Faux Wood Workshop

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’re always excited to see how our customers use our products for their new and innovative home design ideas – and one home improvement aficionado who recently impressed us was Jack McLauchlan, from Moses Lake, WA.

Jack had already used our faux ceiling beams and mantels to great effect.

Jack’s beautiful home is an impressive display of interior design. He’s used our Rough Sawn Ceiling Beams to elegantly enhance the sloping ceiling, and matched them with faux wood mantels and corbels on the wall.

But the touch that really impressed us was the way Jack also framed an interior staircase with our faux ceiling beams – building an artificial lintel from leftover Rough Sawn Ceiling Beam pieces and our matching Rough Sawn Corbels.

“Sheet rock was simply cut away from an underlying beam,” Jack explained, when he sent us pictures of the terrific job he did, “and then a left over piece of beam was slid into place.”

“I utilized sawn corbels, and also split off the faces of another partial woodland beam to back fill behind the ceiling beams, since they originally had a small gap that I wished to see filled.” The results are impressive – giving the impression that a length of exposed wooden beam frames the staircase and corridor.

Almost as impressive is how long this subtle, but significant redesign took (or rather, didn’t.) “It took about an hour. This was a very easy job requiring only minor adjustments.”

The additional wood beam makes it appear as if the ceiling is supported by the beams, and not the other way around.

The home design details were complimented by other improvements Jack had planned: “We added a granite and marble floor. Now the room really feels warm.”

So far, Jack’s been pleased with the reaction his hard work has garnered. “Those who have seen the results can’t believe them,” he admitted – and also added that he has further plans for improving the room.

“I’m looking forward to completing my “old world look” design,” he wrote, “and have a faux rock wall on the opposite side of the room planned for next year.” Just as he’s looking forward to completing his redesign, we’re looking forward to seeing the results. Make sure to send us pictures, Jack!

We write a lot here about solid, three-dimensional faux wood beams and accessories, but let’s not forget about the flatter side of life: faux wood panels. You can find these at our sister site FauxPanels.com, and they come in styles that coordinate with some of our most popular beams and accessories.

Two of the newest panels at FauxPanels.com are Woodland and Raised Grain, and they’re each part of a larger family of faux products. The Woodland family includes custom beams, corbels and mantels. The Raised Grain family includes beams, corbels and scrolled-end beams.

When you combine solid beams and accessories with flat panels in a single project, you can get really amazing results. The photo below shows what one of our customers did with Raised Grain beams and panels to transform a high ceiling into an architectural feature that defines the entire room.

So today’s tip is simple: When you’re thinking about using faux beams for your project, think beyond the beam. Think about the flat stuff as well.

Let’s start with a definition, for those who may be new to home remodeling and architecture lingo.

Corbel: \ˈkȯr-bəl\ A bracket of stone, wood, brick, or other building material, projecting from the face of a wall and generally used to support a cornice or arch.

These right-angled supports, most often seen along roof lines, have been used since the late centuries BCE, when China first introduced the great granddaddy of today’s corbels (called a dougong) to hold extra weight and maintain buildings’ structural integrity. And, since way back in the day, corbels have added a little extra pizzazz to said buildings’ exterior.  In Classical architecture this meant ornate marble molding, and during the French Gothic period gargoyles became all the rage.

Today, however, with feats of modern technology and engineering — basically improved man made building materials and tools—the necessity of corbels has fallen by the wayside. The extra exterior supports just aren’t needed to hold your roof up anymore.

But (lucky for us at FauxWoodBeams.com) that doesn’t mean you can’t take a cue from the days of old and use corbels to add some personality to your home.

Here are some ideas to use corbels in your redecorating:

Exterior Design

As mentioned before, the most common way to make the most out of your corbels is to use them to support (or at least pretend to support) your roof’s ledge. Choose the design and style that goes best with your home’s vibe—whether this means rough sawn wood to enhance a rustic look, or carved Cyprus for a more Victorian touch—and go to town.

You can also place your corbels below windowsills, around your garage, or fit them into other unique architectural nooks your home may have. Check out these photos for more ideas.

Interior Details

Continue your corbel design inside. One way to do this is to use the corbels to enhance your ceiling beams, be they faux or real. Simply attach the corbels to the wall at the vertex of wall and ceiling. This way your ceiling beams don’t end abruptly, but rather come to a smooth and seamless finish. Here is an example of corbels used in this way.

Maybe you don’t have visible ceiling beams. Instead, corbels can be added around a mantle or the interior of a window. Use them to hold up shelves, window curtain rods, or cabinets. Basically, scour your home for nooks and crannies that look like they need a little extra support, or just some spicing up.

Of course, we have a zillion—okay, that’s an exaggeration, we have seven—styles of corbels to choose from. Make sure you click through to check them all out, and then write back with your thoughts.

Here’s the now much anticipated (I’m sure) link to our corbels.

Corbels are beautiful architectural features that add class, flair and realism to your project. A corbel visually anchors the end of a beam so it looks solid and well supported.

But how do you know what size corbel to use? The answer depends on the kind of beam you’re using.

Suppose your beams have well-defined edges that are square and straight or just slightly rounded. These include our Raised Grain, Woodland and Sandblasted beams. In this case, choose corbels that are the same width as the beams or just slightly narrower.

The first photo shows a corbel slightly narrower than the beam it supports. An equal-width corbel would also look great with this beam.

On the other hand, suppose your beams have irregular edges that are distressed and significantly rounded. Our Timber beams are like this. In this case, choose corbels that are at least a couple of inches narrower than the beams. This lets the corbel rest against the flat part of the beam and avoid overlapping the rounded edges.

The second photo shows corbelsnarrow enough to rest against only the flat part of a heavily distresssed and rounded beam.

Modern homes may have the benefits of clean lines, wide open spaces and tall ceilings, yet you may yearn for a few touches of old world style – charming moldings, rough cut ceiling beams or detailed arches.

We’ve been following the progress of Jack McLauchlan from Moses Lake Washington as he has transformed his living room with various types of faux wood products. His most recent addition was a interior stairway arch that he created using Rough Sawn corbels and a leftover piece of faux wood beam from the previous year’s project.

The archway looks authentic and well done, especially next to the balcony-type openings to the left. The whole effect is practically Juliet-esque.

“My living room is quite an eye opener now, a far cry from the plain 22 foot wall and white ceiling that greeted us before,” Jack explained.
To read about how Jack started the living room project with Timber faux wood beams click here, and scroll down about a third of the page.

Below is one of the photos that he originally sent in. (You can see how the stairway arch looked before he added the beam and corbels).

We’ve heard he has plans to add a faux rock wall to the room next year, we can’t wait to see what he does next!