Hand-painted furniture: a unique design approach By Katharine Sommerfield Linda Lejda hand paints furniture by choosing many colors that work well together, and applying small designs, such as flowers, dots, checks and stripes, over and over again. Linda Lejda has creativity in her blood. When she was a child, her family bought their furniture at thrift shops. Her father would make any needed repairs and her mother, an aspiring fashion designer and artist, would give the old pieces new life by stripping, staining and painting them. A high school teacher helped direct Lejda to the School of Visual Arts in New York City where she excelled in all mediums, but she was hooked on painting. Years later, after buying a house in Allendale, Lejda found herself once again shopping for furniture at thrift stores. She began painting the items, experimenting with various colors and self-taught techniques. "Hand Painted Furniture" was the result of a surprisingly enthusiastic buyer at Lejda's house sale and the positive reception of her work by local consignment shops. The Artist Studio Tour and supportive friends led to a 1,500-square-foot studio in Jersey City and many contacts. Lejda's parents would contribute furniture that they collected when they traveled, continuing to inspire their daughter. After working with galleries and attending craft shows, decorators and the public began commissioning Lejda's work, even requesting that she paint in a client's home. The business expanded into "Hand Painted Furniture and Interiors." Lejda has been perfecting her talents for hand painting and faux finishing ever since. For the past three years, Lejda has also worked closely with Showcase Kitchen and Baths in Bloomfield, to offer her unique faux finishing designs, colors and renovations. She now has commissions throughout the tri-state area as well as in Pennsylvania and Florida. After 20 years of hard work and experience, Lejda currently works from her home-based studio. She offers complimentary consultations with either the client or a decorator, is glad to display her portfolio and samples of the unlimited possibilities for faux finishing and hand painting that can be customized to the client's individual needs and tastes. Furniture can be enhanced at the studio or on location; interiors, of course, are completed on-site. Turn-around time for a job varies with the scale of the project; no details are skimped on and Lejda devotes seven days a week to her art. All aspects of a job are handled personally by Lejda. "I am the designer, artist, painter, photographer, mover and clean-up person!" she proudly states. Faux finishing, as Lejda describes it, is "the manipulation of paint through the use of various tools, solvents and mediums." Tools can be as simple as a brush, rag or feather, or sophisticated and specialized to produce such effects as strie, combing, moiré, stippling, crackle and marbleizing. Hand painting is a result of "choosing a palette of many colors that work well together" and applying small designs such as flowers, dots, crosshatches, stripes, or checks, repeated over and over again. On a large piece of furniture or in a larger room or space both techniques might be used. The aim is to "create overall harmony and balance" through the placement of the base colors. For more information on this unique design approach, call Linda Lejda at (732) 970-1700.