Decorative artist Stewart Huntington uses creative techniques and mediums to transform plain space into something unique.

Huntington specializes in techniques including faux finishes, stenciling, wood graining (painting a surface to look like wood), marbling (painting wood to look like marble, stone, travertine or the like) and murals. He also creates oil paintings on canvas to sharpen his skills.

“I love (decorative arts). I can go in and change a space or area. It’s very creative,” he said. Huntington has served the metro Atlanta area for 20 years but also has clients in Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida and North Carolina.

Although there are similar elements to each job, Huntington customizes his hand-painted product for each individual customer. He said, “Every single job has something different in it that makes it unique. I try to make every job unique to the customer by listening to their ideas and working with them.”

Formerly a store manager for Office Depot, Huntington left the company to pursue a more creative career. He first began stenciling and painting faux finishes for Stencil Artisans League International, now known as International Decorative Artisans League.

“(SALI) was a ladies’ group basically. I started going to some of the meetings to help them with their jobs,” he said. “A lot of the ladies needed murals and faux finishes done on the walls of their client’s homes and they didn’t know how to do it, so they’d call me.”

Huntington developed a large referral base from decorators who worked with builders. The other part of his business came word of mouth.

To the eye, Huntington’s decorative work presents a perfect enhancement to a plain room. But he contends that in order to be a good faux finisher, “You have to be consistently inconsistent.”

Imperfections make the perfect picture. He said, “If you are a person that is very worried about every single swoop being exactly the same or every angle having to be exactly the same, then your art will not look very natural. You’re never really striving for absolute perfection because then it won’t look natural.” For more information or to contact Huntington, visit www.muralsfauxu2.blogspot.com or email sthuntington@gmail.com.