Faux Wood Backsplash Reveal

Detail of painted backsplash.

   

Before:  Plain drywall "back splash."

For this Metamorphosis Monday with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch  (here), I wanted to share my recent faux wood back splash project.  More details about my inspiration are (here) at this former post.  But for a quick review, here is the original inspiration photo from Pinterest:

But to recap, basically I wanted to replicate the look of reclaimed wood.  As you can see in the after photo before, I thought that the different tones would tie together the natural cherry cabinets (not as dark as they look in the photos), the vintage fabric in the glass front cabinets, and the dark countertops, as well as fitting the asthetics of my 1930s cottage/bungalow.

Back splash after.  I resisted the urge to overstyle and decided to show cluttered counter as it really exists for truth in blogging.

 

I started project by laying out boards, using a pencil and level.  I used pencil because I wanted the dark line to help suggest the shadow line between boards.   I based the proportion of boards on the 4" granite lip, as well as the traditional size of real boards used in this application.  I did vary the sizes from 3" to 6" to give the illusion of random boards.  In a faux finish like this, imprecision actually helps the illusion.  I further decided to give a border around the "board" over the sink to highlight the area and give interest, as this is the first thing you see when walking into kitchen.

 

Above, I've started laying in color.  I wanted to primarily use light greens and aquas to tie together my pale avocado walls and the aqua walls in the adjoining room.  I did want some warm wood tones to peek through to relate to the wood cabinets.  In some cases, I actually finished the "boards" to look like wood before layering paint over them for that weathered peeling paint look.  I also added grain lines with a rocking roller tool.

  

Here is the completed back splash topped with a tinted polyureathane for durability.  The slight tint (golden oak) helps give the illusion of age .

I ran the boards hoizontally over the stove to give interest and also help with the illusion of using actual reclaimed material:  when using such materials, usually you have to adapt because of limited quanity.

The beautiful plates were a gift from Visual Vamp, Valorie Hart.

And now the fun part:  accessories.  All along, I wanted the back splash to provide a good background for these beautiful Majolica plates that work well with my green walls.  If they look familiar, it's because they used to grace the before kitchen of the fabulous Visual Vamp:

A beautiful plate, crocks to hold utensils, and a vintage lamp:  what more does any cottage kitchen need?

After 4+ years of no backsplash, I've very happy with how this turned out, especially since I was able to complete the project with very little money---I already had most of the needed paints and supplies.  I'm also glad I waited until I found the perfection solution.

Faux Reclaimed Wood Backsplash: Update

 A couple of days ago, I started on my "reclaimed wood" back splash, where I planned to replicate the look of these doors on my drywall backsplash:

Young House Love

 Here is the painted drywall "back splash" before:

As of Sat. morning, here is how the main section looks:

The glare is from the protective polyureathane.

I plan on devoting tomorrow to finishing, and if so, will have a longer post explaining how I did it.

Backsplash Inspiration: or How to Pick a Backsplash in 5 years or Less

Kitchen photo from a couple of years ago.  Minor changes since then, but still no backsplash.

As a professional decorator and decorative painter, I often get called on in to fix bad decisions clients have made in building or renovating.  In fact, one of the most common mistakes homeowners can make when it comes to designing their own homes is by deciding on some non-essential items too soon.  The deal is there are so many decisions to make when designing a home, so many more than people realize:  from big decisions like how big to make the living room to minor ones, like what color outlet covers.  At a certain point toward the end of a project, most people suffer a sort of decision fatigue where it's almost impossible to make another choice, any other choice.  Then, what usually happens, is that a lot of people start making quick impulsive decisions just to get "get'er done."  What I learned is that if you don't love an item or at least are convinced that that item is the right one for the application it  is better to just wait if it's not absolutely necessary.  Usually the right one will come along eventually.

