Faux finishing is anything but a modern invention. Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians cut construction costs by creating with paint the elaborate architectural elements that were popular in their time. Throughout the ages, faux finishing has been used when the “real thing” was too expensive.
According to John Casey of Oak Bluffs – who, with wife Mary Ellen, has been painting and restoring houses on the Island for about thirty years – even in the early days of European settlement on the Island, faux finishing was used extensively in place of wallpaper, which, at the time, was only available custom-made and was therefore expensive. Cheaper wood was painted and stained to imitate more expensive and exotic types by simulating the colors and wood grains. When the couple was enlisted to help restore Edgartown’s Jared Coffin House (1823), they found a great deal of artistic trickery.
“It was an academic restoration,” John recalls. “We recorded and documented each layer of paint. We got down to the base and found this wood grain and colors that were particularly varnished to create an effect.”
What is “faux finishing”? Basically, it’s using paint, glazes, and other materials on a flat surface to produce effects that fool the eye. It can be a simple rag-rolling technique to create depth on a wall, layering and sanding to transform a new object into an ersatz antique, or painting an object on a flat surface to appear so real the viewer needs to touch it to verify its two-dimensional qualities.
Faux finishing has enjoyed a massive resurgence of late. It has, in fact, become so popular that various glazes and finishes such as Venetian plaster, sandstone, and metallic can now be found on the shelves of Lowe’s and Home Depot, right next to the books and videos that take the amateur step-by-step through the techniques. There are no shortages of websites and suppliers on-line, and on-Island paint shops can order the few materials they don’t have in stock. According to John Casey, Tivoli Paint and Decorating Supplies in Vineyard Haven carries quite an extensive supply of faux finishing materials.
Color-wash techniques are the simplest, and many can be mastered by amateurs. They require a base coat of paint and one or more coats of colored paints or glazes that can be applied or removed using various tools. Rags, sponges, combs, crumpled bags, brushes, stipplers – just about anything that can create a texture can be used. A wall can appear to be covered in denim or linen, stuccoed, or wallpapered.
Adding textures, like sand, metallics, or Venetian plaster, to a surface is becoming easier as more techniques, materials, and tools are becoming available to the general public. Striking effects can be achieved with instruction and a little practice.
Other techniques are best left to professionals, as they tend to look phony if not done well. Making a surface look like marble, tortoiseshell, leather, or stone falls into this category, along with wood graining and tiling. They usually involve layers of paint and glaze that are manipulated using specially made combs and other tools; feathers are used to create the indistinct lines of fine stonework. It takes a deft and experienced hand to get it right.
Distressing and antiquing are methods that use paint to change the appearance of an object – making it seem old or worn. Bonnie Alexander of Vineyard Haven is a master of the faux arts, going so far as to add a dust-like effect to the crevasses of an antiqued molding. It’s not unusual for people to touch a sample of wood that she’s “rusted” and check their fingers for ruboff. She’s stenciled grapes onto walls then added a thin layer of plaster to create a decaying appearance. Her tools for distressing include chains, rocks, pieces of cement, cotton balls, and her own fingertips.
Although Bonnie is proficient in all forms of decorative painting, she especially enjoys imitating historical features, whether on a wall or a piece of furniture. “I like to find out the vintage of the home and try to replicate it,” she explains. “I love to do the research.”
Although distressing and antiquing are accessible to the amateur, it’s a good idea to study old furniture to determine how a piece ages. Who hasn’t seen a badly reproduced faux antique sit forlornly for hours at a yard sale? In order to get a true reproduction, Bonnie says, “Wear it in the right places – where it
will age naturally.”
The ultimate in faux arts is trompe l’oeil (pronounced “trump loy”), a French term meaning “to fool the eye.” Also called illusionism, it’s a style of painting that gives the appearance of three-dimensional or photographic realism. It can be as simple as a ladybug on a stair, or as complicated as a full-wall mural that replicates the view of a Tuscan countryside through a crumbling wall. Architectural details are frequently faked using trompe l’oeil. A Dutch door appears ajar on a standard flat wooden one. A window with a seascape seems three-dimensional on a windowless wall. Rosettes appear to pop out of the trim below a ceiling. Because attaining the desired effect of three dimensions requires a talent for the use of light and shadow in painting, this technique is also best left to the pros.
The Island does have one such professional.
