Why?
Elite artists who have all the tools, products, creativity and skills have reserved faux finish (aka: faux or decorative painting) for themselves and those up-and-coming talents who want to join the industrys’ ranks of top product shoppers and trompe l'oeil creators. Over the past ten years of “fauxing” I have met hundreds of “regular joes… and janes ” who want to learn how to do their own projects. I have worked with and trained entrepreneurs who are creating portfolios for their own new faux biz. I have had the privilege of working with, and being trained by, seasoned professionals who are extremely talented and amazing at what they do. Also, I have worked side by side with so many homeowners and interior designers who would love to have creative looks to choose from; just to point to and say, “This is what I have been looking for!” So many talents, so many options. Let’s just keep it simple.
From Whence We Came
Many years ago I saw a finish a friend had done on her own, and I was so impressed and intrigued that I ran to the store the next day to buy the items she described. I ran home, tools and paints hot in my hands, full of excitement. We moved all the furniture and poured out the much-thought-over colors (deep red and golden brown). And I started in the middle of the biggest wall in the room using the technique my friend so generously shared. All was going great until doubt set in and I began second- guessing this color combo. After a couple of days of showing people this huge, middle-of-the-wall, blob, I had received enough reassurance to continue. This was my first faux lesson in what NOT to do… something I later learned was called a “wet edge”! Then came lesson two, the tools that best complete the corners and edges. By this time in my experience the combination of an artist brush and my fingers seemed a magical solution. My fingernails did not recover for quite some time, nor did my husbands’, as he had joined the fun in an effort to get his living room back. Oh, and I cannot rob you of the laugh at lesson three. Ready? Yes, there is a difference between masking tape and painters tape! The walls actually turned out beautifully and are still just the same. When we visit the friends who purchased our home I reminisce about the fun and panic created by attempting something brand new to us.
Since Then
For the past eleven years we have perused the local home improvement, paint and art stores reading the bottles and packages. It’s been full of all the tools and liquids and powders - shiny and sticky, oil and water. We have had successful projects and do-overs. (FYI: Sample boards are a much easier thing to do over!). I cannot count the hours spent “playing” with new and strange products, attempting to come up with something pretty and sellable. Or express the heart pounding excitement of creating something that the client deems “precisely what they had envisioned”. And my business-minded husband HAS counted the dollars spent bringing home tools and brushes of all kinds, only to find that additional tools were needed. My shelves are full of faux videos (yes, some VHS) and books and clippings and paint recipes and stencils and so much more. All of which I still re-visit from time to time for inspiration. We have taken live classes, leaving before daybreak, spending the day learning, only to drive back and be at work the next morning. And longer classes, spending nights in hotels and getting to know new people. There are some extraordinary talents out there, some of which were returning home from classes to accounting or retail jobs wishing their art could make them enough money to be a full time gig. There are fantastic teachers and beautiful paints with endless possibilities.
High Roller or Coaster?
Our family business, Mojo Faux Finishes, began part time and then slowly accelerated. It continues something like a combination of one of those rockin’ old wooden roller coasters and one of the nice, new metal-railed ones. It chugged upward at first catching on each rung jerking and building the fear and anticipation of what was to come. And from there has been flying through peaks and valleys to say the least. Good enough for sure to keep standing in line for more. In fact, the blessings outnumber the drawbacks by far! My husband is an amazing marketing and business guru and the reason why I get the privilege of claiming “Artist” as my profession. We learn from every new job and enjoy serving new clients. Out of all this joy I have experienced, has come a deep desire to encourage and empower others to take chances. I say (and I do) ride into things, even the scary things, with hands raised in defiance of rules, do’s and don’ts and wills and won’ts. Lean into the things that make you afraid! Shake off old ways of thinking and stretch your soul out toward the unknown. Be an artist! If you are going to have things worth sticking your chest out for, you will probably have to take a few risks, mess up a little, and laugh at yourself a lot. It’s worth it! After all, we are just talking about some paint here, right?
All Together Now
All together, the stuff and the people and the art got me really thinkin’. There had to be something we could do to make this thing “faux” easy! The hunt for something new, better and yet to be discovered began two years ago. And ideas were borne. Q&A sessions went long into the nights, discussions (heated and cool) took over our regular dinner chat. The team talked and laughed as we came up with solutions while painting. Our friends and family became testing ground for teaching the single finish project to those who have never fauxed a thing. We counted all our trips for tools, weighed the cost of training verses the expense of figuring it out as we went and totaled the REAL profit (or loss) made on a job. We spent months searching and researching the web for faux problems and solutions. And eureka, we developed what we believe to be the simplest to use, easiest to understand and least expensive solution to spreading the faux love!!! By coming to Faux a Good Time you can avoid the expense and limitations of the few options offered by the current industry standard. No more taking time off your job. No more spending thousands on classes and products hoping to see a later profit. No more ICS (instruction confusion syndrome) or scary faux moments thinking, “Is this what this is supposed to look like?”. You don’t have to travel, attend long classes or purchase several steps worth of products. No trips to multiple stores to find the right tools or stopping mid-project to go get something you did not know you would need. You can learn one finish at a time or build an entire portfolio all from your own studio or living room or garage. My hope is that we can dispel all of the mystery and hype around faux finishing and decorative painting. I know that anyone willing to follow a few steps and get their hands a little dirty can be a real artist in the faux world.
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