Case in point:  my backsplash.  When we remodeled the kitchen 4 years ago (I can't believe it's been that long), one thing that we didn't select was a backsplash.  This was for various reasons:  cost, Thomas's aversion to most tile, and my fear of becoming bored with an expenisive selection (I do like change, and I can't afford to change out a pricey backsplash very often).  I did toy with some tile options, but the only two that I thought I could commit to long term just didn't work out.  One, a beautiful hand-made irregular glass tile in a beautiful avacado green was just too expensive:  even with a designer discount it was close to $100 a foot and the other tile ended up being too busy (luckily a friend had used on a project and left me have 4 sheets of it to test---they ended up being this table top).  The other option that we almost went with was a fun decopage project like this table; but I was afraid of the difficulty in removing it when (notice I didn't say if) I got tired of it.

So, to make a long story longer, I've spent the last couple of years on backsplash alert--keeping my eyes open for inspiration.  Finally, it's hit.  We went to a local coffee house where the walls are made up of reclaimed barge board in various colors.  We both liked the look of it, and I thought that the various colors could tie together the colors in the room.

It's hard to tell from picture, but there is a lot of distressing and color vation in the different boards.

I thought about using real wood, but again didn't want the cost, the hassle, or the permanency.  Then, another inspiration:  Faux bois---I could fake it like Eddie Ross did on this table top:

 

Fromwww.eddieross.com

And, finally, this morning, I found the perfect color inspiration in this faux barn door from the blog, Young House Love:

from young house love

So, this weekend, I'm gonna bust out all my half used paints in the right colors,

and my rocking grain roller,

a little polyurethane for protection and ease of cleaning, and then get this backsplash party rolling.

I'll keep you posted.

Metamorphosis Monday: A mini-project

It's time for first Metamorphosis Monday of 2010 at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch (here), and after this holiday season, all I could muster is a mini-project, but its one that is long over due (since 2007!) and is a first step toward my first design resolution. One of my resolutions for 2010 is to get my house to a place I feel is magazine worthy (original design resolution post here), and part of that ongoing goal is to tackle all the small projects that seem to get pushed to the back of the to-do list. One of those has been to finish up the nonworking fireplace in my home office. It's a small, cosmetic project because my partner unfortunately love, love, loves the ugly red brick, so I've decided to just ignore it. However, the metal at the back of the original metal was a shiny silver and did not match the great rusted patina of the surround:

Furthermore, the hearth was just an unpainted slab of heat resistant material left over from the days the hearth contained a heater:

One of the reasons it took a while to do this small project is that I couldn't quite decide what to do. With three existing elements, brick, rust, and woodlook laminate floor, I didn't want to introduce another one. My first instinct was to paint it to blend with the rust firebox (my favorite element), but I thought it might call too much attention, especially since the mantle is in a de facto passageway. I finally decided to paint it in a faux bois (fake wood) technique (how to is here---the techniqure is the same, the colors are all that differ) to blend with the floor and to disappear, hopefully making the room look a little wider.

Here is the fireplace after the back of the box has been faux painted to match the rust surround and the hearth has been primed:

Here is the after. I also simplified the mantle arrangement and painted it out to match the wall and blend in.

The large copper tub was a Christmas present. For entertaining, I'll fill it with a plant, but now (truth in blogging) I use it to collect all the shoes that seem to end up littering our first two rooms. I always wanted a house that felt so comfortable that people wanted to kick their shoes off and linger...I just never knew how much picking up after others that would entail.

A detail of the faux bois painting on the hearth.

One mini-project down on the way to achieving my number 1 design resolution. Approximately 12,347,889 to go.

Fake It If You Can't Make it

I've been working on a cool project, a condo in a converted warehouse (it's not finished, so excuse the ladders and lack of staging). Among its great features are exposed brick walls and original beams. However, a new steel support was added to the living room and encased in sheetrock. It stuck out like a sore thumb.

Here's a detail of one of the great, naturally aged and distressed original beams from when the building was constructed in 1895.

Here's the sheetrocked beam after a couple of layers of glaze applied with a rocker graining tool:

A closer look shows the similarity between the painted finish on the right and the original on the left.

