Professional Faux Finishes Made Easy

Get out your paintbrush and have some faux fun with this advanced guide to faux painting. Fully of techniques and ideas, you'll want this in your library.

As a house painter and faux finisher, this book has earned a spot in my library of techniques and ideas. If you are an absolute beginner at faux finishes, I would recommend taking a beginning class of some kind first to familiarize yourself with the materials and basic tecniques. Or, if you like to just jump right in, take the book with you to your favorite paint store and get help buying what you need and mixing colors. A good paint store is an invaluable resource and the people who work there often like to help beginners figure things out (take care not to go during their busiest times of day). If you've done little faux finishing, try to match colors and materials (plasters or paints) as closely as possible and practise on 2'x 2' sample boards or a wall in your house until you are comfortable with the techniques being shown. I find the author's photos and explanations to be pretty precise and accurate compared to finishes that I've created. One thing I particularly like about this book is that the author is obviously enjoying himself and is not afraid to try different ways of combining his materials to create new looks. In other words, he is always experimenting and learning. And that is what faux finishing is often about.