French Designing® provides prime interior designand decorative paintingservices to residents of the Washington DC metropolitan area. Over the past 20 years, we have transformed hundreds of residential and commercial interiors, building upon the needs and tastes of our clientele.
Interior Design
Your interior is the eloquent testimony of your taste and needs. However, your busy schedule may not grant you the time to delectably assemble your possessions, or to purchase the elements that support the unadulterated expression of your personality.
Our ideal is a welcoming home — on a mental and physical level — that is organized, functional, comfortable, set-for-living, and is the object of your pride and delight. Moreover, whether you would like your home to reflect the taste of our time, or simply be your own chic nest, we can provide the necessary guidance to attain your goals.
If you are unsatisfied with the appearance of solid colors, or wish to have a special room in your home with embellished walls, you are a great candidate for faux painting techniques.
Faux paintings — or faux finishes — offer advantages over straight paint by creating a unique look that can be rustic or luxurious, achieved with glazing liquid that gives depth to walls and a soft patina. Faux finishes can be applied to walls, ceiling, furniture, mirrors, screens, mantels, trims, and many more, enriching the ambiance of your home by rendering surfaces more precious and warm. Such wall treatments style classic as well as modern interiors.
Glazing medium can be ragged, rolled, brushed, combed "strie", dragged, stippled, applied with a spatula, a cheesecloth, a crumbled plastic or paper, steel wool or other instruments — our imagination is the limit. Glazing scum, or liquid, is applied through one or multiple colored layers of tinted translucent glazes, which can be blended, faded away, shaded or graded. Using glazes, we can imitate almost any natural material, or even invent new ones! Common glazes include wood graining (faux bois), stone, marble, malachite, bronze, steel, verdigris, tortoise shell, silk, brocade, leather, parchment, and many more.
Christine Barme Meyers began painting in her childhood, originally on paper and on silk. Since then, she has produced a large assortment of canvas paintings that are sold in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Mexico. She has exhibited several times in Washington DC and in upstate New York and has recently won two awards at the 2010 Montgomery County Art Festival.
Christine works on commission for private customers or commercial patrons, including offices, law firms, or children nurseries. You may ask her to depict your home, the ambiance or decor of your interior, or exterior, for a keepsake. Canvasses can also be commissioned to match a color scheme in your home, or to provide the completing element in a room. With watercolor, she also designs personalized stationery, invitations to memorable events such as weddings or birth announcements, bookplates, and more. Learn more about our canvas painting services.
Murals
Murals, or Trompe L'oeil, are large-scale paintings, depicting a variety of subjects including landscapes, objects, animals, or persons. The illusory nature of the representation serves diverse purposes and can achieve various effects: prestige, grandeur, surprise, illusion, or fantasy.
Murals bring solutions to countless architectural flaws; they can bring light to a dark corner, turning it into a cheerful or attractive spot. They expand walls, promote floors to precious materials or whimsical surfaces, and transform ceilings into azure skies that give an airy feel to a room. Walls, screens, mantels, doors, shades, inset panels, or even electric boxes can offer the appropriate support for hosting mural paintings.
Throughout the years, we have accumulated an extensive knowledge of the characteristics of each period and style of furniture. We have a deep interest in furniture, and we enjoy transforming them with various media, the most common being paint and glazing liquid. On the strength of a restorer experience, we can also advise you on the worth of a piece and its potentials.
Stay informed about new services, specials, and the launch of our French Designing Boutique!
"Christine's work is original and unique. Her art (trompe l'oeil) has literally 'transformed' unsightly electric transformer boxes into delightfully attractive focal points within the Leisure World of VA community."
— Patrick Rhodes (VP/Project Manager, IDI Group Companies)
"Everyone who comes into my home tells me they love the faux finishes and murals Christine painted."
— Diane Quinn
"Christine completed several faux finishes for us, and we are thrilled by all of her work. She has wonderful taste, fabulous ideas, and delivers on time at a reasonable cost."
— Marvin Jawer
"Christine painted a custom stenciled frieze and some beautiful custom wall glazes in my home, ranging from an old-world burnished copper finish to a translucent caribbean sea. Her versatility and range of talents is limitless. I only wish I could have commissioned her to paint a trompe l'oeil design for me, at which she is quite masterful. She was a delight to work with and always on schedule and budget. I cannot recommend her highly enough."
— Cherie Mohr
"Christine Meyers is a true gift to Washington. Christine takes faux painting to a new level. From textured walls to antique furniture and fireplace mantle painting, Christine's designs are truly master class. With versatile abilities to work in both classic and modern applications I would not hesitate to recommend Christine Meyers."
— Martin Toews
"Count yourself lucky if you can get Christine to do art work for you. Her talent, imagination, and professionalism are top-notch!"
— Penny Mallory
"You know when you find the perfect person for a service and you hesitated to spread their name around too much for fear of unavailability? That would be Christine Meyers. She refinished my poggenpohl kitchen cabinets three years ago and they are still perfect. She works quickly and her work is creative and beautiful."
— Susan Clifton
"Christine was fast, efficient and neat. She did a beautiful job — one I am happy to look at everyday."
— Joan Fitzgerald
"It is Christine's touches throughout our house that make it such a warm and comforting home. In addition to being a creative artist with a wonderful flair, she is absolutely delightful to work with. We miss her very much when the project is over!"
— Eric and Sharon Hovde
"I think of you whenever I look at your wonderful art — in my kitchen, powder room, sun room, upstairs bathroom, and bedrooms! You really made my house so much fun!"
— Marti Cochran
"Our dining room ceiling needed to be repainted to hide a patched hole where the chandelier had been moved to a new position. Christine came up with the idea to paint a cloud scene around the chandelier. In the daylight it looks pale blue with puffy white clouds, and when the chandelier is lit, it looks like storm clouds rolling in for the evening. We love the way the scene brings the outside in and how it changes with the light and seasons."
Stay informed about new services, specials, and the launch of our French Designing Boutique!
