| Copyright Times Publishing
Co. Apr 15, 2005
Dr.
Doodle and his tribe
of "Doodle-ettes" may
wear teal-colored scrubs
to work, but they don't
wield stethoscopes.
Instead, you'll find
them transforming the looks
of houses inside and out.
Call it minor plastic
surgery for the home-improvement
set: a little Botox for
the kitchen cabinets, some
dermabrasion for the front
hallway.
Dr. Doodle, a.k.a. Ron
Hutchinson, 39, paints
murals and creates decorative
faux finishes that resemble
everything from burled
wood to silver leaf.
He and his team of six
artisans can transform
a concrete floor to a shade
of melted caramel, whip
up Venetian plaster the
color of fresh cranberries
and glaze a house exterior
to look as though it was
warmed for centuries under
the Tuscan sun.
He's
done it for great houses
across Hillsborough County
and for 16 Maggiano's
Little Italy restaurants
- including the WestShore
Plaza location, to which
he added "1920s-style nicotine-stained
walls."
He's cozied up cabinets,
shutters and bathroom vanities
for celebrities, athletes,
even regular people who
want a Brady Bunch- era
garage door to look old
world for $1,000.
He designed a ceiling
mural of clouds and cherubs
for interior decorator
Debbie Perez that looks
like it was shipped straight
from a little church in
Venice.
Pane Rustica is a client.
So is Magic Wok International
and Airside E at Tampa
International Airport.
What's interesting is
Hutchinson himself: a squiggly
haired, intense artist
with a head for business.
And jingly slogans.
His motto?
"Every
idea starts with a doodle."
He
got his start as a graphic
designer for a firm in
Belmar, N.J., lost his
job "to the Mac (Macintosh)
2cx" he says, and took
off for Europe. He roamed
Czechoslovakia, Germany,
Italy and France, along
the way learning old-fashioned,
highly skilled painting
techniques.
He also painted the bottoms
of sailboats in Greece,
snorkeled for octopus,
ran a bar and met his wife-to-be
- a Hungarian au pair.
The
couple landed back in
the States, hopped an
Amtrak from Philadelphia
to Tampa in 1999 "with
four bags between us" and
the idea (culled from the
Internet) that they would
rent a room on Nebraska
Avenue.
"We got to Tampa," Hutchinson
remembers, "and were eating
at a Subway when someone
told us that we were out
of our minds thinking we
were going to live on Nebraska."
So they stayed at a Holiday
Inn for a few weeks until
they could afford a down
payment on an apartment.
Hutchinson landed a job
as a waiter and eventually
saved enough money to buy
a bicycle at a pawn shop.
While waiting tables
at Mise en Place and Ceviche,
he moonlighted as a muralist
and faux painter. A big
mural job for a local dentist
turned out so well it landed
him a story on WTVT-Ch.
13 Fox news.
"I thought the murals
would be the really lucrative
thing, but more and more
phone calls I was getting
were from people wanting
faux finishing," he recalls. "It
was the hot new thing and
business started increasing." Completely
by word of mouth. Hutchinson
never advertised.
He
became known to his clients
as Dr. Doodle Muralogist
after he saw a sign for
a urologist and fancied
putting an "M" in front
of it.
"Lots of people still
want murals - and we make
them portable so they can
go with a client from house
to house," he explains. "But
faux painting just took
off. It might cost you
$60,000 to replace all
your kitchen cabinets,
but just $15,000 if we
paint them for you."
Hutchinson now employs
six people full time and
maintains a large studio
adorned with murals of
Italy near Tampa's airport.
Much of his work is done
in the studio rather than
at clients' homes. His
wife, Ildiko, works as
his business manager. They
live in South Tampa.
He feels thankful, he
says, for the tilt of the
universe in his favor.
"I am nothing without
the people who work for
me. They are so talented," he
says. "We read books, take
workshops, go to school.
We're always learning." |
