“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.

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

2 Oaks Panel with Trompe L'Oeil Frame

Looking back on when I first became determined to learn to paint faux wood (before the internet), I studied every book I could get my hands on. At that time, there were virtually no resources for learning realistic wood graining.

I would look at the pictures in the books and think to myself “That looks kind of like wood, but how can I make it look EXACTLY like real wood?”

I was all about the art of Trompe L’Oeil (French: “to fool the eye”), so “approximation” just didn’t cut it for me. I wanted magic. It’s been an obsession ever since.

The fact is that most faux wood grain products are not very attractive or convincing. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true. I admit it; I’m a snob.

I stumbled onto fauxwoodbeams.com via their Twitter account. The product designers at fauxwoodbeams.com get it right. Their realistic and convincing faux wood products were a breath of fresh air.

Cherry Grain Doors, Casing, Crown, Base

Harmonizing with Faux Wood Beams

When done right, faux wood can be the perfect tool for your interior design project.

Let’s say you’ve got your gorgeous faux wood beams in place, now it’s time for the trim. Chances are you’ll be updating, restoring or installing wood accents such as casing, baseboard, cove, crown, wainscoting…

At this stage there are 2 hurdles: The cost of materials, and getting everything to match and look good together.

Cost
Stain-grade wood is very expensive to buy and have professionally finished and installed. Trim carpenters, being some of the most skilled and specialized tradesmen of all, need to bill accordingly.

That is why you often see trim packages painted in a solid color. Nine times out of ten, the original desire was to use natural wood but due to the cost factor, the project had to be done in MDF (particle board) and painted to accent the walls.

Bookmatched Cherry Cabinet Top

Matching
Your trim elements need to harmonize. This is why fauxwoodbeams.com has a diverse selection of wood types and colors. That’s also why they offer samples; so you can find the best match for your trim.

Painted wood grain: A solution rich in color and history

Faux wood has been used for centuries to decorate and accent interior spaces. The craft has evolved and is applied today using materials that are durable and quick-drying.

Even if faux finishes aren’t your thing, you should consider painted wood grain to be the exception. When done well, it fits perfectly and stands out, not as a painted effect, but as beautiful wood. Add to that the fun factor when you get to tell your guests how it was done!

As a working artist who’s applied dozens of finishes including faux marble and masonry, Venetian plaster, tile, semiprecious stone…. I find painted wood grain to be the most color-rich, beautiful and versatile of all the finishes. Time and again it gets the greatest response from customers and friends.

Faux Walnut Panel

Finding a faux wood expert for your project

Become a snob
LOOK carefully at what you need matched and compare that to the samples your faux finisher provides. Ask them to paint samples specifically for your project and make sure they’re dead-on

Whether you’re paying someone to bring your creative vision to life or doing it yourself, it can only work in your favor to be aware of what looks good or bad.

Poor match? Don’t panic
Not all decorative painters will have the skill to match your project accurately. Many faux finishers only learn how to paint a few varieties of wood; one or two types/colors of oak, of pine… No big deal.

Every professional faces new challenges. Point him or her to perfectwoodgrain.com for an inexpensive guide to accurately matching any wood grain. It’s an innovative, groundbreaking method for learning painted wood grain that will earn them far more than it costs.

If your painter insists that their sample is good enough, looks fine… get a second opinion on their sample. Maybe it’s a great match and a second set of eyes might help you see that.

But, if it simply doesn’t match and they won’t or can’t fix it, interview some more painters. It’s a good idea to get 2 to 4 bids anyway. Find someone who’ll collaborate with you in creating a remarkable project.

Faux Oak and Lapis Jewelry Box

Paint your own wood grain

If you have a creative eye and you love do-it-yourself projects, this may be the best way to go. The ability to paint convincing wood grain is one of the most rewarding crafts you can imagine.

However, there are some very specific skills and techniques to getting it right. When I was starting out I wasted hundreds of hours trying to figure things out on my own and I don’t recommend it. It’s best to find a system that will get you started quickly.

There are many sources to learn faux wood grain. Some are very good. Others, not so much. Here are a few things to look for when choosing a method.

Faux faux is bad
The method needs to show pictures of actual wood and teach you how to match it. It should not teach you how to match faux wood. This is crucial since using a painting as your model will give you far less authentic, less believable results. Portrait artists don’t ask their subjects to provide paintings of themselves for study: They rely on live sittings or photographs.

