I Tried Something New: Faux Bois

Yesterday, a new episode of the podcast dropped, and the listener question that Devyn and I answered was, “Have you ever regretted a design decision, interior or otherwise, to the point of starting over?” During the episode, I confidently answered no, but upon further reflection, I realize that the living room makeover is going to come pretty close–more on that later. Most recently, I reworked the bookshelves, and learning how to create faux bois was part of that process.

What the heck is Faux Bois?

Faux bois is the fancy French way to say, “fake wood.” The technique, which has possibly been around since the Renaissance, became more popular during the mid-1800s. Faux bois covers everything from structural concrete pieces that look like actual logs to wood graining. Fake wood graining is what I’m talking about in this post.

Fake wood graining was most often used on the woodwork and moldings of high style houses and more basic dwellings too. The grain pattern of expensive wood, such as quarter-sawn oak, was painted onto a cheaper wood. Only someone who was really paying attention would notice the difference. I know this sounds like lipstick on a pig, but the people who mastered faux bois were skilled artisans, and rich people were all over that. Done correctly, it is absolutely gorgeous, and I swear you cannot tell that it’s not real wood.

I had heard of faux bois before, but the first time I saw it was at the Culbertson Mansion in New Albany, Indiana, and we all know that was no shack.

Mrs. Culbertson wanted a French castle, and she got one. Sadly, I deleted all of my faux bois photos from the mansion in a frantic moment after I filled up my laptop, phone, and my cloud (Who does that?!?), and I needed space for a video that I had spent days putting together. There is no IT department in Blake Hill House. Deleting those photos is a huge regret.

For reference, here is an article that shows the restored faux bois finish in the Lincoln Cottage. Don’t get too excited. Mine doesn’t look that good.

Practicing

No one could ever accuse me of being an over-planner, but I wasn’t about to try this technique without a little practice first. I explain the method in-depth farther down in this post, but the general idea is to paint one color first. Once that color is dry, apply a second darker or lighter coat of thinned paint or glaze on top and drag the faux bois tools through it to make the wood grain patterns. In essence, you’re scraping off the top layer of paint/glaze, which reveals the original color behind it.

I practiced on a few scrap boards from the basement.

Faux Bois Supplies

This post contains affiliate links.

• Two colors of paint–one light, one darker – I used sample pots of Honeycomb and Classic Caramel by Benjamin Moore. I chose these shades, two steps away from each other on the paint chip, because they were similar to the colors of our restored floors, and they coordinated with the black paint I used on the bookshelves. (Black Magic by Sherwin-Williams)

• Faux bois tools – Historic faux bois was created with tools made of wood. The modern tools I used are rubbery plastic. If you are interested, my friend Drew, and I discussed historic graining tools briefly during episode #30 of the podcast.
• A badger hair brush to soften the pattern (optional) – FYI, I did not use this brush for my project, but if you want to create a more authentic look, a brush like this will be useful.
• painter’s tape
• paintbrush – (This one is my favorite.)
• A bucket of water and an old toothbrush
• a couple of rags

My Modern Version of Faux Bois

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not an artisan. Since I chose to use this technique on the backs of the bookshelves, I was okay with a more textural and somewhat stylized version of faux bois. If I ever do this on actual woodwork, you can be sure that I will attempt a more authentic wood look.

Step 1

Paint the background color. I chose the lighter shade as my background, but you could paint the back darker and do the faux bois in the lighter color. It’s up to you. Let it dry thoroughly.

Step 2

Mix a 50/50 ratio of your topcoat color with Floetrol, which is a latex paint additive. Floetrol is typically used to improve the flow of latex paint in a sprayer or to reduce brush marks. I often add a tiny bit to whatever I’m using when I paint woodwork. In this proportion, the Floetrol thins the paint down to more of a glaze. Floetrol’s oil paint counterpart is Penetrol.

Step 3

Protect the baseboards with painter’s tape.

Step 4 – The Method

The idea is to paint a strip of the paint/glaze and then drag or roll the faux bois tools down the wall and through the glaze, which reveals the background color as wood grain. Because the thinned paint will begin to dry immediately, work quickly, and only paint one small section at a time.

Keep a bucket of water and an old toothbrush nearby to clean off the tools between sections.

Dry the tools with a rag. They do not have to be cleaned each time, but paint build-up will affect the patterns.

Dragging the tools makes straight lines, and rocking it back and forth while dragging it creates a different pattern altogether. Play around with your movements. I wanted to make sure the background didn’t look too matchy-matchy, so I alternated the roller and the rocking tool.

If you mess up, just repaint that portion right away and drag your tools through the glaze again. I found that I had the most control holding the rocking tool with two hands. For the roller, I rolled it through the paint, but sometimes I held the roller in a fixed position to vary the pattern.

Once I finished, I was a little worried that my vertical sections were a bit wavy, and the patterns were just too unusual and fake. However, once I put the shelves back in and grabbed some items from around the house for decor, it looked much better. Now, I’m happy with the colors and patterns. The craziness fades into the background as intended.

A lot is going on in this big old living room with the feature fireplace, and the giant built-in bench flanked with the bookshelves. However, the new paint with faux bois creates a lot of interest and warmth.

You may notice that the left side is still the original putty pink. It was missing a big chunk of plaster that I am currently restoring.

Looking Back

Just for fun, let’s revisit the living room and its two previous iterations.

First, there was the putty pink and green version that we inherited in 2014. Everything felt very dark and heavy. Also, there was a pretty strong mildew odor coming from the old wallpaper and the rug. BHH doesn’t have air conditioning, and it sat empty for some time. So, the mildew smell was not unexpected.

Andy and I took down the wallpaper, the heavy wooden valances, (not original), and painted everything white and robin’s egg blue. Then, we got new furniture and a rug.

Note the watermark. I must have been terrified that someone would steal my mediocre photography and claim it as their own.

The room was undoubtedly much brighter, but still pretty meh–a beige dream. We basically switched it from the color of someone’s Victorian-era depression to a Pinterest board of depression instead, and I’ve been glaring at the living room ever since.

Painting the shelves black and adding the faux bois is part of a bigger overhaul that will be taking place over the next few months. After six years of living here, I guess we are starting over in this room, after all. Design regrets? I’ve got ’em.

Have you ever seen real faux bois or tried this technique? Do you have any in your old house? I hold out hope that I will find a few hidden gems of fake wood grain in BHH. Since this house is pretty much a craftsman’s sampler, it would not surprise me in the least.

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