Fastest Faux Barnwood

Pickling White Stain & Seal 

Remember how I told you that Pickling White Stain & Seal is the color you need? It was just on Friday so....Well this is one way that I use Pickling White on my own home. 

Many of you know about our purchase of a fixer-upper on the fly when we down-sized. I literally found it on a web search, sent Bruce and the realtor to see it and buy it if it was OK.  Let's just say it have given me a lot of opportunities to experiment with my Faux Effects products!

These were the pantry doors:

Old bi-fold doors before 

Old slab bi-folds. Now I had a vison of a beautiful barn door. But my wallet had a vision of something else.  And it turned out I didn't have room for a barn door.  But hey, I'm creative so I grabbed a couple of things to make-over the doors.

Once I figured out how to get the doors down, I cleaned and sanded them. For a base, I rolled a coat of  Royal Taupe Setcoat.  For my "barn wood" I mixed 50% water with Faux Effects Sandstone and whipped it with an electric drill and paddle. You want it to look like a paste.

Faux Effects Sandstone whipped with water for a creamy paste

I trowel the Sandstone paste over the base colors for 100% coverage.

Whipped Faux Effects Sandstone for Faux Barn wood

Next, I used a wire brush to "score" the Sandstone in long strokes. This creates the grain.

You may also use a stiff Chip brush-if you have one of those....because all artists never have a crusty brush handy!

When the Sandstone is dry, I lightly sand to so the surface feels smooth.  For my first color layer, I mix a favorite Pecan stain using these Faux Effects' products:

1 quart of FX Thinner + 1/2 cup Pickling White Stain & Seal + 1/4 cup American Stain & Seal + 1 TBSP Rich Brown Stain & Seal.  American Walnut and Rich Brown are standard useful stain colors for many projects.

I always spray my surface-especially when it's an unsealed plaster- with water. Remember water is your friend-it's an advantage of using a water-based stain product like Stain & Seal.

When the Pecan color is dry, I roll Picking White Stain & Seal mixed with FX Thinner (1:1) and wipe it back with a damp cloth.

Faux Effects Pickling White Stain & Seal rolled for Barn wood.

I want to pop the tips of the stained Sandstone. This is where I get more aggressive with the sanding block. After wiping off the dust, I rolled 2 coats of Faux Effects Aquaguard waiting an hour between coats.

To make my doors look a little more upscale, I bought thin wood strips from the big box store.  I cut them to size for the top and bottom of each door. Remember if you have bi-fold doors you will need to cut 2 pieces for the top and 2 pieces for the bottom-so it opens. Things like this seem obvious until you do it...don't ask me how I know this.

I used liquid nails to hold the pieces because they are so light weight.

Now, you could stop here and it looks pretty good. But what artist or crafter wants to stop at "pretty good?" Are we not defined by our love of embellishments?

I had some fun tacks lying around. OK.  I have boxes labeled "DO-DADS" because I'm always buying stuff at flea markets. Don't judge because I know you do it too.

There you go. So much better with the decorative tacks.

All I needed is some fun handles. These look like old plumbing wheels.. I guess there is a technical term for them. I just thought they were cute and big!

And that's it! Up-dated bi-fold doors with a fun up-cycled look!

Want to try Pickling White yourself? Don't forget that Stain & Seal is the October Product of the Month.  You may contact your local or favorite Faux Effects Studio to order-plus they should have the other products such as Sandstone and Aquaguard used in this DIY story.

As always...thanks for reading Finishing Acts and your comments and messages. If you have ideas or questions for future posts please drop me an email at rebecca@fauxfx.com

Rebecca 

Easy Barnwood

This old chippy wood has enjoyed a real comeback. Why is it that a natural aged patina is considered beautiful in decor but not on our face? Just a thought.

Anyway....

