Faux Woodgraining Drywall Built-ins’…
Wait a minute….. Hold on….. that’s drywall?
Yup, it’s fake, from Port Royal to Mediterra, Pelican Bay, Bay Colony, even in Grey Oaks I faked it in a number of areas.
you name it I have probably been there at on time or another faux woodgraining something. I have wood-grained some pretty strange things in my day and my latest was a PT Cruiser but that’s another story I’ll tell ya about soon.
Anyway, as I was saying I really can’t say when I started painting woodgrain being that I been slinging a paintbrush for over 30 years now and it can be a challenge sometimes. So I am going to share with you some very important details to help to ensure that you can come out with the best look that you can for your own skill level. The actual graining takes practice but being this species of wood is relatively all straight grained it should be easily achieved. If not at least you could save yourself a bunch of money by doing the prep yourself or know what to look for before you call me to the graining part.
I can’t recall how long ago I came across this job and it doesn’t matter but the texture on the drywall had a knockdown finish. I had to bring the drywall back to a flat surface. You may think that it isn’t that big of a deal but what you don’t know is this home literally sits on top of the water. The water reflected so much light you could see right through the drywall even though there where two sides of 1/2″ drywall. To smooth out the texture you have to use the exact same type of drywall ‘mud’ because some are harder than others and will sand differently. So the drywall muds’ density must match to sand evenly with the existing texture for it to level out. For example ’15 minute mud’ dries harder than ’30 minute’ and ’30 minute mud dries faster and harder than ’45’ minute mud etc.
It isn’t rocket science I know but if not done correctly one mud will sand lighter than the other and will not level to the density of the existing texture which will transfer through the base paint, so even though it looks and feels smooth to the touch it actually is not and if you don’t know what to look for or “feel for” it will only be until after you prime and paint will you know if you got it right. Trust me you will know when you hit the surface with that first layer of glaze. If you did it right the first layer will have a nice even look if not you will see the actual texture “ghost” through the glaze. The only pro is going to know if that surface is perfect or not and an old painter saying is if you can feel it with your hand you will see it…
If it does “ghost” or “translates” then you need to smooth that surface with another layer of mud, so before you go through the whole process of prime and paint the entire surface test it in a small area first.
a drywall built-in cabinet can be a big issue but are rare in Port Royal, however, they are found in Pelican Bay, Mediterra, Grey Oaks, Wyndemere, and a number of other gated communities.
Though popular in interior designs of the 90’s I have seen a significant decrease in the use of them because of the permanence of them. As time went on and it came time to redecorate, the drywall built-ins became an issue of whether to make them blend in with the rest of the rooms design ideas or to remove them altogether. In this case, it was decided to faux wood grain the drywall built in to match the double set of entry doors which were made of a straight grain South American mahogany. In addition to faux wood graining, the drywall built in it was also decided to carry the look outside the home and faux wood grain the metal overhead garage doors to match the entry also.
Of course when faux wood graining metal overhead garage doors there are some very important guidelines in regards to the manufacturers’ warranty and proper materials to use. I especially want to point out that you must not use oil base materials on metal doors
All too often I have received phone calls from homeowners, interior designers, and even contractors wondering why the finish on these doors fails so quickly. Well, there are two reasons one is the fact that nobody reads the manufacturers’ labels that pasted right on the back of the doors. The other is the right person wasn’t hired to do the job in the first place because they were cheaper.
Hopefully, you’re not reading this after Moe, Larry and Curly have been to your house.
Please read this post on
The Warning of
Wood Graining Garage Doors
Then go read my post on
Port Royal Faux Finishing
to find out what’s probably the real reason of why some things fail and I think between all these posts that I have written most will understand why there are more than just garage door faux wood graining that’s failing in the creative master craftsmen trades in the construction and art world these days
.A if your wanting more then take look at this cabinet finish that is a mix of
Furniture Painting Faux Woodgraining
2 thoughts on “Faux Woodgraining Drywall Builtin”
Thankyou Arthur for your generous dedication and humor. Why not use pine or a cheaper composite material for the built ins, all that work onto something as fragile as drywall doesn’t make sense for the long haul. It sure is beautiful tho! Great job! Eric
Hi Eric, thanks for stopping in, The drywall was already existing and it doesn’t take long to level it out with the compound. Sometimes my wording is drawn out but I try to present the whole picture. To use another wood like Pine or fir over the drywall would have actually created more work. Reason being it would have needed to be all back primed before installed plus there would have been the additional caulking. A composite was another choice but we were concerned of the amount of leveling and “scribing” that would have had to been done to “square up” the appearance because of a concave appearance from corner to corner. The rounded corner beads all had to be addressed, which was done by others and tearing it out was also not an option because it serviced the area. The numbers were ran and this was the most cost effective approach. I should have been a little more thorough as to explaining the reasons rather than the remedy, but that would defeat the whole purpose of having open discussions on my blog. Hearing others ideas and opinions helps everyone grow and is why I welcome the contributions, for even an old guy like me is still sitting in the class room with everyone else I’m just easier to point out is all …..lol