Faux Wood Workshop

Welcome to a new feature on our blog: Helpful Tip Tuesday!

I’m Jeff, the resident builder on staff. With years of construction background, I will be heading up Helpful Tip Tuesday. I’m here to address any of your common installation questions, discuss other issues that come up and offer helpful practical knowledge. Your home improvement questions are welcome here.

Let’s start with this:

Oil and water don’t mix.

Seems pretty basic, doesn’t it? But when it comes to painting and staining, it’s easy to get confused on this matter.

Most of our wood beams come pre-primed with a water-based primer. Because of this, they’ll need to be top-coated with a water-based stain or paint. Keep in mind that you CANNOT use an oil-based stain or primer. This is the most common mistake in the finishing process.

Here is some help to determine the best stains to use for our different beam products.

As for our personal favorites, we like to use an acrylic water-based deck stain. We love the stain made by Benjamin Moore.

Why?  It is safe to use.  It is non-toxic.  It has an excellent UV inhibitor, which is particularly great if you’re using our products outdoors. This will help keep the beams colorfast for years to come.

Leave your question or a situation you’d like advice on in the Comments section or email me directly.

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How can that be possible?  Well, when you’re as passionate about the possibilities of faux-ness and what it can do for your home or business as we are, you’ll find there’s plenty to say.

And we’ve found that our customers have the best ideas of all.  So we wanted to create a place where we could share what we know – and better yet – you can all share with each other what you are doing and learning.

As we get this blog up and running, we’re hoping it will become your first source for inspiration, ideas, tip sharing, feedback, suggestions, brags—a place to share any helpful info concerning design projects and faux wood beams.

Send us project photos

Everyone loves a photo and we’re no exception.  Thanks for the pics you’ve sent us over the years of your completed projects.  They keep our website real.

And it’s so inspiring to see how our customers come up with so many new ways to incorporate faux wood beams into all sorts of design schemes. There is no end to your ingenuity and we have seen you use our products in ways that we never even imagined.

Check this one out.  This is a great use of raised-grain three-sided beams and raised-grain four-sided beams to create a unique and dramatic ceiling treatment.

Leave us comments

This is a spot for tips, sharing, inspiration, ideas, feedback, suggestions, brags!  Start a conversation in the Comments or make a suggestion.  We’ll be looking for guest bloggers to do posts, also, so if you have a building-related tip or experience or interior design suggestion, let us know.

Share your home improvement experience

We invite you to submit posts of your own describing your project, before and after pictures, tips and techniques, anything else you’d like to share.  Whether you’re in the planning stages or sitting in your living room admiring the put-together look of your new beams, we’d love to hear from you. You can submit your posts to blog@fauxwoodbeams.com.

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