Stephen DӪLouhy, owner of Fl̦e Painting and Norwalk native and resident, has taken his late fatherӪs painting business into the world of faux painting and is turning the flat into the dynamic.
After his father died eight years ago, D”™Louhy took his father”™s business and added the decorative painting segment, which he was then doing on his own.
D”™Louhy, a former Sacred Heart University football player who transferred and graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in sociology, made his first attempt at applying a faux finish in 1997.
“I”™ve been doing it ever since and I”™ve had work from it ever since,” said D”™Louhy.
Faux painting or finishing describes a wide range of decorative painting techniques usually applied to walls and furniture. D”™Louhy”™s abilities reach as far as creating specific types of wood, metals or stone.
“In the last three or four years the decorative painting business has definitely grown,” said D”™Louhy. “We want to take it to another level.” Toward that end, he is beginning a furniture Web site, representing furniture dealers who allow D”™Louhy”™s faux finish to be applied to their work.
D”™Louhy said much of his work comes from interior designers who enjoy the opportunity to offer the unique faux painting services.
“We started out doing just the decorative painting and it grew to furniture,” said D”™Louhy. “These are originals, one-of-a-kinds; they”™re each hand painted, one at a time.”
D”™Louhy said a large amount of his work is done in the residential area and often is requested for a cost savings.
“If they have a real oak door and are trying to match it, I can simply copy the door instead of them buying all new paneling,” said D”™Louhy. “It can be so cost prohibitive to rip all this stuff out and bring in an exotic wood.”
The Flöe Painting faux work can be seen in Westchester County in the Trump Towers and the Ritz Carlton hotels in White Plains, N.Y.
D”™Louhy”™s talent has brought him work as far south as Maryland and he has flown to Santa Fe for his specialized work.
“Even flying me out and incurring all these costs it”™s done in the name of cost savings,” said D”™Louhy.
D”™Louhy works with three other painters in his crew as specialty painters, has ”˜simple painters”™ on his staff who do general interior work as well as a fine mural painter.
When I first got in the business 10 years ago, murals were big, but I think it”™s become a little passé,” said D”™Louhy. “People want these subtle touches. There”™s a trend in contemporary design, people also aren”™t painting things super white anymore. They”™re doing an accented wall, a lot of times I”™ll make a wall look like suede or linen. They want some interest on the walls.”
D”™Louhy said he does work often with restaurants, Liana’s Trattoria in Fairfield for example.
“There”™s a crossover,” said D”™Louhy. “I”™ll get a call for a regular painting job and leave with a specialty work contract and vice versa.”
D”™Louhy said the effects can be both two dimensional and three dimensional.
One of D”™Louhy”™s largest repeat clients has been the VIP chain adult store.
“Every square inch has a decorative finish,” said D”™Louhy. “It”™s marbleized walls or made-to-look-old plaster walls.”
