Window & Wall Ideas - Fall 2005

Glazes of Glory without the Anxiety

Window & Wall Ideas
Fall 2005

Glazes of Glory without the anxiety
Written by Heather Lobdell

Opportunity found Sunny Stack Goode when she moved to Washington, D.C., in 1990 with a newly earned art degree and a self-confessed lack of direction. “I guess I didn’t quite have a game plan yet,” she says, laughing brightly about the job she took selling suits in a Georgetown shop. But when a friend introduced her to decorative artist Nancy Baker, whose high-end clientele included ambassadors, politicians, and restaurateurs, Goode left tweeds and tattersalls behind and became a “good old-fashioned apprentice,” she says. “I ran errands, mixed paint, and cleaned brushes. I absolutely loved it and learned so much. Goode was a quick study. She had soon mastered color-washing, antiquing, and glazing, and had a particular gift for mixing colors. She was added to the company payroll after a few months. When Baker became pregnant a year and a half later and decided to stop out for a while, Goode found herself the heir to more business than she could ever imagine.

She moved to Richmond, Virginia, to start her own family in 1992. “It was the perfect-size town,” she says. “I had all the business I could handle simply by word of mouth.” One of those projects, a room with glazed green-striped walls, was published Window & Wall Ideas in late 1999. “I go hundreds of calls about those stripes!” Goode muses. “But it wasn’t from people who wanted to hire me; it was from people who wanted to know where to get the paints and how to do it themselves.” That’s when Goode had one of those “aha” moments. “I knew people could do it themselves if equipped with the right products and a little bit of confidence.” She says.

So Goode began formulating glazes, color washes, and antiquing products that would be easy for do-it-yourselfers, and her new venture. Sunny’s Goodtime Paints, sold its first can of nontoxic, water-base glaze in late 2001. Her line now includes 20 products that give even absolute beginners precisely what’s needed to create a rich artisan-style finish. Goode’s most popular products that give even absolute beginners precisely what’s needed to create a rich artisan-style finish. Goode’s most popular products include Take Me to Tuscany, a glaze that provides a stucco look without the commitment of an actual raised texture, and her Original Aging Glaze, a wash that creates an authentic painted appearance on almost any surface, including walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, and trim.

In addition to what she calls her “shake, dip, and go” paint products, Goode also offers stencils, paint kits, and instructional DVDs. Her products are sold on the Web, at her studio in Richmond, and through select Benjamin Moore outlets. She’s also just inked a private-label deal to provide the Curtain Exchange chain with a line of paints to complement its window treatment fabrics. Goode’s Web site –www.sunnysgoodtimepaint.com- features finished rooms that provide ample inspiration and technique ideas. “The best part of my job is the feedback I get,” Goode says. “People e-mail me that I’ve given them the tools to express themselves artistically and to make their homes beautiful,” she says. “I love that! I feel like I’m passing along the same joy that I derive from decorative painting.”