What you can do with faux painting techniques

Faux finishes have come a long way from pickling and sponge painting the walls.

Offerings now range from imitation leather to Venetian plaster, and techniques such as glazing, faux marble, damask and flocking can make paint mimic wallpaper. There is also trompe l'oeil, whose fool-the-eye landscapes have become more common in the home, as well as murals, some painted directly on the wall and another type called marouflage, which is painted first on canvas and then applied to a wall.

But faux painting isn't just decorative. While it can be used to bring a whimsical touch to a room, it can also expand a space. A mural of an outdoor scene can almost visually double the size of a room, says Daniel Del Orfano of Del Orfano Fine Arts in Huntington. "If the view gives the illusion of a portico to the outdoor environment, that alone will double the space," he says. And a trompe l'oeil ceiling can make an 8-foot-high room appear to be a foot or so higher, says Art McShane of Art Works and Designs in Port Jefferson.

Such an image can evoke a favorite place. Eva Karsai of Eva Art & Design in Glen Cove says a client in Matinecock wanted a Tuscan scene (pictured on the cover) translated into a wall painting in the powder room. "The grandfather came to visit and said, 'Wow, this is my property,' and he could see the ruins of the old house," she says. "They were so pleased to remind him of home."

New materials make it much easier to do many of the new techniques, says Siran Pirani of The Decorative Painting Studio in Rockville Centre. Acrylics and water-based glazes are easier to use than oil-based products, and dry more quickly, don't emit toxic fumes or yellow with age and clean up with water. "Things would take days to dry between layers, but now it's much quicker."

Painters must consider the proportions of the room and the play of natural light when planning their work. Some techniques, too, are more suitable in certain types of homes.

They say they need to see a room to give estimates because surface preparation and materials vary by technique, but Jennifer Karow of New World Faux in Mill Neck says an average bathroom might cost about $200 for materials and $400 a day for labor, with the job taking maybe a day and a half. She says her estimate would cover any one-layer finish that doesn't take multiple applications or more than one day to complete, such as glazing or stenciling.

Faux wood grain on a metal door may run about $750, depending on how much surface preparation is needed, Pirani says. And an 18-inch trompe l'oeil border on a ceiling, with a darker color on the outside edge, would run about $350, McShane says. Del Orfano says a mural on canvas can range from $350 to $2,500, depending on the size and the scene.

A popular faux finish is glazing, where the artist adds a layer of paint thinned so it is somewhat transparent to change the color or texture of a surface. Karow says glazing starts at about $3 a square foot, depending on the technique and time involved.

"You can update finishes instead of redoing them, maybe paint over a tissue paper faux finish and flatten it with another product," Karow says. "It's just paint. You can always redo it."

WOOD GRAINING

This door is metal but looks like wood, thanks to the wood graining technique, also known as faux bois, from the French, meaning false wood. The methods and tools involved are very old, but new materials make the job go much faster. "Things would take days to dry between layers, but now it's much quicker, partly because of new water-based products," says Siran Pirani, who painted the door above for a recent show house at the Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf. The metal had to be sanded before the layers of paint were applied so that they would match the grain of surrounding oak. The archways were done by painter Leslie Martin, owner of Toscana Designs in Far Rockaway, with a technique she calls plastered damask, a raised plaster design with a metallic powder mixed in that she finished to look like antique fabric.

PAINTED FLOORS

Faux painting can move from walls and ceilings to floors with ease - and be just as intricate and detailed. This painted canvas floor at a recent show house at the Caumsett State Historic Park in Lloyd Neck is virtually waterproof, painter Jennifer Karow says. In a heavy traffic area outside, she says it will show wear and tear like a regular floor covering. But brought in when there's heavy rain or snow and maintained with reapplications of polyurethane, it will last 10 to 15 years. She says it will last indefinitely inside if treated as an art piece and put where there is little foot traffic.

PAINTED CEILINGS

"Everyone forgets about the ceiling, but you're creating a visual field where it connects with the wall," Art McShane says. In this Miller Place living room, he painted a darker color along 18 inches of the ceiling's outside edge. A trompe l'oeil molding transitions to a lighter color inside. This gives it depth and makes the ceiling seem higher. The textured vine pattern along the edges and in the room's center is echoed on the walls and draws the eye up.

GLAZING

Glazes make paint transparent, so one color shows through another - the more glaze that's used, the more transparent the colors will be. Glazes can be applied with a brush, roller, rag or sponge so the glaze mimics a texture but is smooth to the touch. This two-toned glaze highlights walls above and below a chair rail in this staircase inside a Massapequa home. The two-toned glaze is over a base paint that is an off-white, pale yellow color. The glaze on the top half, above the chair rail, is earth yellow, artist Jennifer Karow says, while the glaze on the bottom half is dark brown.

TROMPE L'OEIL

This trompe l'oeil scene brings the beach inside at this Huntington home. Artist Daniel Del Orfano created the image using several photos of local beaches. The clouds give the impression of airy sky and help lead the eye upward to catch a glimpse of a gull perched on the ledge; the fence and path through the sand lead the eye into the distance. The blue and white of the sky and water are picked up from the decorative tile wall colors.

TEXTURIZING

The textured paint in the bedroom at Art McShane's Port Jefferson Station home mimics grasscloth, showing how textured surfaces add warmth to walls. The lines are achieved by running a tool such as a comb, whisk broom or wallpaper brush through wet paint. Faux grasscloth costs about the same as grasscloth wallpaper, but faux grasscloth is more durable, he says. It can be scrubbed and painted; the texture will last through applications of paint, and seams don't lift. And cats won't scratch the painted grasscloth, he laughs.

MURALS

The three 6-by-7½-foot murals in this Mill Neck home were painted on canvas, then added to the walls and framed to give the illusion of recessed panels, as if the molding had existed before the murals were painted, artist Daniel Del Orfano says. "It's a classic look that gives the expanse of a mural but the clean border lines of a framed work of art," he says. It's becoming more common today for the artist to first complete the canvas in the studio to save time. The project took 180 hours over three months and the installation about four hours. Homeowners Pam and Ralph Bianculli used Tuscany as their inspiration for the scenes.

MARBLING

Faux marble gives a rich look without the weight and expense of the natural stone. A base color is applied over primer, then the appearance of veins is created by applying color with a fine brush, then softening the edges with sponges and dry brushes before a protective top coat of polyurethane is added, says Eva Karsai, the painter who worked on this Mill Neck home. She used umber, ocher, gold and brown to achieve the marbling, with gilt accents near the base of the pedestal.

Think you want to try to do a little faux painting on your own?

Here are some tips and techniques you need to know:

Learn

If you can, take a class where they teach you how to do the technique, suggests Jennifer Karow of New World Faux in Mill Neck. Classes can run upward of $1,000. Over-the-counter products are sometimes hard to work with, she says, so practice. Natural sea sponges, cheesecloth and stencils can all be used to achieve unique patterns.

Prep work

As with any painting job, surface preparation is a key. Clear the entire wall surface and move furniture out of the room or to the middle and cover with a drop cloth. Vacuum or mop the floors, wipe down baseboards and other woodwork with a damp cloth. If it's a kitchen, where there may be grease on the walls, wash the walls with a sponge mop and water that has some dish soap mixed in, then rinse with clear water and let the walls dry completely before painting. If the wall was covered with wallpaper, Art McShane of Art Works and Designs in Port Jefferson suggests washing the wall with a vinegar and water mixture. Fill any holes with spackle and sand smooth, then spot-prime those areas if it's a latex wall so they don't show. Prime the entire wall surface if you're covering an oil-based paint or if you're putting lighter paint over dark or bright colors.

Don't skimp on quality

Some artists, like Daniel Del Orfano of Del Orfano Fine Arts in Huntington, use acrylics to paint murals on canvas. For a base, McShane prefers a high-quality interior paint such as Benjamin Moore's Regal line, which is an acrylic blend and matte and satin for certain finishes. "If you use a cheap paint, the glaze is absorbed into it," McShane says. Karow suggests using a top coat in high-traffic areas to make the finish last longer. Glazes and special textured or metallic finishes can be bought at paint stores or ordered from specialty stores.

Start small

It's best to start off with a small project - such as flowers, which are easy, says Del Orfano. He suggests practicing first by following along with a painting show on television and doing samples on pieces of wallboard.

Try positive rag

Another small starter project is to apply a finish to an already painted wall or room, McShane says. It's called a positive rag finish. Take a T-shirt or cotton rag, roll it in a water-base semi-gloss paint or satin polyurethane till it's saturated but not dripping, and touch it to the wall, rolling the rag over the whole surface. Refresh the rag as needed. "You can do a 12-by-15-foot room with a quart of polyurethane," he says. "It's cheap and everybody can do it."

Divide the project

If you're working on a big wall for the first time, do just a portion, such as above or below a chair rail. Or do an accent wall, not the entire room. Once you start a project, you have to finish the wall before you take a break, Karow says, so make sure you've allotted enough time and have the supplies at hand.

Calculate

You need strong math skills to figure proportions and pattern repeats, Karow says. "Rooms aren't square, and neither are windows and doors," she says. If you're applying a stencil, you need to figure the pattern repeat around windows and corners.

Glazing tips

Stripes and glazing are the simplest techniques, but not all walls are straight, and you may have to work around a window or door. You also have to move quickly when applying glazing so you don't see a line when it dries, Karow says.

Know what you're getting into

Don't underestimate the amount of work involved in faux painting. "It's very physical," Karow says. "People don't realize how much work is involved in getting this right."