A little paint can work miracles.

From 60's ranch to Itailian villia: a trompe l'oeil bath redo.

Before: A white box with an acoustical tile ceiling

After: Faux plaster walls, a faux tin ceiling, faux bois vanity, and Old World inspired art and accessories. (Note: we had to leave the old fixture for the moment because it houses the only electrical outlet in the room, and we have not been able to address the issue of moving the outlet.)

The faux tin ceiling consists of squares of Anaglypta embossed wallpaper applied to the ceiling, covered in layers of copper and bronze metallic glazes, and topped with scrapes of ivory paint to suggest rust and peeling paint. I made the working inverted pleat shade out of a poly blend in a metallic copper/chestnut color with gold embroidered fleur de lis.

Barbara already owned the painting and italian plates. I just moved them from other rooms.

I painted the flat front cabinets in a faux bois technique similiar to one described in an earlier post.

Detail of the upper cabinet with Italian landscape scene inspired by plates. I wanted the upper cabinet to blend in to the wall to keep the look light. I also thought that doing the cabinets in different finishes would add to the interest.

Detail of the ceiling.

Knock on (Fake) Wood: a step by step faux bois makeover

Being a decorative painter is something like being a makeup artist: sometimes, I'm there to enhance a good feature, sometimes to downplay a bad one (or, as I diplomatically tell clients, " Girl, there is a whole lot of ugly going on up in here). Sometimes, however, I end up doing both at once, as in this case. The situation: the client whose home before Katrina damage had been very monochromatic (everything, including upholstery, was a light neutral), decided to embrace color in a big way, which she did by painting everything a medium gold from Benjamin Moore, cork. And by everyting, I do mean everyting, including all the trim, the ceilings (actually the ceilings are one shade lighter), doors, and walls. To make the color even more intense, most of the flooring is a pale maple shade that is almost the same color as the wall. After being in the home for several months, she called because the gold was overwhelming her. The floor plan is open, and a complete repaint was not in the budget, so I needed a way to tone down all that gold. I decided that doing a faux bois (French for fake wood) treatment on all of the doors downstairs to match the stained front door wood go a long way toward cutting all that color, while also emphasizing their nice moulding details and panels, thus turning a negative into an opportunity.

I forgot to take a real before picture, but even with the blue tape and finish start, one can see how the doors faded into the wall:

Here is a closeup of the finish on the front door. I used this as my guide. In a faux bois treatment, you layer thin, striated glazes over a basecoat that matches the lighted color in the wood you are mimicing. In this case, the original cork color was a good base. I dry brushed on a darker, slighty redder color. I did not thin down the paint.

In the early stages, perfection is not necessary, and actually works against you. First, keep in mind that you are trying to create a natural effect, therefore, you actually want imperfections and variations: what you are aiming for is all over evenness and balance, but not perfection.

This is how the doors looked at the end of step 1:

Next, repeat the process with a darker paint. I used a dark brown, Black Bean from Sherwin Williams.

In order to get the look you want, you may need to do multiple layers of the darker color. It's important in these steps to follow the grain lines of the different segments of the door. It's also important that there be distinct brush strokes: it's these striations that will eventually mimic graining. There are actual graining tools, but the door I was matching had a fine grain.

I then coated the doors with mutiple layers of stain: A layer of Minwax polyshade Colonial Maple, and then multiple layers of a mix of 3 parts Minwax polyshade to 1 part Colonial maple. Then to reduce the shine to a true satin, a good rubbing with extra fine steel wools. A couple of swipes of Black Bean, and Voila: From paint to wood with no stripping:

A detail of the faux bois finish: This technique is also great for furniture if you don't want to strip it, or if the wood is different species, or has unattractive graining or damage.
If you want the look of wood without painting, I highly recomment two Sherwin Williams colors straight out of the can:

Black Bean for an espresso finish close to Pottery Barn's espresso and French Roast for a color that blends with dark cherry and colonial maple.