Faux Wood Workshop

Faux wood beams and a beautiful sculptured t-rex welcome kids to Astro Kids

FAO Schwarz in NYC, perhaps the most famous toyshop in the world, got a startling new addition this December – a new store-within-a-store brought beautifully to life using our faux wood beams.

Astro Kids is the brainchild of gemstone and mineral experts Dennis and Marc Tanjeloff, and offers “anything related to minerals,” according to Dennis. That includes replica dinosaur and shark teeth, fossils and geodes and a host of exciting scientific kits to introduce curious kids to the exciting science of geology.

The Astro Kids store is just under 400 square foot, and features a gigantic skeletal dinosaur rearing out of a solid rock wall – designed by New York native Judy Richardson. The rest of the incredible décor was supplied by Barron Designs; using our vividly realistic faux wood beams, and a variety of our rock veneer panels.

A store-within-a-store in New York's famous FAO Schwarz, faux wood beams and faux panels bring the displays to life

Astro Kids is one of more high profile example of the ways in which stores have used our products to add life and energy to their shelf displays; and serves as a brilliant demonstration of the versatility of our faux wood and faux rock products.

We’re especially proud of the way in which our beams have been used to create a stunning faux wood truss above the store; indistinguishable from real wood; but easy to install and a fraction of the price.

Literally millions of visitors from all over the world come to visit FAO Schwarz NYC every year; so we’re incredibly excited to be part of one of the most exciting and innovative new additions to this venerable store. We’ve already had incredible compliments from people who’ve seen the store and recognize our products.

Have you had a chance to check out Astro Kids yet? If you’re visiting New York, we’d love to hear what you think. Email us at info@fauxwoodbeams.com

One of our Facebook friends, Sharon Carter, recently wrote:

“I have an A shaped ceiling in my bedroom and a vaulted slant over my dining area that both need something done to them. I wish I had someone in the area that was good with installing these that I could trust.”

Even those with little or no building experience can install decorative beams in their home.

Well, you can trust yourself, Sharon – and there’s no reason you can’t install those decorative beams yourself!

In fact, one of the things that sets our artificial wood beams apart from the real thing is that they’re so incredibly light and easy to install, making them the perfect solution for DIY home projects like Sharon’s. You don’t need to have years of carpentry experience to mount the beams correctly. Just by following a few simple guidelines you’re practically guaranteed a great result.

Check out our installation guide for a full run-down of what you’d need to do to install decorative beams on your ceiling – but here are some of the basics you should always remember:

• Get some tools. Unlike installing real wooden beams, you can install our faux timber beams with the sort of tools almost every homeowner has sitting in their basement or garage. You’ll need a tape measure, a regular wood saw and a power drill with screw attachments.
• Get some help. One person can easily lift one of our faux wood beams – but because of their length, we definitely recommend having a friend to help with the installation project. The good news is, though, that they don’t need to be super strong, or construction veterans. We’d had customers in their seventies who’ve easily installed the beams in just a day or two – without any prior building experience whatsoever!
• Plan ahead. Perhaps the most important step to successfully installing the beams yourself is to plan out exactly what, where and how you intend to install them ahead of time. One tip is to photograph the ceiling you want to install the beams on, print out the picture and “draw” beams onto it with marker, so you get a visual feel for what the finished project will look like.
• Measure twice, cut once. The golden rule of carpentry applies to installing faux wood beams as well. Because our beams are made from molded polyurethane foam, you can easily cut them to size with a regular saw – but make sure you know exactly what that size is before you start chopping.
• It’s all in the details. One of the tricks to getting really amazing results with decorative beams is to pay attention to the details. If you’re joining two beams together end-to-end, for example, use our rubber beam straps to cover the join. Likewise, use colored caulk to cover screw heads and other imperfections and once your beams are installed, they’ll be practically indistinguishable from the real thing.

