Wall Finish from a Sewing Box - Inlaid Mother of Pearl Mosaic

  In From Sewing Box to Wall Finish from her blog, Out of My Studio, Cynthia Davis shared this drop-dead gorgeous, very creative wall finish. When completed, it has the look of inlaid mother of pearl or jeweled mosaic.
  Fair warning:   This is not a fast procedure, It definitely takes patience to create but the result appears seems to be well worth the effort.  It's a good one for small areas, e.g. splashboards, inset panels,  small wall over the tub, etc.
   Cynthia gives very clear, step-by-step instructions with pictures in the From Sewing Box to Wall Finish post.  Here is only an overview..

placing shells on
main lines of pattern

  Seems like the first thing to do is look through all those buttons you've saved, especially the shiny, translucent ones.  Those with a shank instead of holes seem to be best.  You'll need a lot of small, flat shells, too.  Cynthia cites sources for shells and buttons/embellishments should you need to buy some.

   With plaster and a wallpaper brush, start by creating a dragged texture on the surface, dragging both horizontally and vertically. Let dry and trowel plaster through your chosen stencil.  While the plaster is wet, place small, flat shells following the pattern.  The pattern used here is Wallover's Ethnic Grid Mod stencil.
   Let that dry, then adhere with craft glue flat, mother of pearl buttons, filling in all the empty spaces inside and outside the design lines.
Play with the button colors to create interest, e.g. here the silvery buttons are placed on the outside and the pearly ones on the inside.

filling-in completed

filling in spaces with flat mother of pearl buttons

   

After everything is filled in and completely dry, fill the gaps with tile grout, let set, and wipe away excess.

completed finish

Be sure to click on Cynthia Davis' From Sewing Box to Wall Finish to see more pictures and read the complete steps.