My Personal Tara

Part of the former WavyGlass.org site. Threads for member introductions and where members had threads devoted to their own houses for showing off their pride and joy!
Texas_Ranger
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by Texas_Ranger »

Weeeeell... I guess there ARE a few things you could still try. Let's get at this from the scientific side :D

Technically, faux graining consists of three layers as far as I know. First comes a solid base coat, usually some kind of beige or almond, even light brown depending on the desired contrast. On top of this the wood grain is painted using graining combs. The darker the base coat the less contrast between light and dark parts of the wood grain you have. I think the old-timers used linseed oil paint for both. This still looks rather fake since no wood is beige or almond. In order to correct this a final tinting coat is applied (or several of them) and that was at least in the cases I've experienced myself tinted shellac.

Most chemical strippers will remove all these layers and the modern paint on top indiscrimantely as far as I know. However, they react to heat in quite different ways. That's why I suggested the hairdryer, sometimes that's enough to lift the poorly adhering modern paint off the shellac. Since that didn't work you could try a heatgun at the lowest temperature setting or maybe a speedheater. If that still doesn't work you can try turning up the heat and hope you only remove/damage the shellac layer, which is relatively easy to replace compared to the actual grain painting.

The tricky thing about grain painting is that a) you need to know EXACTLY what the species of wood you want to duplicate looks like when finished and b) you need the skill to actually create that look with graining combs instead of something that looks like this.
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SouthernLady
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by SouthernLady »

Oh my, I am afraid what would happen if I tried using graining combs... I watched some YouTube videos on it last night that made it look to easy...

My dad has been holding out on me. He has a heat gun for some unknown reason which he is going to let me borrow. I plan to try it next week as I am scheduled to take that week off from work and do some serious work at the house before cooler weather kicks in. I did some "spot checks" last night throughout the original part of the house. It seems that faux bois graining is the original finish in the parlor, staircase, and landing. It was the second finish in the master bedroom. The two upstairs rooms (which I thought had faux bois graining) were actually just painted an antique white. No graining. My guess is the builder McCousion decided to put the money out immediately on all the "public view" areas then come back later to do his bedroom. The kids' rooms upstairs didn't count. ;)

I have seen the graining done with those roller things. Would that be accurate enough for the 1890s? I used to do artwork and not to brag was quite well at it. I might be up to using the combs, but that's a lot of wood we are talking about... I don't want to really mess the house up. :?

From what I have uncovered thus far, I am wondering if I can take pictures of the graining and replicate it with combs. Is this very difficult?

Lower Brambly
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by Lower Brambly »

You will improve your skills with practice, so find some scrap lumber and practice, practice, practice! You could repaint the same 2 or 3 boards until you get it right.

Texas_Ranger
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by Texas_Ranger »

I've never heard of those rollers so I can't say anything about them, sorry!

You're not going to mess up your house with faux bois, no matter what you do - the worst that can happen is you have to paint it over again.

If you want to pull this through I'd say start by looking at about a hundred pictures of the species you want to recreate (and maybe pick something not too complex, e.g. flat-sawn oak instead of quarter-sawn) and then practice on some scrap boards until you feel confident. That's how I started hanging doors using traditional "pocket hinges" for the lack of a better English term. I bought the special chisel that is required and then practiced on some scrap wood until I felt OK to do the first door.

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SouthernLady
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by SouthernLady »

I have decided to tackle the faux bois in the spring--hopefully after I fix the ceilings upstairs. (Fingers crossed the ceiling tile contains no asbestos so I can just yank that junk down... otherwise I will be one sad--and ticked off--Southern lady...) I am going to attempt to save the original that is under two layers of paint by carefully applying paint stripper then wiping it off quickly. The shellac seems pretty thick for the faux bois, but if it doesn't work at least I won't be out anything. I figure it won't hurt to try!

Here's the almost-complete deck! It's taking a lot longer than I anticipated to get all of it done, because every time I plan to take a day off work it either rains or the wood is wet from a recent rain...

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This connector section is by no means original to the house. It was added around the 1940s when a covered walkway from the house to the blacksmith shop (back building you see) was enclosed to add a bathroom and a few closets for the family. I plan to change the second storm door for the Victorian-style one in the spring. I still have to finish the backside of the latticework, a few touchups, stain the deck floors and steps, and do the much-needed landscaping around the area.

CHRISTMAS IS HERE!!!!!!

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This is what I came up with for Christmas on the house this year. I am attempting to stay as period as possible. Sorry it's not a very good picture, but hopefully you can get a good idea. (The ladder doesn't stay--I had to switch out the porch light because the PO installed an indoor-only light on the porch which shorted out for some crazy reason when the last snow blew the white stuff in sideways on the porch. Thank God the house didn't burn down and the power went out in the area. The candle things literally melted and I am going to scrap the mega light. :roll:

Christmas parlor:

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Cover the hideous popcorn ceiling with your hand while you look at the picture. It will help! :oops: Can't wait to get rid of that ceiling to expose the original one!

Other side of the parlor:

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And the other wall, just in case you were curious:

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Yes, Joy, you nosy little Papillon, we see you... no, I was not taking the picture of you, silly girl!


Just in case we forget to later, I and my little Joy-bug (1-year-old Papillon, Joy) wish you a merry Christmas!
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Superbeetle
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by Superbeetle »

Your tree is so beautiful. I'll admit, I can't wait to see what your parlor will look like with the bead board ceiling exposed!

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Tracey (WavyGlass)
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by Tracey (WavyGlass) »

Your home is beautiful. You have done a fabulous job.
I will be following your progress for ideas for our new old home.

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SouthernLady
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by SouthernLady »

I am so sad... I haven't worked on my blog in almost a year! Because most of my work has been getting done in the evenings from 9 PM-1 AM due to my hectic work schedule, I feel like I am not really doing anything worthy of posting, but when I step back and look at the whole picture, I see I really am and then I feel bad I have failed to update with the progress. I am basically trying to rearrange my schedule and duties to be home more like a normal person. But hey, I work to earn more money to buy more antiques... y'all know how it is! ;)

My guest room is now done with the exception of the ceiling. Still trying to decide if I want to test to see if the ceiling tile contains asbestos or not. If not, I am going to attempt to rip it down as it is glued directly onto the original tongue-and-groove ceiling it seems. I also have to do some restoration and cleaning in the old luggage closet. The ceiling is definitely untouched and original, and I suspect the walls are also the same. Being so, I plan to just give it a good cleaning and refinish the floor to match the rest of the room. I also need to find a five-panel door to replace the junky one that was put in when the upstairs bathroom was added--a small portion was cut out of the bedroom for the bathroom.

I have since started work in the second upstairs bedroom with the balcony, which I am turning into my library. The woodwork in that room was all originally a battleship gray. I am opting for a period-correct shade of pewter blue with a period-correct antique white trim. My dad and I have been taking details from period bookcases to build a wall-to-wall built-in bookcase on one side as I have a pretty massive collection of antique books and others which need proper storage. I have stripped the eight layers of paint off the interior part of the door and will worry about the faux grained "public view" side when I get around to work on the landing. One thing at a time!

Anyways, hopefully I can get all of this uploaded soon!

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Gothichome
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by Gothichome »

Small things add up over time, you'll only see the progress later when you sit back and relax.

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Don M
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Re: My Personal Tara

Post by Don M »

Definitely sounds like you are making good progress. Just post a few progress pictures when you have time!

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