The word ‘faux’ is a French word meaning fake or false. Faux finishing is the painting of a surface in such a way as to imitate the appearance of the actual object.

The history of faux finishing goes back many years to early days in Pompeii when artists painted faux stones. During the Renaissance period, Europe grasped the idea and formed two faux painting schools. At that time, a beginner studied and practiced for ten years or more to perfect the techniques. The results were (and still are) so precise that it was often nearly impossible to distinguish between the real finish and the faux finish.

Faux finishing to resemble marble has from that time to this been a very popular finish to duplicate. In fact, marble is the most popular stone to imitate. Faux marble can be used in many places where genuine marble cannot be used because of its heavy weight and high cost. A faux finish of marble is fairly easy to duplicate with the correct paints and tools. In fact, one can purchase a faux finishing kit which contains everything needed to imitate a marble finish.

There are many faux finishing techniques one can learn. Granite is another popular surface to
duplicate. Likewise, many varieties of wood finishes can be achieved through faux finishing methods. A piece of furniture may appear to be made of a design of various inlaid wood pieces when actually it may be a plain pine or other simple wood object, faux finished in great detail to resemble and imitate a handcrafted, carved piece of furniture.. A number of years ago I made several ‘antique’ rifles from plaster. After the ‘wood’ was painted with a walnut finish and the rest of the gun painted with a faux metal, from a short distance away these appeared very convincingly like the real thing. This did not take any special talent. I just had the correct equipment to create these faux finishes.

You can duplicate the look and finish of many metals with the proper paints and faux finishing techniques. Gold, silver, copper, bronze and lead can all be duplicated on wood, plaster, cement, plastic, metal - any paintable surface. And as hard as it is may be to believe, some craftspeople actually duplicate rust. Likewise, leather, tortoise shell and cork are popular items to imitate. There seems to be no limit to what can be accomplished with faux finishes.

Do you have a concrete floor that you want faux finished? You can paint it to look like brick, tile, stone, linoleum, wood, etc., with the proper faux finishing technique.

Occasionally, faux finishes can be applied to make new objects to be old or even antique, while others can make old objects appear to be new. Crackling, pickling, antiquing, smoking and spattering are just a few of the methods used to enhance a faux finish. You can find suitable items at thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales that can be faux finished and ‘re-invented,’ so to speak. For example, an old wooden picture frame can be finished to look like a metal one. On the other hand, another frame can be painted to look like wood, even old barn siding. Decide what faux finish you like and go for it!