“Nothing is impossible.”

Anna Sadler says this so frequently, it is almost a mantra—or, rather, a prayer. As a decorative painter who works with Valley interior designers and homeowners, she is no stranger to receiving grandiose requests. Whether it’s a bedazzled wall, hand-painted fabric, a fancifully festooned ceiling, a graphic fireplace or draperies flecked with hand-applied gold-leaf brushstrokes, Sadler can transform ordinary surfaces into crown jewels that rival the beauty of any art on canvas.  

But it’s not all glitter and sparkles for this modern Michelangelo. Sadler and her husband, Scott, can spend hours on a 6-foot-high scaffold, arms overhead, painting ceilings, or on a ladder carefully placing individual glass or crystal beads with the meticulous precision of watchmakers assembling a delicate timepiece. “People often imagine that what we do is akin to rolling paint,” she says. “They don’t realize that the complexity and depth of our hand-applied finishes is the result of multiple layers and dry times in between.” She jokes: “Let’s just say our necks are no longer functional.”

At times, it can be death-defying. Scott once set off fire alarms with his body heat while working on an 18-foot-high entry tower. “We had to protect the walls with painter’s plastic to ensure that nothing dropped as we applied the mixture overhead,” Sadler says. “The heat was off the charts, but we couldn’t stop the application process. All I can say is my hubby is so hot, he sets off smoke detectors.”

When she met Scott, a retired police officer, he had never picked up a paintbrush in his life—but what he lacked in artistic ability, he made up for in logistics. “He is the behind-the-scenes guy,” Sadler explains. “He does everything possible to facilitate the artistic process by doing the prep work and working on the walls alongside me as we apply the finishes. He also provides a perspective that I may not see through my artistic lens.”

Together, the dynamic duo has tackled hundreds of residential projects, from great rooms and nurseries to kitchens and foyers—they have recently even dabbled in creating highly detailed antiqued mirrors. “I like to compare the process of our work to a theatrical performance,” she explains, tracing the path from the “audition” with the homeowners to the final act, the big reveal. “Either way, we’re going for that Tony Award and, if we’re lucky, an encore.”

Sadler recalls a time a “supporting actor” became the star: “We were once asked by a homeowner to create a focal wall in their dining room for one of their most prized paintings. We designed an ultra-contemporary black woven plaster texture. When it was finished, the client told us the wall was so beautiful, they couldn’t bear to cover up a single inch. They ended up hanging that painting on a different wall.”

Interior designer Elizabeth Rosensteel says this penchant for perfection and perpetual bar-raising is what makes Sadler an ideal collaborator. “I am always throwing a challenge out to her. There’s always something that I have in the back of my head that I would like to see as a unique finish, a twist on the common, that has its own degree of difficulty. Anna always has a smile on her face and a can-do attitude. She may be sweating bullets but always has a calm demeanor.”

Echoes interior designer Amy Klosterman: “Rather than applying wallcovering or art canvases, she makes the entire wall into a handmade piece of artwork, whether it’s a subtle texture or a bold, over-scaled pattern.”

Though the couple hopes to trade in the scaffolding one day to focus exclusively on art on canvas, they will never stop experimenting with new materials and techniques. “My dream would be to restore some fabulous old castle or large estate in France, Italy or Spain,” she remarks wistfully.