There are several ways to fake the look of barnwood. Here are two ways that use the same products. One is for a wall that has no wood. The second is for flat wood that has no character.  As you can see in the above picture, one thing that makes barnwood interesting is the heavy grain. Part of our goal is to create that same rough hewn appearance.

I am using Faux Effects Setcoat Clear, Cracklemate, and Sandstone.  The Setcoat Clear is our prep base.  You want your Sandstone to bond to the sub-surface. Be careful about using latex paint especially paint & primer in one or scrubbable paint.  These are good paint and can even be high dollar. But many are loaded with vinyl which allows for coverage and cleaning. Have you ever tried to get stuff to stick to vinyl? The point is you're not. Many faux finishing products will not cure well to these paints. If you are going to use latex paint as any base for  faux finish do sample. Then take sticky tape and burnish it over the finish.  PULL! It shouldn't come off if it's bonded.

Roll 1-2 coats of Setcoat Clear on your surface and let it dry over night. Next we are making our wood texture.  I mixed 1 quart of Cracklemate with 1 gallon of Sandstone.  Cracklemate is an additive that allows products to crackle over crackle size.  In this case, I'm using it as a conditioner that will allow my Sandstone to thicken and pull in areas.

Add 1-2 cups of water and mix. The Sandstone will form a nice fluffy paste. For a cabinet/wood finish you will brush the mixture over the surface following the grain. An old chip brush will work.

For smaller pieces I like to use a cut-up wallpaper brush to create my grain. A stiff bristle one works best. Just pull it through-again following the grain.

If you would like to create more depth, use your chip brush to blot in heavier areas of the Sandstone.

If your surface is a flat wall, first you will need to mark off your planks using a ruler and a level. Tape off alternating planks.  Decide if your planks run vertically or horizontally. Butter your trowel with the Sandstone mix.

Hold the trowel at a slight angle to the surface and apply the Sandstone in a medium thick layer.

I like to use several tools to create grain. 

You may use the wallpaper brush again.  Another tool is our Bark Specialty Roller.  Attach the roller to a 4" roller cage-it won't fill the entire roller which is fine because it makes it lighter and easier to roll. Just follow your plank and roll using medium pressure.  The Cracklemate will help your pattern roll more cleanly.

For some planks I want to create a heart grain. This is done using a rocker grainer.

You can see the small semi-circle facing my hand.  I set the grainer on the edge with the small semi-circle touching the surface. As you pull the rocker toward you gently "rock" the tool back and forth.

You will need to clean your rocker as you go.  Use a stiff chip brush (we all have those!) and knock the product back into your bucket.

Let the Sandstone set for 20min and then gently compress with a trowel held flatly. Don't over flatten

Pull the tape and repeat on the alternate planks. 





I am using Pre-Tinted Old World Finishing Paint for my color layer.  The colors I've selected are Earth (a warm green based neutral brown), Dove (a stone light grey) and Coconut (a clean white).

These colors may be used straight from the can. You may mix them together or add colorants to get custom shades.  I started with the darkest color which is the Earth. Roll it on for the wall finish.

I brush it on the wood. This shade is made from mixing 3 parts Dove with 1 part Earth.

The Old World Paint will dry about 25% lighter then the wet batch. It will darken after you sand and seal.  Each color layer needs to dry at least 2 hours. Then you may start stacking colors.

I re-taped some of my planks to apply my other colors. This is Coconut over the Earth color.

 This is Dove over the Earth on the wood.

Once you have your colors stacked, use a rough sanding block to reveal underneath colors. OWFP is dusty so wear a dust mask. Wipe off the surface with a damp cloth-this will show you the true color variations and how much you've sanded off.

After sanding you need to seal the surface. Mineral based paints are absorbent and will soak up tinted glaze colors. I used Aquaguard Satin. I mixed 3 parts Aquacreme and 1 part American Walnut Stain & Seal. I also mixed 3 parts Aquacreme and 1 part Van Dyke Stain and Seal.  You may use Faux Crème Colors and Faux Crème Clear if you prefer.

