The use of paint to convey the illusion of natural materials dates back over four thousand years when the ancient Mycenaean civilization first decorated pottery pieces to look like marble. The term faux—pronounced foe—is French for “fake” or “false”. Faux or decorative painting includes marbling, wood graining, antiquing, and color glazes of many varieties.

The term faux—pronounced foe—is a French word meaning “fake” or “false”.  Faux or decorative painting includes not only marbling and wood graining, but also distressing, antiquing, rag rolling, patinas, and sponging, all using a very wide variety of so-called glazes and color washes.  Areas that can be faux-painted include interior and exterior walls, furniture, doors and windows, cabinets and furnishings of all types.

Creating a faux finish usually involves applying anywhere from one to as many as eight or nine different layers of colored, transparent paints or glazes over a given surface.  Many different application tools and techniques are used to achieve different effects.  Some complicated faux wood graining or marbling techniques can require the use of seven or eight tools including feathers, cotton balls, cheesecloth, rags, sponges, and specialty brushes and combs.

Many factors will affect the outcome of a faux-finished project.  The choice and combination of paints and glazing materials, the choice of application tools and techniques, air temperature and humidity, the temperature, texture, and porosity of the painted surface, subtle variations of hand pressure and movement, and artistic interpretation all play a contributing role.  Any or all of these factors account for the variations in the finished surface appearance.