ look. This effect is achieved when painting diluted acrylic wall paint over Earthcote Worn Leather. The lime from the Worn Leather base coat ‘burns’ through – bringing all the aesthetic mayhem to the surface. Check out the effect in the following photograph – kindly supplied by revamp artist, Jenny Mason.

Storm Wall and the hurricane effect

Earthcote Worn Leather Storm Wall at The Reserve in Adderley Street, Cape Town

• Jenny has thoughtfully offered a simple step-by-step guide to creating the Storm Wall for yourself on her blog, Koekalooks.

More Special Feature Walls

• Summer Promo Feature Wall #1 Storm Wall
• Summer Promo Feature Wall #2 Colour Blocking Wall
• Summer Promo Feature Wall #3 Plaid Wall
• Summer Promo Feature Wall #4 Polka Dot Wall