Use a damp cloth to move the colorant and to soften the finish. You may spritz with water to remove more glaze and lighten the finish.  You want to avoid too much variation to keep the finish from looking like stripes.

For cabinet finishes I roll another coat of Aquaguard Satin so the surface may be cleaned. You may do the same to the walls.

This is a great finish to add character to boring pieces and to cover damaged wood or walls. Perfect for the popular reclaimed wood look!

Modern Coastal Finishes Part 3: DIY Driftwood

 

 

 

Sunshine on my soil, makes it crackle...

 

 

Sunshine on my grandma, makes me cry...

 

(1998 20th Century Fox)

Sunshine on Brad Pitt looks so lovely...

 

 

Sunshine, on faux wood, is your DIY

 

 

 

 

We get asked about weathered wood looks, and specifically driftwood, a lot.  Now the  look of driftwood is a combination of the salty water and sunshine.  Beside the driftwood pictured above, the only other one I would like to see covered in salty water ( my tears of joy) is Brad.  OK, wait, what was I talking about..

 

Driftwood!

 

 



I create many of my faux wood textures using Faux Effects Venetian Gem Basecoat.  This is a medium bodied creamy off-white plaster.  I recommend it when my finishers are looking for a tinted matte plaster.  It is more opaque then O'Villa plaster and dries slower.  Plus it takes tint really well. For a gallon of Venetian Gem Base Coat, adding 1/4 cup of colorant including flat latex paint is plenty.  It will dry down darker so blow dry your wet swatches while mixing.

 

I like to tint my base products with other products I will be using in the project as much as possible-this helps with product costs.  In this case I mixed 1 gallon of Venetian Gem Tint Base with 4 TBSP American Walnut Stain & Seal and 2 TBSP Antique Pine Stain & Seal.

 

 

Mark off your planks in varying sizes and tape off every other plank.

Trowel the tinted Venetian Base in a medium thick coat.

There are several tools for creating a wood grain. For some planks I pull a heart grainer through the middle of the wet plaster. 

 

 

And on either side, I use a trapezoid comb to create the side grain.

 

On alternate planks, I like to use our bark roller.

 

 

This is what the plaster will look like wet.

 

And this shows you the color difference between a dry plank and wet planks. When my planks are all dry I pull the tape before glazing.  For my glaze I mix 1 pint FX Thinner + 2 TBSP American Walnut Stain & Seal + 1 TBSP Antique Pine Stain & Seal. These are the colors used to tint the plaster.

 

 

I brush the wet stain over the surface and mist with water. Then use a trowel to pull over the grain.

 

 

This will push the stain mix into the pattern and burnishes the top of the Venetian Base wood grain.

 

Let the wood stain dry (about an hour).  Next thin some Pickling White Stain & Seal and some Metallic Silver Stain & Seal with the FX Thinner.  Add just enough FX Thinner to move the stain colors.  On some planks brush more Pickling White and less Silver at the same time and pull your blade across the surface.  On other planks, use more Silver stain.  You may also add more of the American Walnut/Antique Pine mix.  The key is to work the colors into each other, wet into wet, and not to use just one color.  I like my color layers to dry over night before top coating.

 

 

For wall applications, any satin finish topcoat will work. For floors, the sub surface should be primed (I like Stone Décor as a base but I have used Primetch as well), Setcoat, and then apply plaster.  For a topcoat I like C-500 Satin thinned 25% with water.  You need to wait 12 hours before applying another coat.  I prefer doing finishes like this on surfaces that don't need to wick moisture such as a concrete patios or basement floors. 

 

This look will also work in a Rustic Modern interior and is a great base for adding alternate colors using the Old World Furniture Paint and sanding through. Hmmm.... this might be the finish I should do as my summer project in our third guest room which as a peaked roof line and twin beds.

 

 

 

And speaking of a summer project with things I love....

 

Why it is Brad again

 

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ZOMBIES!