The Cellar
When a mountain Inn and event center needed a room makeover, we came up with a whole room transformation!
Play Video
Story
In 2019 when I painted The Sudden Storm sky mural for owners, Dean and Kathy at the wonderful Edgewood Inn, in Woodland Park, CO, they mentioned the idea of transforming their wine cellar into a faux 100-year-old prohibition era cellar. When they have weddings there, this is the room that the newly married couple signs their wedding certificate, in addition to where they store their wines.
I dove in and started researching secret prohibition era wine cellars that were found in the Midwest during that time period.
Dean, Kathy and I are all natives to the Midwest, so it added an extra level of excitement and fun to the project. It felt like I was back “home” as I was researching. I grew up outside of Chicago in a rural area, but spent a good amount of time in Chicago.
We discovered that we could get planed brick veneer from the bricks from Chicago. It really added to the effect! What you are seeing in the pictures is a combination of painted faux brick, mortar, and the brick veneer placed specifically to give the effect of brick under crumbling plaster.
After completing the mural scene portion of the room, I installed stonework around the scene to add to the trompe-l’oeil illusion of a continuing room full of barrels of wine. I knew my arch would slightly go over the vent cover, so I actually adhered stone directly on the edge of the vent to keep the cohesive curve around the scene.
Installing the brick veneer was a fun experience, doing the ceiling work had new challenges for obvious reasons! The brick stayed nicely after I taped it up until it had dried. (I also got to complete a new core workout regimen too!)
Overall, this was a really fun project! (And I highly recommend the hospitality, amazing views and location if you are ever in need of a place to stay in the area!)
