The House That Faux Built : How to Transform Your Home from Shabby to Showplace Using Paints, Plasters, and Creativity

Faux decorating techniques have a come a long way since sponge painting first became popular back in the early nineties. The House That Faux Built: Transform Your Home Using Paints, Plasters, and Creativity shows how to turn an ordinary home into an extraordinary space using paint, plaster, and ingenuity. Based on the show home project also dubbed the House That Faux Built, the book features one of the most creative home makeover projects ever completed. Two unattractive fixer-uppers one in Washington, DC, and the other in Chicago were completely renovated using only faux decorating techniques. Typical expensive home renovation methods were shunned in favor of faux decorating techniques few knew existed. A pool of international artisans and craftspeople donated both their time and expertise, and numerous sponsors donated materials and funds to make the project and the accompanying book a reality. Among the projects featured are faux inlayed wood and marble, faux stone, iridescent plasters, new cement products troweled over existing countertops and floors, faux slate over linoleum, ornamentation steamed on to make custom cabinets, and trompe l oeil panels and murals to make small rooms look larger and low ceilings look taller. With its full-color before-and-after photographs, this resource guide will inspire and educate homeowners from the average to the affluent. One hundred percent of proceeds from the show home project and book will benefit victims of hurricane Katrina.

Prior to becoming an artist, Adrienne van Dooren completed her master's degree and a 20 year career as an Army Intelligence Officer. While in the military, she served in a variety of challenging positions to include command, Professor of Military Science, Secretary of Defense Fellow, and White House Aide.

Upon retirement, Adrienne turned down a highly paid Pentagon position in order to pursue her true passion- art. Since then, she has completed over 800 hours of specialty training in faux finishing and decorative painting, won the national Faux-cademy platinum trophy and received numerous art awards, Her work has been included on television and in national print media to include Decorating Solutions, HGTV and Paint Magic Magazines. She has also been invited to teach at studios across the country and to speak at national conferences to include SALI, Faux-cademy and The Faux Event. Following Katrina, Adrienne was moved to organize the House that Faux Built Project. The project has been captured in the book-The House that Faux Built: Transform your Home with Paint, Plasters and Creativity. The coffee table style book features incredible before and after photos of the project including a fixer- upper makeover in the DC area, a neglected church in Chicago and donated murals. Also featured are the winners of a birdhouse contest which provided funds in support of Noah's Wish for animal victims of Katrina.

Adrienne has limited commissioned art and faux work to pursue her 2 life goals: to use her talents to help others and to teach and share information. She is now in the process of forming a non-profit organization called "Artists 4 Others" in support of other charitable art projects. Future projects will include taking a team to New Orleans to build the House that Faux Built and organizing art projects for hospice and for animal rescue.