Richmond Times Dispatch - February 16, 2002

Shake Rag It & Roll

Richmond Times Dispatch
February 16, 2002

Shake Rag it & Roll
Written By Julie Young

Miracle formula cures blahs! Just a quart rejuvenates drab walls! From Hull Street to Innsbrook, Sunny’s Goodtime Paint has taken its show on the road recently.

Like a couple of medicine men peddling elixirs, Richmond decorative artists Sunny Goode and Dede Davis have been working magic for audiences in area paint stores with their premixed wall finishes and a wad of cheesecloth.

“We want to bring out the artist in everybody,” Davis said, daubing paint onto a piece of wallboard with a sea sponge for a mottled effect.

“People on our Web site always say they don’t have one iota of creativity, but we show them that they’re able to do it and it looks great.” As simple as “shake, rag-it and roll.”

Sunny’s, founded in November by Goode and Davis, comes in ready to use glazes, color washes and patinas. The 19 color palette includes Bahama Blue, La-La Lilac and Palm Beach Pink in washes; Gator Green, Rosey Rosey and Sunshine Daydream glazes; and patinas dubbed Take Me to Tuscany and Ocean Age. One quart ($29.95) can give an entire room a subtle stained effect, fresco look, or a perky geometric design.

Goode and Davis are breaking ground with the pre-mixed products. A couple of large paint companies offer similar finishes, but in fewer colors and requiring more application steps. There are clear glazes on the market to which paint must be added. Craft stores also carry faux-finish paints for frames, planters and small items, but not for walls.

Sunny’s paints can be applied directly on latex-painted walls, or the complementary colored glazes and patinas can be layered over the washes. “We always suggest going darker on lighter,” Goode said. “Lighter on dark gives you a cloudy effect.”

For their demos, the women used cheesecloth, rolled up soft rags, sponges and even a brush to product different effects.

They started at the top left corner of their demonstration wall applying a small amount of paint with a 2 ½ inch natural bristle brush, then rubbed it in and smoothed out the edges of each space as they worked their way down.

“Try it on a board first and see if you want to add water” to soften the color, Goode recommended. “Do a small patch and see if you want to add more.” She even suggested applying one of the finishes to a paint sample strip to see how it looks before tackling the actual walls.

After 12 years of doing custom walls in Richmond, the two hit on the custom paint-making idea last year. They were listed in the photo credits of a 2000 issue of Better Homes & Garden’s “Windows and Walls” for a room they had faux-finished.

“We had almost 200 phone calls from people asking, “Where can you buy the green glaze that you striped the walls with?” Goode recalled. “We thought, ‘Well, why don’t we make that green glaze so they can just buy it?’”

Even the striping looks easy in Sunny’s demos.

Goode and Davis showed how to create stripes, diamonds or stone blocks using a level with a measure on top, chalk to match the paint (for marking lines) and wide brown paper painter’s tape. (Instructions also are on their Web site, below.)

The finishes dry quickly, particularly on flat paint. Cleanup is with soap and water, according to the can.

“It’s a very easy product” that is selling well, said Thomas McCay, manager of Virginia Paint Co. on Hull Street. “The expense really kind of evens out because they’ve knocked down the entire process by mixing the paint and glaze.”

Sunny’s Paints are winning over professionals as well as novices, Betsy Morgan, a Richmond decorative artist, has begun using the pre-mixed glazes and is thrilled with the results.

“It’s a great thing for artists as well as people who’ve never done it before,” Morgan said. “It’s so easy. I love the glazes. You can mix the colors or water them down a little bit.”

Although the instructions say a quart does one room, Morgan said she glazed two bedrooms with just one can. “I just painted my whole bathroom, and there’s only an inch of paint gone out of the can,” she said.