Decorating With Class

Installing Molding with Joint Compound

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for innovative and fabulous ideas to decorate your home with NO experience and very little expense.

Installing Molding with Joint Compound

Now how easy is that??? I love it!

Finally, other pros are seeing it my way! Now, I'm the queen of joint compound (No, I really mean that!). And I've been using joint compound for years as a wall adhesive.

Well, I was nearly shocked this  morning as I read an internet article from "This Old House" showing how to install crown molding using joint compound!  Woo Hoo! I wasn't a nut case after all (as some in the industry might have thought I was).

Joint compound is amazing stuff and mimics old fashioned plaster in many ways, which dries rock hard and stays strong enough to hold even heavy plaster ceiling medallions in place.

Any time I want to "glue" something to a wall (such as cast plaster pieces from a mold), I simply use joint compound. No need to add glue, trust me, that puppy will stay in place good and solid!


Another great use for joint compound is making your existing moldings look like new. Walk around just about any home and check out the moldings. You will see cracks between the molding and the wall caused by settling of the foundation and natural wear.

Fill these cracks with joint compound simply smoothed over the crack with your finger, then wipe away any excess with a damp sponge and allow to dry. Re-paint and wha la! Your molding now appears new and fresh!

How durable is joint compound when holding up plaster pieces in a ceiling or wall design? Well, I installed a plaster ceiling medallion using our molds 5 years ago and it's still there, just as gorgeous as the day I did it and the only adhesive I used was simple joint compound.

Christopher Lowell's New Home

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for innovative and fabulous ideas to decorate your home with NO experience and very little expense.

Christopher Lowells New Home

For the longest time, one of my favorite television decorators seemed to just disappear. I'm speaking of course about Christopher Lowell.

Christopher's new show is called "Work that room" and airs every Saturday evening at 6 pm on the "Fine Living" Network (FLN on your channel listings).

I was an avid watcher of the "Christopher Lowell Show" on discovery some time ago and was disappointed when the show no longer aired.

Christopher's principals using the "7 layers of design" are something I use regularly when considering the re-decoration of any room and my personal design library features many of his books.

Check out Amazon.com for special pricing on this terrific book starting at just $5.77 and only $1.17 for the video!

A visit to his website will enlighten you with page after page of tips, tricks and projects to whet your appetite for re-doing your own decor on a budget and all by yourself!

I must say that I'm glad to see Christopher with a new home and back in the swing of showing us upscale decor on a budget!

Ornamental Plaster is Easy when you have a FREE pattern!

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for innovative and fabulous ideas to decorate your home with NO experience and very little expense.

Ornamental Plaster is Easy when you have a FREE pattern!

OK, I know I haven't been posting much lately but I have good reason! I have been working hard creating new, easy ornamental plaster patterns that I now offer on the website for free, along with special pricing on the mold sets to do them with.

Now imagine creating this beautiful, ornate frame around your crystal chandelier in the dining room.
3 easy molds is all it takes to create this stunning beauty.
The use the same molds to create a frieze above doorways by re-arranging the pieces.

Those who are like me, who fall to their knees every time they see ornamental plaster ceilings, have perused the mold section of my website many times, yet have failed to make up their minds which designs to try because the "vision" of how they might look together just wasn't there. Well, it is now.




There are so many ways to combine the mold designs that I know I will be creating for years to come and never run out of potential patterns. Especially as I add new mold designs each year.

 Though it takes some time, I find I love designing with ornamental plaster. It's not at all like drawing a design and then executing the elements you create, it's more like taking shapes then finding a way to make them fit together to create a design. Very interesting and certainly different from anything I've ever done before.

So stop by the site and check out the Medallions, Frames and Friezes that I have created for you. Click each photo to enlarge it so that you can get the full ornamental picture. Then save it to your computer for future reference.

Ornamental Plaster Lay Outs for Easy Victorian Plaster

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for innovative and fabulous ideas to decorate your home with NO experience and very little expense.


Ornamental Plaster Lay Outs for Easy Victorian Plaster

Few people don't just "love" that luscious, Victorian plaster found in Victorian homes, mansions and state buildings. Laid out in to ornate frames or medallions around light fixtures, or as beautiful friezes over doorways or frames on a wall to serve as architectural detailing. It's practically a lost art, yet it's so beautiful and we all have admired it from time to time.

A few years ago, I decided to set out on a venture of showing the average home owner and professional faux finish artist, just how easy doing ornamental plaster is.

I developed the mold line so you could make your own pieces easily and cheaply with just plaster of paris.
I showed you how to cast the molds with plaster of paris and even showed you how to attach them to the walls and ceilings.
But what's been missing all this time are the patterns in which to follow!

So here they come.....one at a time.

We will be featuring these lay-outs on our website and you will now be able to see what combined designs would look like in creative lay outs that are super easy to do on your own ceilings and walls.

We will tell you which molds make up each lay out, the size of the finished lay out and exactly how many pieces from each featured mold to make. No more guessing or trying to figure it out for yourself (unless of course, you are that ultra creative type who has visions of your own!).

For instance, the above design uses just 3 molds...the Wall Frame Set Mold, The Floral Arch Mold and the Delicate Flower Mold. The frame, once finished, measures a whopping 72" long by 40" wide and is drop dead gorgeous.

To have a professional plaster artist create this design on your ceiling would cost a fortune! But you can do it yourself with around 2 bags of plaster of paris (Approximately $14.00) and our 3 molds!

Watch the website for more and more lay out designs to be added. OK, we're excited....aren't you?