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As long is it isn't trying to look like marble (Oh so 80's) then Im fine with well done faux finishes in moderation...

...but when it's all over the house, and the colors used are pastels and/or have no relation to anything else in the room - then it's too much.

faux pas. couldn't help it, sorry.

In moderation, and if *not* trying to make something look old, and instead just doing it to add texture or interest, then yes.

If trying to fake something, then naux. :)

just say no to faux

It has to be done right, I have seen beautiful work and bad like that picture. I think it looks best on curvy lines, arches and not so much on Modern straight lines.

I've gotta say no, but I'm sure I can be proven wrong with one or two examples.

Emily

One of the major tenaments abour modern design is honesty in design and materails. Faux finishes are completely against this, so too mix the two is simply wrong.

If you truly want a a 'faux' look however, there are a lot of new authentic finishes that could work with modern furniture, such as American Clay. http://www.americanclay.com/

I hope I never again see or hear the phrase "modern Tuscan". You want plaster walls, get plaster walls.

I don't really like fake surfaces, plastic that's supposed to look like wood, etc., but I don't mind painterly techniques. I'm not sure about "faux" but I don't like flat color all the time. Paint can do things, paintings on canvas are faux realism - capturing a look if you can on an actual wall is not different. The problem might be people often stop at the overdone, "tuscan" or whatever rag-painting method is popular this month on HGTV. Modern Italian stuff is really cool, and I think old time stuff looks better with authentic wear. Nobody is going to be fooled walking into your new build McMansion in New Jersey and think it's a villa 500 years ago, and as such, I can't decide if it's more tacky or just harmless. I'm not normally a fan of decor that seems overly bound to any particular historic era - I like old stuff too, but it's not a home to me if you can't admit you live in the here and now.

ditto palmetto

Unfortunately, faux Tuscan is all the rage in well-heeled Austin. It's a big mistake to go with the flow in this instance.

I am not at all opposed to using paint in different ways for surface decoration. But faux Tuscan is (1) a total cliche at this point, and (2) so wrong in Texas. Don't get me wrong --Texans can do whatever they want! But they usually think big, and think are also great when they are thinking up the future. (Don't go back to faux Texas ranch style!) Try something original. If it is fresh, it can successfully incorporate elements of the past.

i'm a scenic painter, so this is something i feel very strongly about.

if you have painting experience and think your space can support it, then go for it. if you think buying a kit from home depot is going to make your ranch-style home look pretty with faux leather, or faux plaster, or--God forbid--"tuscan-style," well, then, you deserve what you get. most of these techniques were developed for stage and screen, and that's where they belong. in the home, they are tacky and obvious and quite often very poorly done besides. if you really think these effects are going to raise your quality of life, go live in a theme restaurant.

/rant :)

Phaedrus,

I am not trying to be a grammar snob but it's "tenets," not "tenements." But other than that you are completely right (and make a point I never really thought about before).

My mother has her own faux finishing business, and her work is beautiful. There is a difference between sponge/plastic bag do-it-yourself trends and professional faux work. As long as it's understated, and isn't contributing to an overdone "theme" in every room of the house, it looks amazing. If you don't think faux techniques can compliment modern decor, then you haven't seen what a real faux artist can do. It's not all about plaster and kitschy themes.

I worked my way through grad school as a faux finisher. My partner and I mainly worked in multi-million dollar, new construction homes. (He handled the contracts, I did the dirty work.) Sometimes the end result was really, really beautiful, but only if the colors, proportions and technique fit the space. Unfortunately, about 95% of the faux finishing I see around me is very poor quality/unskilled.

And 2 years later and I've NEVER even considered doing faux anything in my own home.

I've worked for a very successful faux painter in Laguna, her good work was beautiful, imaginative and artistic. The by-the-numbers stuff was ...meh. We ended up being subcontracted by a designer to do a colorwash in one bedroom for the 1999 (or was it 2000?) Philharmonic Design House in Newport Bch, the theme that year was "Mediterranean", and wouldn't you know it, the room we did had to look like a ...(sinister cue)... Tuscany bedroom. We worked with a very light wash of pumpkin colored milk paint over a basecoat that had a sickly pinkish tone resembling the flesh of a baby doll. It ended up nice, but what an experience. Imagine a McMansion full of designers and contracters and subcontractors and landscapers and everything else that made it a cutthroat bitchy atmosphere with a deadline. Just like those HGTV shows (which I don't watch)....

Bottom line.... if done RIGHT and SUBTLY, and that is a big IF... and if it draws no attention to itself, fine. Otherwise forget it. And like bmb, NEVER in my own home, lol....

done right it could really look cool,
here in old europe that modern tuscan thing was "hip" a few years ago (even in italy) , but mostly it looks like a thema restaurant!
it´s more ok to put modern design in an 150 year old house, but in a modern home, no faux tuscan or anything like that please!

I don't like it in traditional settings either. I love objects, traditional or modern, with a real patina. When I buy something it's a priority for me that it ages well. Faux surfaces generally don't. It's something I can see doing as a DIY to revive an old piece that's not great quality to begin with... annnnd we're already halfway down the slippery slope to tacky.

AustinSarah2 - you mean, it's a mistake to go with the faux! (rimshot)

i have some crazy before and afters i need to get online - the bedroom of my new place was peach and salmon faux finished! what were they thinking?!! i always say no to faux.

eww no, just stop it already people, it doesn't look "warm" or "cozy" or "Tuscan" it looks tacky and dated.

okay, i am loathe to admit it, but i LIKE colour-washing. and was thinking of doing it in my new home.

but now i am spending too much time thinking longingly of Behr Venetian Plaster or TechStone Flexrock.

i just think it would work with the refinished hardwood floors and the bronze tafetta drapes and my big 4-poster bed...