"After" view of the Ocala home of Thomas and Amy Grabe

A sienna-toned glaze on the exterior walls and a waterfall finish
flanking the front door and on planters in the courtyard, add color,
warmth and focus to the home. (GARAY ARTISANS / August 14, 2009)

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Regina Garay has made a career of faking things.

She fakes the look of marble, rust, metal, weather-worn plaster and
age-mottled glass. She makes painted designs look like wallpaper, and
fresh paneling appear decades old.

She is the founder of Garay Artisans, a company that specializes in
decorative painting and faux finishes on walls, floors and ceilings.
The business is based in Groveland, just west of Orlando in Lake County.

Earlier this year, the techniques Garay used to transform the
appearance of the Ocala home of Thomas and Amy Grabe won her the grand
prize in American Painting Contractor magazine’s national Top Job Awards.

For the project, Garay replaced the dull gray paint on the home’s
exterior with a rich, sienna-toned glaze. For contrast, she used
metallic paint and aging solutions to create a cascading patina effect
in shades of green and rust in the courtyard that leads to the home’s
front door.

Several rooms inside the house also received faux finishes. In the
living room and theater, raw paneling was given a distressed look with
alternating layers of black and barn-red paint. In a niche housing a
bronze statue, a combination of paint, glaze and gloss was used to
create the look of marble.

“Our favorite space is a small half-bath. The texture and color are amazing,” said Thomas Grabe.

In that powder room, a multicolored glaze and vertical plaster finish
are layered over a silver metallic-foil underlay. The baseboards and
crown molding have an aged-metallic finish and a niche has the look of
marble.

Garay is a talented painter “whose thorough knowledge of the history
behind her work allows her to truly bring old-world charm to every
job,” Thomas Grabe said.

Garay left her job in the New York music industry to start her
decorative-painting business in 1998. Shortly thereafter, she moved to
the Orlando area and was joined by her brother, Jason Rosales. Artisans
Monica Zeuli and Jeff Huckaby complete her team.

She and her team do both residential and commercial work. They recently
completed projects in the Grand Bohemian hotels in Savannah, Ga., and
Asheville, N.C.

The group takes classes every year to learn about new materials and
techniques. “But we also learn a lot on the job,” said Garay, 38. “It’s
quite an experience being on a scaffold, decorating 20-foot walls.”

For homes, popular finishes include glazes, which add a “warm, subtle
finish,” and Venetian plaster, which is mixed with marble dust.

“It has the look of marble but not the weight. When troweled on and burnished, it gets a beautiful sheen,” she said.

Other finishes include gold-leafing, freehand painting, stenciling,
cabinet refinishing, and verdigris or rust effects. Pricing starts at
$2 per square foot. For more details, visit garayartisans.com or call
407-839-4050.

Garay’s newest venture is adding an antique-looking patina to mirrors and glass.

“We spent countless hours perfecting this technique,” she said. “We lost quite a few mirrors in the process.”