Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Faux painting or trompe l'oeil painting?
Here's another place where "faux" and "trompe l'oeil" start to mean the same thing.
This component of the design I'm working on right now at Lucky D's, a new bar in San Diego's East Village, needs the original exterior brick wall of an historic building to "wrap" around onto to a new sheetrock wall.
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John,
My guess is, when completed, this will look strange. If your trying to tie an existing brick wall to a faux brick wall you need to have not only a perfect color match, but also a close texture match which can be obtained through a variety of products and techniques. Faux Effects Aquastone is the best and easiest. Most inexpensive way would be trowel joint compond 1/8" thick in horizontal sections.(If your good with the trowel and hawk your open time should be 25-30min or more) Next, use a loop(texture) roller over entire surface of compound you just completed. Now take rubber trowel smoother ( a taping knife works ok also. Just be careful not to completely flatten the texture you just created. Just knock it down lightly). Use a laser level to match adjoining grout lines of original brick wall and, depending on the width, use either your finger, teaspoon,etc. to remove joint compound paying particular attention to the horizontal pattern, and depth of grout on original brick wall. If the grout is not round, but somewhat flat the best way is to tape entire wall with the closest tape to the existing brick wall's grout thickness.Usually 1/4"-1/2". Tape horizontal lines first leaving extra tape at the end for removel. Next tape vertical lines and cut the vertical lines out of every other brick vertically. Next use a knife to cut horizontal slits in the middle of every remaining intersection so that when you pull the horizontal tape it will lift up the remaining vertical tape pieces for easy removel IF YOU MISS THIS STEP YOU ARE SCREWED! If you use tape make sure you pull it BEFORE it dries AND before you use the texture paint because you want some grit to the grout. Because its old brick you may want to lightly distress grout lines with a rag or sea sponge. Now, depending on the texture of old wall, paint all the brick on new wall with 1 part sand texture paint tinted to closely resemble original grout color and 3-4 parts water (glaze will produce a unrealistic shine when used on faux brick). Use a roller because it prevents the texture paint from "pooling" in the grout lines you've created. Next you need to use a product like water based polyurethane-matte finish(Behr is good) or, my favorite, Faux Effects Aquaseal(set-coat clear) to lock your completed brick and sand texture in place. Now paint with approx. 1-part paint to 4 or 5 parts water. If you don't keep it sheer you'll lose texture and the brick will look painted. Several thin layers with your choosen colors usually is best because you can control the matching of the existing wall better. Distress with rag or sponge if you need to. If neccesary set off some of the bricks to match original brick. You can also "spatter" if need be. You may also need to scuff the surface with a sanding pad to create a more "worn" look.If you really want to take it all the way use a small chip bruse and lightly stipple 6 parts water to 1 part tinted texture paint to grout lines for ultimate realism. Now you need to use a sealer like the ones mentioned above to lock in your color and protect the finish. Presto!
Greg Wileman
Colorfountain Paint Co.
Decorative Finishes Studio
Janesville, WI
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