Faux Finishes For Home Decorating
Adds Interest To Your Interior Walls

Faux finishes for home decorating describes a trend in decorative home painting techniques that creates the look of another surface on walls.

Faux, ( French for fake ) began as a way to emulate materials like terra cotta, marble, stone, and even various woods including hard to find exotic varieties.

The textural charm of walls mellowed with age reminiscent of the Tuscan villas is just one of the effects faux finishes for home decorating can produce.

Two of the more popular processes are a Glaze:

• A translucent mixture of paint and glaze that often mimics textures and is always smooth to the touch.

This process could include a Color Wash:

• A free form finishes that creates subtle variations of color using multiple hues of glaze blended together with a paint brush.

Or Stria:

• French for a stripe, is a glazing technique creating soft thin streaks of color creating refined soft looks especially useful for the look of linen and denim fabric.

Paint can also provide the rich look of other fabrics such as satin, silk and damask.

Rag painting:

• a glazing technique using twisted or bunched up rags creating a pattern texture smooth to the touch.

The second process would be work with Plaster:

• Generally applied with a trowel or spatula, can be done with tinted plaster or with a wash of earthy pigments. The results can be textural or smooth.
• Venetian plaster is one of the most popular. The often shiny plaster designs appear textured but are extremely smooth to the touch. It is really beautiful.

Some of the other faux finishes for home decorating ( and there are tons, wherever your imagination can take you ) would be:

• Marbling: used to make walls appear as real marble.

• Graining: often used to imitate exotic wood.
• Trompe L’oeil: "Trick the eye" in French, is a realistic painting technique often used in murals and to create architectural details where there are none.

Let your rooms dictate what faux finish may work. For example uneven wall surfaces look nice with warm shades lending themselves to the look of stone or brick.

Smooth flat surfaces can take the glossy finishes and cooler shades, and the use of gold and silver leaf which is another faux finish for home decorating that is becoming increasingly more popular.

Faux finishes for home decorating can transform an ordinary wall surface into a work of art and the colors you choose will also dramatically influence the look.

Lighter colors applied on top of darker colors will soften the finish and fade the look of the darker paint color.

Darker colors applied on top of lighter colors will create a bold statement. The eye is attracted to the color. Darker finishes can stand alone as a focal point making the furniture in a room less important. These finishes create an intimate feel to a room because the walls will appear closer.

Using different values of the same color, for example sky, federal and royal blues produce a monochromatic effect that is made more interesting by the textured result.

Use a range of neutrals, grays, beige and browns for the more intricate finish techniques otherwise it will be too busy.

Wall color can create a bridge between your furnishings and accessories and the overall mood. The paint colors or a combination, texture and the variety of techniques offers endless possibilities and no limit to where your creativity will take you.

Faux finishes for home decorating are a beautiful way to farther enhance your home, are long lasting because it’s easy to maintain but when you are ready for a change it’s easy. Just paint over it.

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