If you’re really not confident about installing our beams, it’s probably best to speak to a contractor or builder – but don’t sell yourself short. The beams are specially designed to be easy to install; so there really is no reason why you wouldn’t be able to get great-looking results doing it yourself.

If you still have questions, check out FauxWoodBeams.com for tips, tricks and installation guides – and if you haven’t already, be sure to “like” our Facebook page. We try to answer every question posted there.

A customer recently reached out to us with a very simple question about our synthetic wood beams – which direction should they run in? The customer was interested in installing three of our timber beams in her living room, but didn’t know if they should run the length of the room, or go from one side to the other.

Traditionally, horizontal beams span the shortest gap between walls, as these faux wood beams do..

In all honesty, there’s no right or wrong answer to this question. The beautiful thing about our synthetic wood beams is that you’re pretty much limited only by your imagination when it comes to installation options. From a technical point of view, though, there are some factors to think about.

Firstly, faux wood beams are often used to mimic real timber beams. If that’s the look you’re going for, you should think about installing them in the same position real wood beams would have been used to support a roof or ceiling.

In most buildings, structural ceiling beams run across the shortest length of ceiling because that enables them to support the most amount of weight. This is safe bet for most people installing faux wood beams – especially on flat ceilings.

Apex roofs and cathedral ceilings could have beams running either way - or a synthetic wood beam frame.

If you’re installing synthetic timber beams on a sloping or apex ceiling, you could run them either way. When framing a ceiling, builders tend to use thicker lengths for the longer stretch between walls, then small beams to prop up the apex.

As exposed ceiling beams became popular, homeowners would generally reveal whichever beam was “underneath” the other; so the exposed beam would run seamlessly from one side of the room to the other.

A framework of crisscrossed beams is also popular – and can be recreated by cutting notches out of our faux wood beams with a regular wood saw, then slotting them together with the other beams at right angles.

Finally, in older timber-beamed homes wooden trusses often supported ceilings. These stunning structures are easy to mimic with faux wood beams; but once again you should create your designs with real architecture in mind. Create a truss design that matches what a real builder would have created out of real wood – check out our wooden truss photo gallery for inspiration.

A synthetic wood truss mimics traditional structural trusses, which supported larger, cathedral ceilings.

Ultimately, though, you have the freedom to do whatever you want with our beams. The great thing about “going faux” is that synthetic wood is lighter, easier to install and a fraction of the price of real wood – and that means you can create things with them that you’d never be able to do with authentic timber.

Do you have an opinion? Please share it with us – and send pictures of your own faux wood beams projects, no matter which direction they’re installed in! Send them to info@fauxwoodbeams.com

Texas isn’t exactly known for its winter weather, but one of our customers created their own winter wonderland this holiday season, by installing our faux timber beams to add some undeniably rustic charm to their living room design.

BEFORE: Arched doorways and wall openings gave Holly's house a period feel.

Before it was the Lone Star State, Texas was its own country – and with a storied history like that it’s not surprising that the state has some of the most historic homes and buildings in America.

Texas homeowner Holly Van Delden wanted to pay tribute to Texas’ historic roots by adding timber beams to her beautiful ranch-style home; and faux wood beams were the perfect solution.

As you can see from the before photos she emailed us, Holly’s home was already rich with period detail before she started her makeover project.

Arched doorways and wall openings gave a real southwestern flavor to the home, while a lot of dark wood furniture and a stone fireplace provided a classic, timeless interior perfectly in keeping with the finished design she had in mind.

AFTER: Faux timber beams gave a lovely rustic look to the living room.

Adding the faux timber beams was a quick and straightforward process. Molded from durable polyurethane, each beam is light enough to be easily attached to a ceiling with screws and construction adhesive.

Because each beam is molded from a real timber ceiling beam, then painstakingly rendered in rich, wood colors, they’re practically indistinguishable from the real thing once installed.

One challenge Holly faced was spanning the full length of her not inconsiderable ceiling. Although our beams are available in a variety of lengths, she cleverly installed two lengths end-to-end and used our rubber beam straps to disguise the join.

AFTER: A challenge customer Holly faced was disguising where two beams joined. She used our rubber beam straps to hide the seam.

The finished product looks like a single length of timber running from one wall to the other – and from the ground, the rubber beam strap looks identical to the weathered iron straps used to reinforce real wood beams.

As the after pictures show, the results are impressive. The timber beams add a stunning, rustic touch to the home – and look just like real wood.

As you can probably tell from the Christmas tree, these pictures were taken during the holiday season; and the beams add a really festive flavor to the room even if the Texas sunshine means there’s very little chance of a white Christmas.

Thanks to Holly for sending us these pictures – and if you have any of your own faux wood beam pictures you’d like to share, we’d love to showcase them here. Email them to info@fauxwoodbeams.com.

Size is everything – especially when you’re talking about ceiling design. That’s where the flexibility of synthetic wood beams comes into it’s own.

At FauxWoodBeams.com, we’re always excited to receive pictures and videos from customers who’ve used our products to transform their homes. One interesting thing we’ve been paying particular attention to recently is the clever use of contrasting lengths of our faux timber beams – which can give dramatically different visual results.

Carol used tiny lengths of our synthetic timber beams to give the impression of structural supports.

Take this new build in Amarillo, Texas, for example, that included a towering, cathedral roof. Clever customer Carol Potts used very short lengths of our synthetic timber beams to give the impression of ancient, supporting timbers poking through the plaster roof. It was a great way to give a discrete, but significant edge to the room’s aesthetic.

Because our timber beams are molded from durable polyurethane, it meant Carol had the freedom to cut a single full-length beam into three angled pieces with nothing more than a regular wood saw. That made installation a breeze, kept her costs down and still gave her the astonishing results she was looking for.

In complete contrast, Alabama native Ron decided that longer was better when it came to transforming the living room of his Union Grove home. The 60-year-old worked off a scaffold to install over 200 feet of our synthetic wood beams; and gave the impression of seamless lengths of timber by covering up where one beam met another with our rubber beam straps.

Ron used immense lengths of faux wood beam to span his enormous ceiling; far longer than would be practical with real wood.

Because our beams are uniform in width and fit, Ron was able to create a beamed ceiling design that would have been impossible using authentic timber – that length of beam simply isn’t normally available. What’s more, he could install it himself, in two days, using nothing more than a circular saw, knives and an electric drill.

That’s really the long and short of it – a dramatic example of how two different customers took two different approaches to using our faux wood products – and they both worked out brilliantly.

Do you have any thoughts on beam length? Or, better yet, some photos to show us of our beams in long, or short, action? Let us know at info@fauxwoodbeams.com. We’d love to feature them here.

Last week, we told you about Mary and Adam’s incredible New England home, which dated back 230 years. Since then, we’ve had a lot of people asking to see more pictures. Here they are!

Faux wood planks complement the authentic wood of this period fireplace

Mary and Adam wanted to have the same exposed wooden beams and wall planking that made other rooms in their home so striking. But it wouldn’t be easy to do.

Using real wood would not just have been expensive – installing authentic timber ceiling beams would also have required substantial structural alteration to the historic home.

Fortunately, they found an alternative with our faux wood products – and discovered that our faux wood planks, timber beams and simulated wood corbels perfectly matched the centuries-old wood used throughout their home.

The faux wood beams worked to give the look of real timber beams – and attached to the existing ceiling using wooden mounting blocks and regular screws.

Elsewhere, Adam and Mary used  faux wood planks directly on the walls – similar to the way colonial builders used to leave exposed planks through the traditional plaster or wattle. Again, these could be attached simply; using either construction adhesive or trim head nails covered over with colored caulking.

Perhaps the most impressive detail was the smallest – the use of corbels on real wood beams. Despite fake and real being right there for comparison, our simulated wood corbels blended in seamlessly; and gave a nice architectural detail to the stunning old beams.

