faux wood graining

woodgraining is a branch of specialist decoration in which the decorative artist uses paint to simulate the appearance of exotic and expensive timbers. Graining is a traditional decorative paint finish and is one of a number of paint effects that have been widely used for several centuries to enhance interiors. We are woodgraining specialists and undertake work nationwide.

wood graining images

painted wood graining burr yew inset in satinwood Faux wood grain burr Yew and Satinwood warm yellow silky wood graining of satinwood Faux wood graining of satinwood faux wood graining feathered mahogany Faux wood grain feathered mahogany swirly and dotty wood graining paint effect burr walnut Burr Walnut faux wood graining walnut heart wood graining trompe loeil panel Wood graining Walnut heartwood warm pale yellow faux maple wood Faux wood graining of maple wood wood graining specialist decoration trompe loeil mahogony panels Mahogany faux wood grained panels light coloured faux wood graining in Biedermeier style Biedermeier faux wood graining wood graining trompe l'oeil oak fielded panels Wood graining with trompe l'oeil panels faux wood graining fitted furniture in bedroom Faux wood graining of fitted units wood graining paint effect antique pine Wood graining to simulate antique Pine faux wood graining on bath panels in curly birch Faux wood graining of curly birch wood paint effect faux wood walnut panel Wood paint effects trompe l'oeil panel a panel painted to look like antique pine using wood graining techniques Graining wood pine trompe l'oeil panel pine wood recreated with paint on dado panels in living room Graining wood faux pine in living room walnut woodgraining in continental manner Wood paint effects faux walnut warm brown walnut woodgraining in bathroom Faux wood graining bathroom Woodgraining bathroom marquetry

woodgraining characteristics

In use graining inclines to suggest, as does the natural material, a sense of warmth, intimacy, elegance, honesty and charm. In large schemes such as panelled rooms and sequences of doors it can be suggestive of opulence and grandeur.

wood grain paint effects in use

woodgraining can be used anywhere where expensive wood would fittingly be used, or when indeed an environmentally considered approach is required.

The technique of faux graining can usefully support period styles of decoration such as Biedermeier, Art Deco and Empire. This is partially but not only because this paint effect was used extensively in these periods.

Woodgraining as a specialist decoration technique is a useful solution where the real material cannot be used for technical reasons, or to match existing timbers that can no longer be sourced. A trained and experienced decorative artist can apply the specialist faux wood paint effect with sympathy for the overall design considerations of the project.
At the finest levels of craftsmanship graining can reasonably be described as a type of trompe l'oeil. Wood graining of this pedigree is sometimes referred to a polite graining or faux bois.

graining history

An ancient technique, a class of craftsmen existed in Ancient Egypt who replicated in paint the expensive woods in popular use at the time.
Early European examples date back to the late seventeenth century and the craft in Britain was given impetus from Europe by the arrival of the Huguenots. The craft of the grainer reached its apogee in the mid nineteenth century with the likes of artists like Thomas Kershaw, who's graining work examples are on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum.