Faux Wood Workshop

Jim, from Southern California, wanted to take coloring and staining our faux beams a step further to create a weathered wood look full of character.

The star-shaped blossom of faux wood beams is a stunning addition to the dining room

Take a look at the photos Jim sent us of his southern California home and one thing becomes obvious; he’s a man with a passion for attention to detail.

Which is why the fact that he chose our raised grain ceiling beams for his home makeover is a testament to how incredibly real they look.

But even though Jim wrote to us to say “your beams are so cool”, when it came time to install them in his own home, he wanted to add a personal touch.

“We came up with a new method to paint your beams to make them look really weathered,” he wrote, enclosing pictures.

“We had an artist and contractor build a blend of stains, sand, glue and grout in a two-step process to really make them look aged.”

As you can see from the photos, the results are impressive.

Jim’s trick was to order our beams unfinished. Made from durable, molded polyurethane they take regular wood stain and paint just like the real thing; allowing home decorators to get a unique look that perfectly matches the other colors in their home.

An elegant faux wood truss livens up the living room ceiling

If you’re not feeling artistic, our beams are also available in a variety of different wood colors; intricately detailed to perfectly mimic real wood.

Jim then took our beams even further. In his living room, he created a beautiful wood truss design; plus a stunning star-shaped arrangement over the dining table.

Because our beams are breathtakingly light in comparison to real wood – and you can cut them easily with a regular wood saw – the limits of what you can do with them are ultimately only limited by your imagination.

And imagination, it seems, is something Jim has in abundance.

Thanks for sending your pictures in, Jim! And if you feel your own faux wood beam project rivals his, make sure to show us. Email your pictures to info@fauxwoodbeams.com.

Using our synthetic wood products for your home exterior design is a great way to get that period or historic look. But what if other parts of your home’s exterior don’t match up – like modern kitchen or bathroom vents? Don’t worry; we’ve got just the thing.

Gable vents are a tiny detail - but ultimately complete the exterior redesign

When Dave and Rosemary retired to Arizona, they wanted a home that suited how they saw themselves.

“Weathered, experienced; but here to stay,” jokes Dave.

That’s why they invested in turning the exterior of their modern ranch into something that better suited the relaxed, cosy Sun City community they’d moved to.

“We spackled the whole front of the house, to give it an adobe look,” Rosemary explains, “then we added faux wood shutters and white-painted rafter tails from FauxWoodBeams.com. It gave it a really classic, southwestern appearance.”

“Almost,” Dave corrects her.

That “almost” was the one detail that spoiled the illusion Dave and Rosemary were trying to create. While the rest of their redesign gave their 10-year-old home the appearance of one much older, ugly kitchen vents on the front wall were irrevocably modern in style.

“They just looked wrong,” Dave explains. “They were a modern detail and didn’t go with the aesthetic we were aiming for; but we didn’t know how to solve the problem.”

The answer came when Rosemary was surfing the FauxWoodBeams.com website for interior beams. She spotted our range of gable vents and realized that they’d be the perfect way to disguise the ugly, modern vents.

“Installing them was easy, too,” Dave tells us. “I simply removed the existing vents and placed the new gable vents straight over them.” A covering with spackle to match the rest of the exterior hid the backing from view; and gave the instant illusion of real terracotta vents poking out of the wall.

Our gable vents are available in a huge variety of styles and sizes, including round and half-round functional vents, plus purely decorative square vents with or without backing.

Molded from the same tough, durable polyurethane as our synthetic wood beams, they’re the perfect compliment to an exterior design; and breathtakingly easy to install.

“Strictly speaking, it’s a tiny detail,” Rosemary admits, “but makes a huge difference to how the exterior of the house looks. Compared to the neighbors, our house now looks like its been standing their for over fifty years; and we get compliments about it every day.”

Simona Dombrauskaite, from Florida, sent in a video of her kitchen remodeling project that shows us experts how it’s done!

Simona’s family installed our faux wood Timber beams in record time.

When it came to redecorating their beautiful kitchen, Simona’s family decided to go all out. They created a full-wood look by pairing laminate roofing with our Timber beams – and then installed them in record time. You can see the results in the video below. It’s pretty impressive!

In our defense, the time-lapse probably helped. But regardless, Simona’s video illustrates just how easy our beams are to put into place. While installation took just a few seconds on video, it only took minutes or hours more in real life – showing how the whole process can be accomplished over the course of a weekend, or on a day off.

Unlike the real things – which can easily weigh over 100lbs – faux wood beams can be moved into position by a single person, and they attach to ceilings with mounting blocks and regular screws. They can also be mounted to a variety of ceiling surfaces; which is something Simona and her family took full advantage of.

They decided to give their kitchen ceiling the full-wood look by pairing the beams with laminate boarding, similar to the stuff many people use on their floors at home. They installed the laminate first, plank by plank, then drilled mounting blocks straight through which they installed the Timber beams on.

The results look great, largely because the laminate they picked matched our Timber beams perfectly. Another option they could have gone for, though, was a full ceiling system from FauxWoodBeams.com; one that includes matching faux wood panels which can cover a larger area than laminate beams, and looks just as good (if not better.)

We love to receive videos and pictures from customers about how they used our products in their homes. If you have a video you’d like to share with us, make sure to drop us an email at info@fauxwoodbeams.com. We’d love to feature it here!

Attention to detail is the secret to a luxurious look. That’s a truth demonstrated by one of our customers from Biloxi, Missouri; who used our Tuscany beams to frame her stunning fireplace with a luxurious ceiling design.

Before, Charlene's ceiling was kind of bare and luckluster.

If there’s one thing Charlene Moschella knows, it’s luxury. As part of the emerging luxury property industry in Biloxi, Missouri, she has an eye for detail and a knack for interior design. That much is obvious in the unorthodox way she approached adding a fireplace to her stunning living room.

For most of us, the only thing needed to add a fireplace centerpiece would be the fireplace itself. For others, with more of eye for design, accessories like faux stone panels could give them the look they were going for. Charlene, however, went a step further.

She used our Tuscany Faux Wood Beams as a stunning addition to her ceiling; which simultaneously created a breathtakingly subtle framing mechanism to draw the eye straight to the newly installed fireplace at the far wall of the room.

The look works so well because Charlene created her ceiling design from two different thicknesses of our faux wood beams. Molded from durable polyurethane, Tuscany Faux Wood Beams are available in widths and depths from 4” across, to over 13”.

That meant Charlene was able to install two thick horizontal beams as the “supports” (even though they didn’t actually support anything) and then run thinner beams across the angled room; giving the impression of a structural, practical framework that had been there as long as the roof had.

This strategic use of faux wood beams directs the eye right to her fireplace.

Perhaps the most subtle design cue, though, was the way Charlene left the gap between both horizontal beams bare. Some designers might have been tempted to bridge that gap with more beams – perhaps of the same width as the ones running down the angled ceiling.

But by leaving that bare channel between both sides of the ceiling, the beams act like gun sights; directing the eye towards the fireplace without distraction.

Check out the before and after pictures and tell us what you think of Charlene’s inspired ceiling design. Have you got any tips or tricks about how to focus people’s eyes when they enter a room? We’d love to hear about them; or see any pictures you have.  Send us a message to info@fauxwoodbeams.com. We may even feature them here!

Most of our customers choose faux wood beams because they perfectly capture the rustic look of traditional timber. Available in several wood-colored shades – from walnut to cedar – you can also order them unfinished and stain them yourself to match the rest of the wood in your home.

Subtle color contrasts on painted beams are a great way to add structure to a ceiling

But one of the ceiling ideas that’s catching on is painting over our faux wood beams; creating a bold new look that adds a new dimension of versatility to our products.

To most people, the idea of painting over traditional wooden ceiling beams might sound strange. After all, recreating the look of wood or timber is the top reason why people install our faux wood beams in the first place.

But there are a number of reasons why painted ceiling beams could be just the look you’re going for. If you want to know why, look no further than the real timber beams used in historic houses across the East Coast and back in Europe.

For over a century, it was actually common for homeowners to paint their wooden ceiling beams a lighter color; rather than keep them bare. This was often to make a room appear lighter and more open during an era in which electric lights hadn’t been invented yet.

In fact, the ‘traditional’ look of naked wooden beams is actually a fairly recent interior design concept; attempting to recreate an “old world” look that might have never really existed in the first place.

So looking beyond the ordinary, today’s homeowners might want to consider painting their faux wood beams to match their walls or ceiling, rather than their hard wood flooring. There are a number of reasons why:

• It makes the room lighter. Dark wood or faux wood absorbs light, and makes the ceiling appear lower. Painting beams the same color as the ceiling, or a complementary shade, will help make rooms appear lighter and more open.
• It’s perfect for functional beams. Two popular uses for our faux wood beams are to cover seams in the ceiling, or to cover wiring and allow the seamless installation of recessed lighting. Painting these beams is a great way to match them to existing ceiling and wall colors.
• It’s more sophisticated. Beautiful interior designs modeled after the French renaissance, or New England coastal chic, often incorporate painted beams that contrast subtly with ceilings or walls. It’s a great way to add structure and depth to a room without making it appear boxy or closed in.

Painted beams maximize use of a room's natural light sources

Painting and staining our faux wood beams is a simple process. Almost all of our beams can be ordered unfinished or pre-primed, and then painted with high quality water based paint in the desired shade.

For only a couple of our products, like our timber or sandblasted beams, will you’ll need to use an acrylic all-purpose primer first. The rest can be painted straight out of the box.

For a good look at how one of our customers used regular paint to finish our beams, check out Frank’s story. And if you decide to use painted beams on your own home design project, make sure you send pictures to us at info@fauxwoodbeams.com – we’d love to showcase your hard work here!

Leah, from Pennsylvania, wrote to us with a question about how to install our faux ceiling beams for her kitchen remodeling project:

“My husband and I have decided that your faux wood beams are just the thing to suit the sloping ceiling in our new kitchen – but we have a question. Our kitchen is about 20’ long. How many beams should we install? And how far apart should they be?”

This is actually a common question – and there’s no right or wrong answer. That being said, we’ve got some information that might help:

Spacing beams is the key to making your faux beam project look authentic

Our beams are molded in tough and durable polyurethane to look exactly like the real thing; so obviously we recommend installing our artificial wood beams in a manner consistent with how “real” wood beams would appear on your roof or ceiling.

Traditionally, wooden beams were structural – so the distance between beams was more about how much support a ceiling needed, rather than what looked best.

If you’re considering installing faux beams, you should consider that when deciding how far apart you want to space them. Check out our guide to spacing faux wood beams.

The beams are also available in a range of thicknesses, so keep that in mind when planning how to install them.

In real building, thicker beams obviously gave more structural support – so you’d need fewer of them. That should be mirrored depending on the size of the beams you’ve ordered.

As a good rule of thumb, our most popular faux ceiling beams are sold in thicknesses of between 4” and 6”. In real design, you’d probably space structural wood beams about four feet apart if they were of that thickness. Therefore a convincing look can be achieved by spacing your own beams that far apart.

Thinner beams, like our 2½” beams, are created to mirror the interior ceiling beams used between the stories of older houses. These would generally be placed no more than two feet apart from each other, to give adequate support to the floorboards.

Finally, our thickest beams are the same size as sturdy structural wood beams that could practically support the entire weight of an older home. For a look that stays true to the way ceiling beams were traditionally used, you can separate our largest beams by as much as eight feet.

Remember, though, that you have a major advantage traditional builders didn’t: You’re not a slave to physics or architecture. If you feel what sounds right “on paper” won’t look good when they’re installed on your ceiling, you should adjust your installation to suit.

Ultimately, this is what Leah did when we gave her some advice on installation.

“My husband and I measured out the entire ceiling and marked the dead center line between one end of the room and the other. This was where we installed our first beam.”

“From there, we measured out the remaining space on either side of this central beam and considered what would look best. We were installing your 6” x 4” Faux Chamfered Beams and were aiming to separate them by at least four feet.

In the end, through, we realized that would look kind of goofy and asymmetrical; with the second row of beams closer to the wall than they were to the central beam.”

“So instead, we split the difference and added second and third beams midway between the wall and the central beam – a distance of 5” either side. It looked great and once they’d been installed, they looked just like they were authentic supporting timber beams.”

Our faux ceiling beams have many advantages, but perhaps the biggest is the freedom to install them how you want, according to your taste and design ideas. It’s one way in which faux wood doesn’t just look like the “real thing” – sometimes you can make it look even better.

If you have any suggestions or tips on how far apart to space your beams, let us know. Send an email and pictures to info@fauxwoodbeams.com.

Over on our sister blog, Creative Faux Panels, we’ve just finished highlighting the incredible fireplace remodel Mike and Chris Grace completed. They used our Faux Rock Wellington Dry Stack Tierra Gold Panels to get the look of real stonework in their living room; but the finishing touch was one of our own Tuscany Faux Mantels.

Mike and Chris started off with bare sheetrock and an angled wall.

The combination of a faux wood mantel shelf and faux rock panels looks terrific – practically indistinguishable from the authentic thing. But the real benefit was in the ease and practicality of installation.

“We were working on an inside wall,” Mike and Chris wrote, sending in pictures of their completed project, “so were concerned about the weight of installing a real wooden mantel. That would have required more work and money.”

With a real wood mantel weighing in at 100lbs or more, installation on an interior sheet rock wall would have been a significant investment.

Fortunately, our new Tuscany Faux Mantel weighs in at just a breath more than 7lbs – making it straightforward to install with regular trim head screws.

Molded from real timber in lightweight polyurethane, the faux wood mantel shelf fitted flush with Mike and Chris’ faux rock veneer and was sturdy enough to display potted plants and family trinkets.

What makes the use of a faux wood mantel so impressive, however, is the creative touch that Mike employed to make sure it matched his vision perfectly.

Our Tuscany faux mantel is available pre-finished, in authentic-looking cedar, oak or walnut finish, but the Graces ordered theirs unfinished so they could stain it themselves to match the rest of the wood and furniture in their living room.

Combining a faux wood mantel shelf with rock veneer panels delivered astonishly realistic results

You can find full instructions on how to stain our unfinished artificial wood beams and mantels right here.

As you’ll no doubt agree, the combination of dry stack veneer and the Tuscany mantel looks amazing – and both Mike and Grace are thrilled with the results.

“Friends and family have told us that our fireplace project has totally transformed our room,” Mike reports. “It now looks much more intimate and cozy.”

What do you think? And have you got a project that combines both our faux wood beams and our other top-quality faux building materials?

If so, make sure to reach out to us with pictures – we’d love to see them! Email us as info@fauxwoodbeams.com.

Artificial wood beams don’t just look amazing – they can be used to help cover up nagging design issues. Check out how one of our customers used our sandblasted beams to help perfect his new house’s sloped ceiling.

Ken's sheetrock ceiling had ugly seams he just couldn't seem to cover up

“The main room of our year-old house measures 17 feet square,” wrote Ken Broker, sending us pictures of the recent project he’d worked on in the front room of his new home.

“It has a sloped ceiling that rises from nine feet at its lowest to an apex of more than 13 feet.”

“The problem was that this ceiling’s side-to-side sheetrock seams seemed impossible to hide across the long expanse. Impossible, that is, until I discovered FauxWoodBeams.com.”

“I ordered four sandblasted beams – each one 19 feet long.  The six-inch square dimensions were just right for my high ceiling.”

So far, so simple; but Ken had one obstacle to overcome:

“I’d ordered a sample before buying,” he wrote, “and it was clear that the regular walnut color would not match our wood floor. That’s why, when I bought the four artificial beams, I ordered them unfinished.”

The problem was how to stain the beams so they’d perfectly match the rest of the wood in his main room. Ken approached this challenge methodically:

“I cut the unneeded 18 inches from several of the beams and used them to try various different approaches to getting the desired match. Lauren and Tina from FauxWoodBeams.com gave me lots of patient help during this stage – most valuable in giving me confidence!”

“It took five or six tries, each needing a day to dry, before I finally succeeded. I got the results I needed using a cherry gel wood stain in a one coat spread, applied moderately heavily with a cheap sponge brush and without wiping. It set the grain up perfectly.”

Ken used wooden blocks to mount his sandblasted artificial beams

“Next, I hired a carpenter and his scaffolding and laser beam to help me install the beams,” Ken wrote. “Because of the near 17-foot span and studs spaced every 24 inches, we had to use eight separate wooden mounting blocks and 3.5 inch screws for each beam. The good news is that we were able to measure for a very tight fit and built a large miter box to keep the cut straight.”

Installation was where the advantages of faux wood really revealed themselves. The sandblasted artificial beams Ken had ordered look practically indistinguishable from the real thing – especially after the incredible job he did staining them – but are made from polyurethane, for incredible lightness and flexibility.