Faux wood planks recreate the period look of exposed structural beams.

These faux wood corbels perfectly complement the real wood details of this historic home.

In the bedroom, faux timber beams match the real wooden beams elsewhere in the house.

We love getting stories and photos of customers’ home improvement projects using our faux wood products. Even more exciting, though, is when we hear from customers who’ve taken their home remodeling ideas one step further – like customer Mark Baillie from Oakland, Ontario.

Mark's A-frame roof had a supportive piller in the center. He built around it.

“Here are some pictures,” he wrote, enclosing snaps of his A-frame home in Oakville.

“Your company should definitely post these photos on your site because I couldn’t find any applications that were similar. Somebody will find this really useful.”

Mark was attempting to install our sandblasted beams on the apex of his A-frame ceiling.

Two challenges presented themselves. Firstly, there was a pre-installed ceiling fan he had to build around. Secondly, the roof already had a supporting beam at the point the two sides met.

“If you notice, the beam had to be placed over top of the A-frame beam as a cover. That meant there had to be a few alterations of the product to make it work.”

Our faux wood beams can be cut and altered easily with a regular wood saw

Firstly, Mark had to cut a hole in the beam to mount the ceiling fan. Then, he had to cut space to let the central supporting beam pass through the faux wood cover.

“The center supports had to be removed to fit over top of the support beam,” Mark explains. “Fortunately, your product is extremely versatile and made the alterations very easy to accomplish.”

Because our faux wood beams are molded from light and durable polyurethane, Mark was able to make the alterations quickly and easily; using a regular drill and wood saw to cut the beam where he needed.

“In the end,” Mark writes, “the result was amazing!” His pictures confirm that – and hopefully the technique he used to build around the existing supporting beam will help other faux wood customers faced with the same challenge.

Mark's faux wood beam ran the entire length of the ceiling.

The ceiling fan joist passes straight through the hollow faux wood beam.

Mark cut the hole for the ceiling fan with a regular electric drill.

Our faux beams are popular because they offer an easy and affordable way to add period character to even modern homes. But Mary and Adam, from New England, gave our timber beams the ultimate thumbs up when they used them in their beautiful historic home.

Faux wood planks on the wall perfectly mimic colonial building techniques

“We’ve spent 14 years restoring a small, 230 year old house in New England,” write Mary and Adam Spencer, enclosing pictures of their stunning property. “I’m proud to say our restoration has even been featured in national magazines and books.”

“We’re fortunate enough to have the original hand hewn beams exposed in two of the rooms. We love the warm look of them, and really wanted some elsewhere in our home. Unfortunately cost and structural issues made getting solid wooden beams installed impractical.”

Mary and Adam found the answer on FauxWoodBeams.com.

“We recently ordered 3 of your long faux timber beams for the room, as well as some of the timber faux wood planks and corbels.”

“We used the corbels up against our real wood beams in the 4 corners of our bedroom, and installed the faux wood planks diagonally on the walls. The corbels exactly matched our original beams, and the timber planks instantly created the early, timber-framed cottage look we wanted!”

“In the dining room, we followed your installation instructions, and putting up the faux beams and timbers was easy. We are so thrilled with the results.”

Faux wood beams and faux wood corbels blend seamlessly with the existing, historic wood

What’s so impressive aren’t just the results – which you can see from these before and after pictures. It’s the fact that faux wood blended so seamlessly with the real thing; even in a house as historically significant as this one.

That’s an observation Mary and Adam have made, too. “We have a bed dated 1686, and you will see in our ‘after’ photos that it looks now as if it is in an original room of the period.”

“We are very picky about what we do in the house, and choose all our products with care. We’re ” The greatest vote of confidence they could give us? “We’ve ordered more timber planks for the walls in the living room – and we have three friends we’ve told about your company, and they plan to order as well!”

