Fireplace faux finish: before, after & video

Sometimes a faux finish is a moderator in designing a room, that is to say, instead of making a plain wall into something "wow!", the faux finish modulates something that is already there and doesn't work (and isn't going to be changed) into something that works beautifully.

Over the last few years of painting murals and creating faux finishes in San Diego, I have encountered this situation often when it comes to the existing fireplace and mantel in a home that is being redesignedand remodelled. It starts to get pricey when you talk about removing existing stone or brickwork, not to mention a major inconvenience in terms of the time it takes to strip an existing firebox and surround of its cladding and redo completely.

Faux finishing in this instance is a typically cheaper and much faster makeover, not to mention that you have more control over what the new fireplace will look like in terms of color, value and contribution to the room. Rather than being bound by what stone you can find (or afford), paints, glazes and application techniques can be easily adjusted to accomplish your design goals.

The example detailed below solved exactly this scenario for a living room remodel in a 1970's era home here in San Diego. We've all seen this style of "rock" cladding, both interior and exterior, on homes from this period and, more tragically, on older homes remodelled during this period.



The clients had repainted the room in fresh bright white and were about to install new soft creamy white carpeting to complete their suite of ocean and beach themed furniture and artwork in soft driftwood greys, cream and shots of rich ocean and sky blue. Clearly the garish yellow gold and harshly dark grout lines of the fireplace, which dominates its end of the room, had to go!

Here's a close-up of the surface I had to start with:



I still don't know if this stuff is actual stone or precast concrete or where they got the snappy yellow color, but the bottom line was getting something to stick to this surface that could shift the colors and flavour into the new decor of the room. Additionally, the clients found me right before the scheduled carpet install, so this had to be a one-day job because of calendar, not just cost.

I used a variety of faux techniques on this surface, which I am pleased to detail here for you with the first video of several that I have been creating about my work this summer in preparation for the new programs at the San Diego Finishing School this fall. Check it out:



Here is a larger still of final product; I'm still waiting on a picture from clients with carpet and finishing touches: