When I am creating faux finishes, I sometimes am charged with making something decorative and beautiful – but sometimes I am charged with adding character with something that looks realistic. My recent client near the ocean in Quincy fell into this second category – as they wanted simple white-painted beams in their sunroom transformed into character-filled salt air-bleached old wood beams.

This was music to my ears! I love incorporating my fine-art realism into my decorative painting projects, and replicating something like old wood is just a fun challenge.

My first step was to meet with my clients to look at the space and the colors around it. We talked about the colors of the walls, the colors of the fan blades and the colors of the cabinets in their adjacent kitchen to come up with a scheme for the beams. We wanted them to have a grayed, driftwood quality to them – but we also needed a little warmth to keep the wood feeling realistic and also tie into the colors of the fan and the cabinets.

My next step was to create 4 different sample boards, using different color combinations to review together with my clients – each just subtle variations of gray driftwood and warmer barn-wood tones. After meeting, we had a clear choice for the space – so I was on to painting the beams!

After creating the wood grain, I was on to my favorite part - creating knot holes, subtle cracks and stains and old nail holes to really make the beams look authentic. While I was there, a carpenter who was working at the house saw what I was doing and thought I was applying a treatment to the wood – believing that they were old wood beams all along!

Most importantly, my client is thrilled with their newly old-looking beams!!

Below are pictures of this job - enjoy!

Jason