More than one approach
No faux finishing book, DVD or workshop should require you to use special materials available from only from them. If it does, its authors may be more interested in selling you overpriced product than teaching a versatile skill set.

Any method should teach you how to find reasonably priced, readily available materials on-line and in your area. The same goes for tools: You don’t have to spend a fortune on magic widgets as there are alternatives to high-end “expert” brushes and other tools.

Regal faux ceiling beams pre-primed for painting

Everything you need for your project

With the amazing fauxwoodbeams.com assortment of color and texture and The Perfect Wood Grain Mastery course, you’ve found everything necessary to complete a picture-perfect interior project. If you desire a bit more control over the finished look of your beams, use your new wood graining skill to perfectly match the Regal Beams to the rest of your trim package.

Thanks to advancements in painting techniques and materials, and great suppliers like fauxwoodbeams.com, it’s now possible to be in for a penny, in for a pound where faux wood is concerned. Your projects will be amazing and no one will be the wiser. But please, after they’re sufficiently impressed, let them in on the secret.

FauxWoodBeams.com has many styles of beams that are unfinished or pre-primed for painting. Click here to view the complete list.

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.

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.

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.

Ceiling panels and faux wood beams make a beautiful combination

Our artificial timber ceiling beams are a great way to give a modern home a more classical, timeless feel – but you can take that one step further by pairing our beams with faux wood paneling and ceiling systems.

Installing ceiling panels is a quick and easy way to make the ceiling look like it’s covered with old-school floorboards.

Match those with similarly colored faux wood beams and all you’ll be missing will be the sound of creaking footsteps as somebody walks across the floorboards upstairs.

It’s great for those wanting to add a countryside feel to their kitchen or living room; and also a great choice for restaurants and businesses that want a classic appearance despite being based in a modern building. A common pairing uses faux bamboo panels to give an authentic Tikki hut look.

A classic tikki bar requires bamboo. These ceiling panels are a stylish alternative.

Installing a combination of faux wood beams and ceiling panels is easy. The panels go on first; and are best when installed with a combination of construction adhesive and screws. Most of our faux wood paneling interlocking, so aside from having to cut the final row with a standard wood saw, it’s affordable and easy to give your ceiling in the instant look of wood.

Next come the artificial timber ceiling beams. These install just as they would on your regular ceiling; with a couple of important differences. You can either attach your mounting blocks directly to the ceiling and cut your panels around them, or attached the blocks on top of the mounted panels with longer screws that will go right through to the other side.

These ceiling systems offer a huge variety of wood pairing options, and a quick and affordable way to transform any room in your home. Check out our section on ceiling design ideas, and make sure to send in pictures of your own ceiling if you’ve paired panels and beams while transforming your home. We’d love to see them!

Reclaimed Wood Beams aren't just as good-looking as "the real thing." They ARE the "real thing."

For some people, even the intricate detail and realism of our polyurethane-molded faux wood beams is not enough.

They’re the customers we created our reclaimed wood beams for – but why choose reclaimed over new wood?

Here are some top reasons:

• They’re more affordable. Our reclaimed real wood beams are sourced from authentic salvaged wood from turn-of-the-century American buildings. Because a single authentic beam can be used to make several of our reclaimed wood box beams, they are considerably more cost-effective.
• They’re easier to install. Solid timber beams can weigh over 400lbs. By contrast, our reclaimed wood beams often weigh in at less than 50lbs. That makes a big difference – installing them doesn’t require any special equipment, and you don’t need to reinforce your ceiling as you might with a solid, timber ceiling beam.
• They’re more practical. Our reclaimed wood beams are built as a u-shape or 4-sided box, which means you can run wires and pipes inside them. That gives enormous flexibility in installation, allowing you to really capture a period look and feel by hiding modern wiring and piping.
• They’re adaptable. Because you can run wires invisibly through our reclaimed beams, an entire host of installation options open up that wouldn’t with a solid real wood beam: How about recessed lights, for example? You can also order the beams closed in on all four sides, which means you can make some exciting tresses with them.
• They’re authentic. The final reason why reclaimed beams are a great choice is because they don’t just look real – they are real. Although our faux wood beams are practically indistinguishable from the real thing once installed, our reclaimed beams are the real thing. Nothing looks better – not even solid timber beams.

They were kind enough to send in pictures from every stage of the installation.

First, here’s the ceiling of their beautiful family room. You can see why they decided wooden timber beams would be a nice addition – their cabinets and counter tops beautifully frame the room itself, but leave the ceiling looking sparse and bare.