Linda Carnegie has moved from her house in West Tisbury to Cleveland, but continues to paint on the Island. Courtesy of Linda, the West Tisbury library has an assortment of trompe l’oeil critters, such as bugs and lizards straight from the Brazilian rain forest. For private residences, she’s combined her faux finish work with trompe l’oeil to create compass roses that imitate inlaid wood. She works through designers or directly with homeowners to create puckish murals and details in Island homes.
If you want some schooling before possibly defiling your home, many classes are available to learn the faux arts. They vary in level from true neophyte to seasoned pro. Paint suppliers, both on- and off-Island, frequently hold demonstrations and workshops to teach the public what’s available and how to use the materials. John and Mary Ellen often travel off-Island to attend shows, classes, workshops, seminars, and demonstrations to perfect their skills and stay current with the newest products. They recommend the monthly magazine “Decorate with Paint,” for the newest techniques, materials, and how-to’s.
For the professional, amateur, or would-be faux finisher, watching and learning are never enough. It takes a lot of hands-on experience to master the art of decorative painting. To recoin a familiar question: How do you replicate Carnegie Hall? “Practice, practice, practice.”
Refinishing a Wooden Dresser
Mary Ellen Casey recently refinished a pine dresser – an old family piece – using stenciling, distressing techniques, and a marble dust finish. With a little practice, the amateur faux finisher can create a similar look.
Besides her finely honed skills as a faux artist, Mary Ellen used two products that distinguish this project as professionally done: LusterStone for a brushed putty texture and Venetian plaster for the stencil.
“When you sand the marble dust and the stencil,” John Casey explains, “it blends it all together and makes it look old and antique, and you see the primer showing through. On top of all that, it has this beautiful, reflective marble finish on it. It comes out extremely hard and smooth. It’s just gorgeous.”
According to John, the amateur version of this would be a lot simpler – prep it; base coat it with an oil primer; stencil it with paint or plaster, glaze it with blue (which, John says, is very easy because the glaze sticks to the primer); and the optional marble dust finish.
The Caseys estimate that to purchase a new reproduction of a piece like this, one would pay about $1,200. To have an existing dresser refinished professionally, $800. To do it yourself with marble dust, $130 to $140 – without marble dust, $40 to $50.
To try your hand at this kind of project, which John says is intermediate level or “the homeowner’s version,” follow these steps:
1. Remove all hardware.
2. If the surface is lightly finished, sand with 150-grit sandpaper. Sand a painted dresser with 100-grit sandpaper, and finish with 150-grit. If the paint is loose or peeling, first strip it with a chemical stripper to remove the loose and peeling paint – not to bare wood (one coat of stripper should do it).
3. Clean all sanding residue from dresser with a strong soap and water – the cleaner, the better.
4. Fill any scratches, nail holes, or surface imperfections with wood filler.
5. Cover with one coat of oil primer (use two coats to prevent bleeding – a little bit of bleeding is okay).
6. Use a colored plaster or paint to stencil a design onto the dresser. Mary Ellen used a regular plastic wall stencil in a floral pattern, which she purchased at a crafts and fabric store. (If it’s available, and if you’re feeling adventurous, use Venetian plaster followed by a copper glaze – copper pigment in a glazing liquid – over the stenciled parts.)
7. Very generously brush on a light blue glaze – color mixed into a glazing liquid – or blue latex paint mixed into latex glazing liquid (10–15 percent paint to 90–85 percent glazing liquid). Really saturate the surface. Immediately wipe off the excess with a rag. Use a clean, dry brush to get into the cracks and details when removing glaze. The oil-based primer will hold most of the color on.
8. Brush marble dust (such as LusterStone) over the entire dresser. Let it dry. (If not using the marble dust finish, coat the dresser with one or two coats of a clear, acrylic finish, and skip the next step.)
9. While wearing a mask, use a random orbital sander with 150-grit sandpaper and sand the dresser.
10. Before reattaching the hardware, paint the pieces with flat black paint made for metal; use as many coats as are needed to create an opaque surface, and allow to dry.
11. Use a toothbrush to lightly speckle the hardware with copper, gold, and silver metallic paint.
12. Brush silver glaze (silver metallic paint in a glazing liquid) onto the hardware.
13. Reattach hardware, and voilà, you’ve finished!
Painting a Tray
Bonnie Alexander shares her process of painting an old tray from the Vineyard Haven thrift shop. After painting the tray a cream color base, she used blue tape to mask areas of the tray before applying gold LusterStone. To create the multi-colored squares, she masked the tray, scored the tape with a razor to remove pieces, and glazed each color individually. In the end, the center was designed to look like faux marquetry with abalone inlay.
