NEW Faux Wood DVD finished!

Now you can learn how to paint a faux wood finish

After 5 years of experimenting, in addition to painting many garage doors as well as front doors and cabinets, we finally finished editing our Faux Wood DVD. You can read all about the various aspects about this finish by going to our page dedicated to how to paint faux wood and at the bottom of the page you can find a link to take you to our store to purchase yours.

What you will learn on the DVD

The segments on the video are split up into 10 main sections, which include time saver tips like those on our other faux painting DVDs.  We split up the teaching on how to achieve a faux wood finish  similar to various types of wood into 3 sections - Cabinets and Doors, Columns, Garage Doors and Misc. Surfaces. The segment on Cabinets and Doors is split up into two sections. One is learning how to achieve a Faux Oak, Cherry and Walnut finish. The other is how to achieve a Faux Mahogany, Beech and Teak finish.  We also including segments called Practice Assignments, Mistakes to Avoid as well as Important Things to Remember.

The faux painting tools you will need

We are so glad to let our customers know that the tools of the patented Triple S Faux System are the main tools used for the techniques taught on this new DVD.  The Multi Color Faux Palette and the Poofy Pad are indispensable for applying the glaze on the surface as well as adding fine specks that are commonly found in popular rich woods. Since the glaze in loaded on the palette, there is no need to carry a paint tray or cup in your hands.  When working in the sun, it's so easy for the glaze to get thickened. Since you are holding the palette with your glaze on it, you can keep your paint tray in the shade.  The palette is so light weight that it is much easier to hold in your hand and shield it from the sun, also. 

After difficulty with a rocker, which is commonly used for adding grain lines, we decided to try to come up with an alternative. We are pleased to announce that we developed our own wood graining pad. As with every company, we continue to adjust the design as we get comments from our customers and as we notice any difficulties while painting more and more surfaces to look like wood. For now, the pad has 2 notched sides that give you 8 different wood grain lines. The pad is the perfect size to hold easily in your hand. Our initial design has a different color on each side, too. But we are in the process of making a decision to adjust the design to be of one color, so that we can lower our cost and benefit our customers with savings.  So far, we have used the pad around 4 times and it still gives us clean lines.  Therefore, the pad won't have to be replaced after just a few times of use.  Two sides are larger for wide areas and the narrower sides are perfect for areas where a large graining pad will not fit. The pad has 2 sides for achieving grain lines that Oak wood has, 2 sides for Mahogany and 2 sides that will give you larger grains for use on garage doors that can be seen from afar.

We also developed and produced a set of wood graining stencils, too.  They are made with small squares that are close to the grain lines where you place tape to hold in place. With these 4 stencils and the wood graining pads, you can add a variety of grain lines.

The type of paint you will use

Since oil paint should never be used outside due to the fact that the heat will make it brittle, causing it to crack and peel, you will use regular wall paint. For added durability, you can use exterior wall paint for the base coat and for mixing your top coat glaze, too.
For a limited time, we are including with every order of our kits that contain the Faux Wood DVD, a FREE Faux Wood Color E-file, that has the colors we have developed for the base coat that are perfect for matching the most popular hard woods. Right now, at the writing of this blog, we have the formula for them, available at Sherwin Williams. We hope to eventually include matches from other paint companies, too.

Faux wood on garage door fix up

I was asked to patch another faux finish. It seems like more and more, customers are calling to fix a job that someone else did.  This time is was a garage door that someone had painted with a faux wood finish.  The paint and glaze was peeling very badly.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the damaged area before I fix it, therefore, I can't post it.  There was no sense in posting the after picture, either.

But here is a close up picture of the neighbor's garage door that was faux painted by the same company.  As you can see by the picture, the glaze is already started to fade, harden and crack.  That's because the faux finisher used an oil based base coat and oil based glaze to faux paint the wood finish.

I spoke to a professional at a paint store and they explained that you should never use oil for outdoors because oil becomes brittle from the sun.  Water based paints are more flexible and expand differently with the heat. Therefore, they are a better option for exterior surfaces.

Why do some faux painters use oil glaze?
The open time for oil glazes is a whole lot longer than it is for water based glazes.  That's why some professionals prefer to use them.  However, as you can see by the picture, they don't hold up very well outdoors because of the sun.  So if your doors get a lot of exposure to the sun, you will be very sorry if you resort to using oil paints and glazes, in order to get the open time.  Besides, water based paints are usually more eco friendly paints.

How to faux paint wood grain with water based glazes
Using water based faux painting glazes can be difficult outside, especially if you are working directly in the sun.  The open time is decreased due to the heat.  Working in the shade is better, however, sometimes it's not an option.  Therefore, creating the faux wood effect quickly is the ideal solution.  Stay posted as we continue to develop our faux wood DVD.  The more I paint, the better ideas I am given by the Lord.