Where there’s a wall, there’s a way! Creative drywalling is here!

Think an interior wall must be flat? Get over it!

This fireplace/TV nook was built from steel stud, double layers of scrap drywall, reveals, beading, radius j trim.

A newly finished room is a clean canvas. Offer that canvas to a creative mind and they will transform those four walls and ceiling into something very special. People are calling it ‘Drywall Art.’ It simply means doing more than just the basics: combining creative imagination with the remarkable array of drywall trim features on the market. The results can be stunning, yet not out the ball park in terms of price.

Everything that was old is new again, sort of
Decorative plaster was once the standard of the day, but lost the battle to 4 x 8 sheets of drywall decades ago. Things became flat and somewhat boring. Enter relatively low cost trim and accessory products, and the landscape is suddenly transformed.

Wainscotting and paneling are simple wall additions that no longer require wood carpentry, just easy-to-use plastic accessories

A generic flat wall can instead feature wainscoting or relief panels. Spectacular crown mouldings are a snap. Ceilings can have texture or variations of depth. Curved walls once thought reserved for only very high end projects are now possible in any home. Corners no longer have to be razor sharp right angles; they can have varying amounts of curvature.

Most of today’s top drywall contractors are familiar with the new techniques and materials and have the artistic flair to pull them off. It’s no longer a high-cost endeavor. In fact, while many drywall installers often find themselves in a head-on price battle for a slap-up install job, they actually would like to offer you, the general contractor, something unique to show your client to differentiate their services. A cornucopia of low-cost trim accessories plus an installer’s imagination can produce surfaces with flair. It’s a matter of allowing your dry wall installer to become proactively creative in your project.

“One more crack out of you and I’ll plaster you!”

Bernie Mitchell at work, creating another unique wall sculpture from drywall compound

Taking it to even a higher level is Bernie Mitchell from Pigeon Lake, Ontario. Using only drywall compound, Mitchell creates unique works of art on wall surfaces. Mitchell started a simple form of relief in the early 1990s, when as a drywall finisher, he experimented with raised panels on wall surfaces where natural light had a positive effect as a relief form. Today, Bernie puts his creativity to work designing, constructing, sculpting and finishing specialty features in shoreline homes and cottages, using birds as his main subjects but also horses, wolves and dogs. It’s made him a minor celebrity, showing off his artistic skills in a series of instructional videos, soon to be on-line.

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