Real marble can be extremely expensive. But with faux painting techniques, you can create the look of marble at a price that you can afford. You don’t even need to be a professional painter to get great results!

Getting Started

Spend some time looking at pictures of real marble slabs before beginning your faux painting project. This will help you get a better idea of what will work for your surface. These days you don’t even have to travel to do that. Just do a search online for “marble” and you can find websites that give you a variety of pictures. There are a number of different methods used to create the look of marble. However, if this is your first faux painting project, intricate designs may be too much to tackle. Additionally, busy patterns can sometimes compete with other elements in the room. If you are going to apply this finish on a wall, then consider a marble look that has less veins that softly blend into one another. Your colors should match the existing room decor.

Tips for Marble Faux Painting Projects

The popular colors used in marble faux painting projects are burnt sienna or dark grey on a pale ivory background. When creating a faux marble finish, you’ll need at least two colors of glaze. If you are working with black background, however, shades of white and green are best.

Adding texture to your base coat of glaze can be achieved by lighting dabbing the area with a balled up plastic grocery bag. Tone variations can be created by lifting off excess paint with a natural sea sponge.

Veins can be added to your work with a fine paintbrush, but you may also want to experiment with the different looks provided by making veins with a goose or turkey feather. If you want to make a stencil to guide your work, tear a strip of poster board and paint along the jagged edge.

Consider spending some time perfecting your technique first, on a sturdy sheet of poster board. However, don’t be overly critical when trying to correct mistakes in your work. As a natural material, real marble is seldom perfect. Diverse looking veins in regards to thickness and intensity is important. Therefore, even a few minor mistakes can help give your faux painting project a more realistic appearance.

Working with a Faux Painting Kit

For those who are just learning about faux finishing techniques, investing in a faux painting kit can be a smart move. A kit gives you all of the necessary tools in one convenient location, plus detailed instructions to guide you through your home decor project. Even though many home improvement stores are limited in the variety of kits you might find, the internet is a great place to purchase one right for you. There are websites that show you the basics of faux painting which you can incorporate in achieving a faux marble finish, even if it is not included in the kit.

By: Sandra Silva

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Choosing the right fireplace design for your homes may be a hard task. While there are many designs you can select from, not all of these can perfectly fit the interior of your home. A wrong design could actually ruin the overall motif of your house. One good thing to do is to ask the advice of a home improvement expert. What’s even better is that some home builders have in-house modelers that can advise you with the right fireplace style for your home at no extra cost. But for those who are into stone or rock fireplace designs, here are some of the sought-after styles.

Rustic Limestone designs are a favorite among house builders. For one, its versatile style fits any type of interior, be it modern or traditional. And since limestone has a smooth surface, cleaning is not a problem-just wipe off all the dust and it is as good as brand new. Even if limestone has a light color, it will blend in with your interior if installed properly. You can even put accessories like a mantel scarf to make it more subtle.

Let’s say you want to have a rock fireplace design for your lodge. This time, rustic limestone just wouldn’t do. What you need is a custom-built fieldstone fireplace. Remember that your lodge is built with only one dominant material, which is wood so it calls for a more rugged fireplace. There are some builders who opt to extend the mantel up to the ceiling of the lodge.

Wood and rock are potent combination. This is the reason why some ski lodges have rock-steady fireplaces. And this comes with good reasons, too. For old lodges, these firesides are attached to the foundation of the lodge, making it much sturdier. Some of these lodges have stone flooring- the same stones that make up the fireplace.

For a more elegant look, you may choose a marble fireplace. This type is build with marble tiles with clean and sharp lines. Depending on your interior, you can choose a light shaded marble tile or the more chic dark shades-the choice is yours. There is the “Deco Marble Fireplace” which is an Art Deco inspired design. The marble tiles are complemented by glass mantel and wooden accents. Some companies put a little twist to these marble tiles. They crushed these marbles and the result is a fine grain marble which, when bonded together to form a mantel, has a high gloss finish.

Did you know that there are rock fireplace designs for the outdoors? It’s called concrete fire pits. You may choose to buy portable fire pits from your home improvement shops but nothing beats the permanent structure. Most of these circular pits are made of concrete, but you can also choose the ones that are made from marble brick or layered rocks.

Some custom designs even include concrete benches where people can sit while savoring the warmth from the fire pit. One good benefit of outdoor fireplaces is that it adds value to your home-the outside landscape in particular-not to mention that it can also be a good hangout place for family bonding.

By: Terry Edwards

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