Nigel Watts
Member
- Messages
- 1,779
- Location
- London N7
I am about to embark on the fake oak graining of my living room woodwork. I have a book and a video (which needless to say give different advice). I have done fake mahogany before (hall and landing doors) but not fake oak. If anyone has any tips they could share with me before I start I would be most grateful.
There is plenty of evidence that fake oak was the original treatment in 1840 when the house was built. I also believe that part or all of the cornice was distempered to look like carved oak, perhaps even with flecks of a contrasting orangeish-red in the brown to create a grained effect (some suggestion of this when I was cleaning the cornice). I have never seen or read anything about creating paint effects in distemper, especially on elaborately moulded surfaces. Any intelligence about this would be gratefully received as I would like to have a go a recreating it.
The cornices in my next door neighbour's house were cleaned recently. Although the mirror image of mine on the outside (ours form a pair of semis) the interior cornices are all different. One of the more elaborate ones, before it was recovered in several layers of Brilliant White Dulux, showed clear evidence that it was origianlly distempered in at least two contrating colours picking out the detail.
There is plenty of evidence that fake oak was the original treatment in 1840 when the house was built. I also believe that part or all of the cornice was distempered to look like carved oak, perhaps even with flecks of a contrasting orangeish-red in the brown to create a grained effect (some suggestion of this when I was cleaning the cornice). I have never seen or read anything about creating paint effects in distemper, especially on elaborately moulded surfaces. Any intelligence about this would be gratefully received as I would like to have a go a recreating it.
The cornices in my next door neighbour's house were cleaned recently. Although the mirror image of mine on the outside (ours form a pair of semis) the interior cornices are all different. One of the more elaborate ones, before it was recovered in several layers of Brilliant White Dulux, showed clear evidence that it was origianlly distempered in at least two contrating colours picking out the detail.