Faux finishes are sweeping the nation faster than Eastern Republicans can buy cowboy boots these days. But even the term “faux finish” can cause confusion.
Dale Smith, who works primarily with furniture, says: “It is a multifaceted term, but I define it as anything you do to a surface to make it look different from its natural state.” In his case, that often means designing a new piece of furniture and making it look like an antique.
“We do sponging, glazing, distressed or worn. The crackling and speckling have been terribly overdone but we are still getting requests for it,” he says. Smith came to the field from remodeling in the neighborhood, and found he could make more money creating ‘antiques.’
“I was building furniture out of old pieces of wood. At the Village Greensmith, we are very environmentally oriented so I try to recycle wood. In order to use it, though, we had to make it look distressed. If you go with a flat, perfect antique look … every brush mark has to disappear. With a faux finish, you can make the flaws work for you.”
One of Smith’s favorite projects was to put a denim look on furniture for a child’s room with a western theme. And in his own home, he has done aged stucco walls complete with cracks and color on color. Working in wet paint, he ragged in the shading needed.
Pro Faux
“Ragged” is one of the techniques used when faux finishing walls. Even a pro like Smith defers to those who have massive experience in this area. Jason and Mercy Koen at Fine Faux have put in three years as apprentices and four years on the job. For them, “faux” means a finish that is tastefully done to simulate something you couldn’t have otherwise — like sunlit dappled walls in a 400-year-old Paris apartment building … when your walls actually are brand-new, not near a sunny window and located halfway around the world from France.
And finesse is everything for an effect that really works. After all, when you are seen, do you want the comment to be ‘you look lovely’ or ‘your make-up looks great’?
Mercy Koen takes that concept into consideration for those who want a subtle finish, one that brings a room together, or a more dramatic design that stands out. “We act as designers because we look at the upholstery, the furniture and the architecture when making recommendations. We bring samples of our work on boards so our clients can see what we are talking about,” she says.
Fine Faux also applies their sorcery to an area neglected by many: floors. For one pool patio, they simulated brick with a Persian rug complete with a fringe. House walk-ways have been converted from boring concrete to different color stones using concrete paint. A Tuscan design was complemented with a center emblem for a balcony in a Lakewood home. Indoors or out, they seal their painstaking work in durable coatings.
Stenciling and trompe l’oeil
Another decorative finish that became popular in Victorian times and has endured is stenciling. Munger Place resident Laura Ainsworth is a period design consultant who can “restore a home to museum quality or pay homage to a particular style.” Although she is familiar with the more contemporary effects such as dragging a comb through a vertical line of paint to give a wall depth, her work in the turn of the century homes of Waxahachie and Lancaster have given her special insight when it comes to restoring older homes.
Ainsworth says: “I talk with the owners about the age and style of the home they want to create. You have to take their general taste into consideration as well. And we go from there.”
Stenciling from the 1910s, 20s and 30s extends from floors, walls and furniture even to the ceilings. “Anything you put on a wall, you can put on a ceiling,” says Lake Highlands artisan Cindy Householder. “It is just a little harder on the neck!”
As a muralist, Householder prefers trompe l’oeil pieces, those that trick the eye: “I have put bookcases in entry ways that add depth to the room without taking up floor space.”
But she can also take a piece of furniture and make it look like a Renaissance creation. After seven years of studying glazes, paints, color and French polishing, Householder agrees with one of her teachers who told her that they were creating the antiques of tomorrow.
Master and apprentice
Not only is it all the rage in professional interior design, faux finishes have reached the do-it-yourself market. But professionals are all in agreement on one thing – unless you’re an artist, chances are that by the time you have mastered the techniques needed to pull off a do-it-yourself project, you could have hired someone to do it in a quarter of the time. So if you want to acquire a new skill, go for it.
But if you just want the job done, call a pro.
SOURCES
Fine Faux, Mercy and Jason Cohen, 214-324-4128,
Cindy Householder, trompe l’oeil, 214-348-0815
Village Greensmith, Dale Smith, 214-588-6995
Laura Ainsworth, vintage stenciling, 214-370-9917
