Faux Wood Workshop

You may find yourself from time to time flipping through Architectural Digest and coming upon the most gorgeous, multi-million dollar home of your dreams, such as the 8,000 square foot house built for Lance Armstrong in Austin, TX. Maybe you wonder how you could possibly incorporate even a small piece of its décor into your own home.

You might be surprised to learn that this home’s luxurious kitchen, complete with state-of-the-art appliances, stainless steel pendant lights and slab stone counters, was also outfitted with faux wood beams on its ceiling.

Faux wood beams can be a considerable design asset for the any homeowner, not just for cycling superstars with a team of first-class designers and unlimited resources. A fraction of the cost of real wood beams, homeowners with even a very modest budget can achieve this look themselves with just a little time and a little creativity.

Faux beams – like our high-density polyurethane models – are popular among builders and homeowners, not only for their price, ease of installation and durable material, but also for their incredible imitation of real wood’s coloring and grain texture. Certified kitchen designer (CKD) and author of The Kitchen Designer blog, Susan Serra maintains that unless structural beams are required, even the most upscale design projects will include faux beams on their ceilings and walls.

So there’s really no need to wistfully put down the magazine and imagine what could be. Take a look at this huge range of beam styles available and start making that dream a reality!

Read more about Lance’s kitchen and the faux beams featured in Architectural Digest.

 

There is a ton of information and knowledge out there on how to retrofit a house properly to minimize damage caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, especially in those areas right in the heart of the action like Southern California.

One consideration is a home’s ceiling beams. A real wooden beam that can weigh up to hundreds of pounds can be a somewhat ominous thing to have hanging over your head during an earthquake. Homeowners or builders may want to take their safety precautions a step further by choosing polyurethane wood for their ceiling beams rather than traditional wood. A typical faux wood beam weighs an average of 20 lbs, so if in the event of an earthquake or heavy winds strong enough to cause a beam to fall, the lightweight faux version would cause a lot less damage or chance of injury.

Tammy from Southern California sent in the photo of her beautifully finished kitchen and living rooms area with Timber faux wood beams and wrote, “The faux wood beams were the way to go for me. The first reason I looked into them was I live in So. Cal and I wasn’t sold on having a heavy wood beam on the ceiling and the chance of it not holding up in an earthquake…When the project was complete everyone complimented on how beautiful it was and no one even knew it was faux!”

When you butt one beam into the side of another one, you want the joint to be so tight that it’s invisible.

With smooth beams, you can just cut the butting beam square, and it should fit against the main beam without a problem. It’s a different story with rough, distressed beams.

Sure, you can cut the beam square, butt it to the main beam, and fill the gap with caulk. But you’re likely to have a lot of gap to fill, and the result can look messy and unprofessional.

To do it right, you should scribe the end of the butting beam to match the contours of the main beam. All you need is a simple circle-drawing compass and a jigsaw or coping saw.

1. Lay the beams together as shown in the photo, at the exact position where they’ll meet.

2. Spread the compass an inch or so. Hold it flat and slide it up along the beams as shown, so the point follows the surface of the main beam while the pencil draws a line on the butting beam. Do this all the way around the top and the other side.

3. Tilt the jigsaw shoe to an angle of 10-15 degrees, so that you’ll cut away more material toward the center of the beam and make a sharper outer edge. Carefully cut along the scribed line on all three sides of the beam. You can also use a coping saw.

4. Test fit the beam, and remove any high spots with a coarse file until you have a perfect fit.

5. Stain the cut end of the beam to prevent any possibility of raw polyurethane showing through a crack in the joint.

Now you’re ready to install the beams and have the satisfaction of seeing a perfectly invisible joint.

No one can claim that making a coffered ceiling is quick and easy. Faux beams make the job a lot easier, but there’s an art to making each joint look good and stay tight. Here’s the best way to create perfect four-way mitered joints.

1. Carefully plan, measure and lay out the grid pattern of the coffers. Snap a chalk line on the ceiling along the center line of each beam to make a checkerboard with perfect right angles.

 

 

2. For each intersection on the checkerboard, make a crossed mounting block from two pieces of 2-by lumber. Rip each piece to the exact width of the inside of the beam, and make its length about three times its width. Screw and glue the two pieces together at right angles. Then anchor each crossed block to the ceiling aligned with the chalk marks.

 

3. Take time and care cutting and dry-fitting each beam. At each four-way intersection, miter each beam in a V using a precision miter saw.

4. Stain the mitered edges to match the finished beam. This helps hide any imperfections in the joinery.

5. Mount the beams to the blocks. To lock everything together as a single unit, use adhesive on every mating surface: the mitered edges, the inside of the beam where it slips over the mounting block, and the edges of the beam that touch the ceiling. Apply a light bead, slightly back from exposed edges to avoid squeeze-out. Screw through the sides of each beam into the mounting blocks as usual.

 

6. Carefully wipe away any excess adhesive that squeezes out.

 

7. Step back and admire the perfect joints that will stay that way for a long, long time.

There are many elements that need to come together to make a kitchen appear cozy and welcoming rather than utilitarian. Cupboards, flooring, lighting and countertops are just a few of the things that need to be considered for the heart of the home. But what about the ceiling? 

 

 

Brenda and her family from Santa Rosa, CA installed Woodland faux wood ceiling beams in their kitchen as an “easy and a fun project to do together”. Brenda sent us these photos to show off the beautiful final result. Way to go!