A couple of weeks ago, we showed you an incredible video from customer Simona Dombrauskaite – Kitchen Remodeling with Faux Timber Beams. After several people emailed us to find out more, we approached Simona to learn how she went about transforming her dining room design with artificial wood beams.

Simona paired the artificial wood beams with wood veneer for a really rustic look.

“Ever since we bought it, we wanted to create a warm cozy and welcoming feeling to our property,” writes Simona, enclosing pictures of the completed project. “We wanted to turn it into our home, not just our house.”

“My husband brought up the idea for the rustic wood beams on the dining room ceiling, to give it more elegance and character instead of having a plain, boring ceiling. Well, after many searches and few visits to the supply stores, we quickly realized it’s impossible to hang up real lumber beams – because they’re too heavy and expensive.”

“Fortunately, I happened to come across www.fauxwoodbeams.com. What I found there was very reasonably priced – and, more importantly, seemed easy and quick to install.”

“We received the order right on time – and the installation was as easy as promised, because the beams are very light to handle! You simply manufacture the best product for our decorative needs.”

Now they’re up and installed, Simona is thrilled with the result.

“Everyone that visits our home is fascinated by how tasteful and elegant our house has become. It’s stunning! None of our guests ever notice that the beams aren’t real wood. They can’t take their eyes of them – they just keep looking up and staring!”

What sold Simona and her husband on artificial wood beams was how vividly realistic they were.

What was really important for Simona was that her husband liked the artificial wood beams as much as she did.

“My husband is a fine artist, and because of that it wouldn’t be easy to convince him to use some poor quality cheesy stuff. He has a demanding vision and mindset, and is extremely picky when it comes to materials in decorating our home.”

That’s where receiving a free sample in the mail made such a different – convincing Simona’s husband that the beams would look authentic.

“That was what ultimately sold us on them,” she explains. “Their great, natural look.”

One thing we’re always being asked is how to make wood trusses with our faux ceiling beams. The good news is that building them is affordable and easy – and the results can look incredible.

Wood trusses can add truly astonishing visual impact to a room.

Trusses are a common feature of old buildings; especially period churches and cathedrals, which were the modern skyscrapers of their day.

These structural frames supported towering roofs; allowing huge open-plan rooms to be constructed without pillars or columns getting in the way.

In the modern age, the need for wood trusses has largely been eliminated. A single metal girder can often support a roof that several solid timber beams once held up.

Yet the look of a wooden truss is still striking and desirable; which is why we’ve seen many of our customers build their own using our faux timber beams.

Choosing faux wood to build a truss makes a lot of sense. Our ceiling beams are made from hollow, high-density polyurethane – weighing a fraction of what solid timber beams would.

This means a regular ceiling can support their weight without reinforcement or support; which would be essential to safely use real timber to create a decorative truss.

Faux ceiling beams can also be cut to size simply and easily with a regular wood saw – and attach to the ceiling, or each other, with mounting blocks and regular screws.

In fact, it’s that which makes them so ideal for building a truss with. Check out our guide to installing a truss and you’ll see how steel cable, trim head screws and eyebolts can quickly and easily be used to assemble visually stunning creations.

With faux wood beams, cutting components to size requires only a regular wood saw - and accurate measurements!

The trick is pre-planning. Think hard about the truss design and pencil it out to work out exactly how it will go together, and what faux wood materials you’ll need.

This is an area in which a contractor might be useful; but many of our customers have sent in astonishing truss pictures featuring designs they created entirely by themselves.

Our truss design system page will give you a lot of inspiration – it includes a slide show featuring a number of common truss designs inspired by real life ceiling structures.

You can make your design as complicated as you want, but many of our customers tell us the key to a really successful truss is simplicity.

Faux wood trusses are intended to mimic real-life structural beams; which were once built for strength and practicality; not for what looked good.

If you’re considering adding a truss to your ceiling, let us know how it goes. We’d love to see pictures and share any tips or tricks you have on the Faux Wood Workshop. Email them to us at info@fauxwoodbeams.com.