Faux painting or Faux finishing are terms used to describe a wide range of decorative painting techniques.
From the French word for “fake”, faux painting began as a form of replicating materials such as marble and wood with paint, but has come to encompass many other decorative finishes for walls and furniture.
Marbleizing or faux marbling is used to make walls and furniture look like real marble. This can be done using either plaster or glaze techniques.
Graining, wood graining, or faux bois (French for “fake wood”) is often used to imitate exotic or hard-to-find wood varieties.
Trompe l’oeil “trick the eye” in French, is a realistic painting technique often used in murals, and to create architectural details.
Venetian plaster is a smooth and often shiny plaster design that appears textured but is smooth to the touch. Venetian plaster is one of the most popular and traditional plaster decorations.
Color wash is a free-form finish that creates subtle variations of color using multiple hues of glaze blended together with a paint brush.
Strie, from the French word meaning “stripe” or “streak”, is a glazing technique that creates soft thin streaks of color using a paint brush. It is a technique often used to simulate fabrics such as linen and denim.
Rag painting or ragging is a glazing technique using twisted or bunched up rags to create a textural pattern.
In modern day faux finishing, there are two major materials/processes used. Glaze work involves using a translucent mixture of paint and glaze applied with a brush, roller, rag, or sponge, and often mimics textures, but it always smooth to the touch. Plaster work can be done with tinted plasters, or washed over with earth pigments, and is generally applied with a trowel or spatula. The finished result can be either flat to the touch or textured.