Downton Abbey Style Decorative Painting

All of my friends have gone crazy for Downton Abbey, including myself. What’s not to love? From the beautiful gowns, to the formal dinners, and the gorgeous Edwardian design.

I thought it would be fun to single out some of the interior design elements that could be easily replicated with decorative painting and faux finishing. You don’t even have to have an Earl of Grantham sized budget to pull off many of these updates in your own home.

Let’s start with these beautiful patterned walls.

These were upholstered in an expensive French silk fabric. This look can be replicated with paint and a hand painted stencil. Here are three Damask stencil designs that would work to duplicate this look from Royal Design Studios.

If you wanted something close to the Downton color scheme you could use a base coat of Sherwin Williams 6212 Quietude.

And with a stencil color of 6213 Halycon Green.

If you wanted a more subtle tone on tone look you could do the same color  paint in different sheens. Paint your base coat in a flat or satin and do the stencil in a high gloss. Here is a good tutorial on how to do a tone on tone finish. 

Now let’s look at that beautiful ornamental ceiling.

This is a hand painted ceiling that probably took the original artist month’s to complete. Luckily, there are some innovative products available to today’s decorative painters that make it faster and more affordable to get a look like this. Modello Designs is a company that creates one time use masking stencils. You choose from one of their designs or they can custom design one for your room. You apply the sticky stencil to the ceiling and then you apply your choice of color and product for a completely custom look. Here is a Modello ceiling in progress by decorative artists, Maggie O’Neill.

How about these beautiful aged doors? This entry door finish could be replicated with a little off white paint and a light golden glaze.

As for the more ornamental doors:

This would require a skilled painter like my Facebook friend, Jeff Huckaby. Here is one of his hand painted ornamental doors.

He also does gorgeous hand painted ceilings too.

If you are a die hard fan like me and one of your best friends go to meet Matthew on a recent visit to NYC. You might be a little bit jealous.

The jealousy, I can get over. What I can’t get over is the info she brought back. Matthew will not be returning to Downton Abbey for season 4. Excuse me while I take to my bed to recover from this news.

Photos courtesy of Highclere Castle and PBS.

You might also want to check out my friend THE DECOROLOGIST’s post on her Downton Abbey dinner party. And her post on Downton Abbey style.

If you live in the Nashville TN area and you’d like to add a little Downton Abbey glamour to your space with some decorative painting, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Dana at 615-500-1517 or fill out the contact form below. 

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