The Reisinger's beautiful kitchen had a sparse cathedral-style roof

Steve Reisinger kicked off the installation by following the old carpenter’s lore – measure twice, cut once. Once measurements were in hand, he and his wife clambered up a ladder to install square wooden mounting blocks in the ceiling with screws.

Measure twice, cut once - the Reisingers followed the carpenter's rule when prepping to install their fake wood beams

One of the many advantages of using fake wood over the real thing is that Steve didn’t need to cut the beam to match the V-shaped apex of his ceiling. Because our faux wood beams are molded in a hollow U-shape, they can fit over the wooden mounting blocks Steve attached to the ceiling and both sides fitted flush to the ceiling. The only cutting Steve needed to do is to make sure the length is right – that’s easy enough with a regular wood saw.

The center beam slotted neatly over the pre-installed mounting blocks for a flush fit against both roof angles

Next came installing the beams. A real timber beam would weigh in close to 100lbs. Our faux timber beams are just 40lbs, which meant that Steve and his wife could easily maneuver them into place themselves. The light weight also means installing them is simple and straightforward – you can see from this picture Steve attached them to his mounting blocks with an electric drill and regular trim-head screws.

Steve and his wife installed the faux timber beams using an electric drill and trim head screws

Our faux wood beams measure in at 9’ 10” in length – which presented Steve and family with one of their first challenges: The length of their family room was almost double that.

Here’s where another of the advantages of faux beams paid off: Steve was able to ‘double up’ two lengths of beam to give the appearance of a single, seamless beam stretching across the length of the room. Although practically indistinguishable from the real timber they’re molded from, fake wood beams are always consistent in width and color, so it’s easy to attach two end-to-end to reach further than a single beam would allow.

Doubling up the faux wood beams gave the illusion of single, seamless length of timber

You can see on the furthest beam how Steve managed to complete the illusion of a single beam – by adding one of our Universal Flexible Straps to cover the seam between the two lengths of faux wood. Molded from flexible rubber, these straps perfectly mimic the iron bands traditionally used to reinforce timber beams.

Rubber mounting straps covered the join between the two lengths of faux wood beam

And job done! With three people and in just a few hours, Steve and his family managed to transform their family room ceiling.

“It’s an awesome look!” Steve told us when he sent in pictures – and he’s already planning the next family project: “The formal living room is next!”

That’s a rule reinforced by the incredible job Duane did transforming the ceiling of his room with our faux wood Rustic Ceiling Beams.

BEFORE: Duane's ceiling was broad and bare.

As you can see from the “before” pictures, Duane’s beautiful Maine home had a stunning arched ceiling that looked kind of bleak. A ceiling fan, dark wood furniture and hunting trophies created a beautiful rustic vibe that didn’t quite live up to its potential, overshadowed by the wide expanse of plain, white gypsum board on the ceiling.

Duane’s answer was that simplicity I mentioned: Installing five rows of faux wood ceiling beams to help add depth and gravitas to the arched ceiling and match the rest of his stylish décor. That’s where things go complicated, though. Settling on faux wood was easy – but which particular beams to go for was a little tougher!

“The number of products available surprised me,” Duane admitted, when he sent us pictures of “before” and “after.” “That meant the ability to order samples was extremely handy.” Eventually, Duane selected a row of our Rustic Ceiling Beams, which were molded from an authentic, hand-hewn wooden beam.

Rustic beams are available pre-finished, intricately detailed to perfectly resemble real timber beams. Duane, however, wanted his to match the rest of the wood in his home, so ordered them unfinished.

“The only problem we had was with the color formula for staining. The color as mixed at our local store was not just right.” Fortunately, this was another problem Duane was quick to find a solution to. “The clerk was able to add the right amount of colorant to get the color close enough for us.”

AFTER: Faux wood beams add a beautiful rustic touch

The results speak for themselves – and almost as remarkable is the short length of time they took to accomplish. Installing real wood beams would be a lengthy process, involving several big, strong men to lift the weighty wood into position. Duane’s incredible ceiling design took just three days, instead.

“We spent three days on the project: one day for staining, one day for laying out the ceiling blocks and one day putting up the beams.” It’s astonishing just how much the room was transformed in such a small space of time – and it’s clear that Duane and his family are very satisfied with how it turned out.

“We are very happy with the product,” he signs off, “and it gave us the look we wanted in our great room.”

Have you had results that rival Duane’s? Why not do what he did, and send in your pictures. We’d love to feature them right here!