The result was a product much easier to work with than real wood. “There was no splintering,” Ken wrote, “and so no touch-up staining was needed on the edges.” After installation, “I touched the screw heads with a dab of gel stain and they simply disappeared into the rest of the wood texture.”

The results are amazing - and seamlessly disguise the existing sheetrock seams

The installation was not without challenges; but they were manageable.

“Raising the beams without scratching the wall was a bit challenging. We also needed a third person to support the middle of the long beam with an extended mop handle when we held them up, so we could use 2.5 inch finishing screws to fasten the beams to the blocks.”

And the results?

“We love them! The beams add warmth and character and even some sound control to the space.”

And, even better than that, they seamlessly cover up the seams between Ken’s towering ceiling sheet rock – achieving his initial goal in a breathtakingly stylish and original way.

Modern home building techniques make it effortless to create towering cathedral ceilings – but how do you best fill all that empty space? One option is to create a wood truss with our sandblasted faux wood beams.

A faux wood truss is a stunning way to utilize the space in a cathedral ceiling

A cathedral ceilings is so-named because it resembles the stunning ceilings of classical churches and castles. These towering roofs were often held aloft with an intricate truss of wooden beams, which distributed the weight evenly to the stone and brick walls.

Although lighter, stronger building materials have eliminated the need for wooden trusses in most modern homes, it’s still a stunning look – adding a touch of history and majesty to a previously empty space.

Adding a wood truss to a modern cathedral ceiling might sound daunting, but it needn’t be. Using real wood beams would be impossible – the sheer weight of a single beam requires significant support, so a truss would need walls almost as thick as a cathedral’s!

A better option is to create your truss design with artificial wood beams – there are several different styles well suited to making trusses with. Our faux wood beams are intricately molded from real timber, so perfectly mimic the look and texture of real wood, but weigh in at under 18lbs each – making it simple and straightforward to mount them to any modern ceiling without reinforcement or bracing.

The trick to building a successful truss is planning. Check out our guide on how to build a truss with faux wood for more information. Once you’ve got a design in mind, construction is fairly straightforward. Our artificial wood beams are molded from polyurethane, which is tough and durable – but easily cut to shape and size with a regular wood saw. You can also join and install faux beams with regular screws.

This incredible ceiling truss design was created using three different sandblasted faux wood beams and matching faux wood corbels. Three-sided wood beams were using for the “chords” – the beams installed on the apex of the ceiling itself. A four-sided wood beam was using for the “king” beam and joining beams, giving the illusion of solid timber.

A few weeks ago, we showed you the incredible fireplace mantel our customer Luke had added to his Texas hearth. Well, not wanting to be outdone by the Lone Star State, Kansas residents Shelby and Brad sent us pictures of their own ambitious fireplace makeover!

Walnut Corbels complete the illusion of a real timber mantel.

“We’ve attached before and after photos of our mantel,” Shelby wrote to us. “As you can see, it makes such a statement.”

It does indeed – and what makes their makeover project even more impressive is that the stunning stone fireplace itself is “faux”. In fact, they built it from fire rated Carlton Castle Stone Veneer Panels, installed straight onto the existing fireplace surround with screws and glue.

“Then we picked your new Tuscany Faux Wood Mantel,” Shelby explained, “in Walnut. It really compliments the faux stone fireplace and hearth.” This decorative wood mantel is also available in Cedar or Oak – or unfinished if you want to stain it yourself.

“Your customer service was outstanding during our selection phase. You helped us find just the right mantle for our project.” In fact Tina, our customer service representative, even went a step further: “She guided us towards some matching Woodland Corbels in Walnut, to complete our project.

Molded from real timber, the decorative wood mantel looks exactly like authentic wood

“We received our products right on time and the installation was so easy.” Shelby and Brad were able to attach the decorative wood mantel directly to the wall itself, using a combination of construction adhesive, cleats and trim head screws. The matching Woodland Corbels attached underneath the mantel – giving the illusion of support for a heavy wooden beam.

“We’re very proud of the results – and we know you will be too!”

Faux wood mantels are a great alternative to the real thing – which can be expensive and difficult to install. Our faux wood fireplace mantels are designed for decorative use only and not intended to support heavy weight, but are perfect for pictures, vases and pretty much anything that people would normally display above a fire.