Product Description

This book brings together Gary Lord's popular series of instructional brochures into one handy, at-your-fingertips volume. Readers will discover 30 fantastic ways to put the finishing touches on a room, from simple projects any beginner can complete to more advanced projects for the serious do-it-yourselfer. Each step-by-step faux finish project is comprehensive and contains:

* A "shopping list" of materials, tools, and paint colors

* Paint color samples that readers can use to buy matching paint of their preferred brand

* Professional tips and advice on how to successfully complete the project

* Gorgeous full-color photos of the featured decorative finish

From start to finish, It's Faux Easy has everything readers need!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116482 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

From Booklist
Lord makes do-it-yourself, hand-painted wall decor seem almost a breeze in this well-designed, well-illustrated book. Including both the bold and the quietly elegant, his 20 projects, graduated in difficulty from simple texturizing to complicated stencil work, take handy home owners from gathering supplies and wall prep to application techniques. The gray type is a little hard to read, but this is otherwise an exceptionally attractive book--more like an art book than a hands-on decorating manual. The paper is slick, the design is spacious, and the illustrations are both clear and helpful. A materials list and a color palette head each project, nicely sized close-ups show the painting as it progresses in texture, and a full-color shot of a decorated room setting shows the finished look on a large scale. A handy glossary of painting materials is located upfront, and a resource and suppliers section concludes. A first-rate addition to the do-it-yourself shelf. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Master decorative painter Gary Lord has been practicing his art for over thirty years for clients including many top Fortune 500 companies. He appears regularly on the nationally televised programs Decorating With Style, Christopher Lowell, and The Carol Duvall Show. Gary lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Customer Reviews

Great if you want to buy stock in Aqua products
Gary Lord is a fantastic artist, but this book is far from great. While his introduction to this book encourages the reader to experiment with combining techniques, you are limited, according to his instructions, with products in the Aqua Finishing Solutions line. These products, though excellent, are more expensive than the same products that can be found at any paint or hobby store. Unless the reader is familiar with the use of faux finishing products or has taken one of Mr. Lord's classes (as one lucky reviewer had the opportunity to do), this is not a book for those who wish to learn the basics of the art of faux finishing.
Some other of Mr. Lord's books at least offer alternatives to the professional line of Aqua products that he uses exclusively in this book. Perhaps Mr. Lord uses these products daily, and he can afford to purchase expensive tints that he will use for additional projects, but the average home-users will end up with unused portions of product that they will have purchased at a premium, especially if they wish to experiment with colors.
In addition, these products are not easily found; I lived in a small town that was miles from the nearest supplier, and the only way to order the products on-line was to pay a hefty shipping fee! My local paint store, on the other hand, had plenty of Mr. Lord's counterparts' books' suggested supplies, such as basic untinted glazes, drywall compound, and interior house paint!
Another critique that I would have of this book is that the majority of the finishes have that heavy, thickly applied look of some faux finishes. There are only two or three lighter applications, and many of the finishes are heavily textured (with a dimensional product), which leave the user with finishes that will have to be scraped off the wall to get rid of them when the novelty factor is gone. The beauty of other finishing books are that they teach the reader how to do a variety of classical finishes. The finishes in "It's Faux Easy" are like sponge painting in the 80's: they will be outdated in just a few years. Most are much too trendy.
If you, the reader, wish to learn how to do limited finishes that use extra-expensive and hard-to-find products to complete them, that result in popular-today-gone-tomorrow wall treatments, and that leave you with a cupboard full of products that you will likely never use again, than this is the book for you! If you really wish to learn the art of faux finishing, try Pierre Finkelstein's "The Art of Faux." If you are not interested in artistry, but just wish to beautify your home, try the less expensive alternatives such as Linda Sheldon's "Decorative Paint and Faux Finishes" or Gail McCauley's "50 Ways to Paint a Wall". Many of these and other books also instruct the user on how to choose the best finish for their application, how to choose color, and how to experiment with color using easily and inexpensively purchased craft paint.
There are a treasure trove of great faux finishing books out there. Choose the one that is right for you! This one was not for me.

Great Faux Book
This book contains some very interesting faux techniques. The finishes require various skill levels from beginner to advanced. Many use various products on the market, i.e. Lusterstone and Aqua products. The more complex projects must be done over several days to allow time for base coats, textures, Lusterstone, etc to dry. The pictures are gorgeous. The steps are clear and easy to understand.

Each project starts with a small photo closeup of the finish, then a large photo of a room or wall using the technique. There is a materials list and a color palette for each project. The color palette indicates the name and shows a color swatch of the actual colors used. There are also sidebars included for each project that have Pro Tips. There are full-color photos throughout this beautiful book and some of the treatments are some I have never seen before. I'm a beginner so that's probably not saying much. :-)

There are several projects that actually apply the technique to paper. The techniques were pretty neat, but all I could think about was I would have to repeatedly apply the technique on paper first and THEN I would also have to hang the wallpaper or hire someone to apply it. Now, if they can only find a way to do those techniques directly onto the wall it would deserve the full 5 star. For now, I really think it warrants a 4 1/2 star rating.

Gary does make it faux easy!
Gary has a passion for teaching, whether in person or in the pages of a book. He is constantly inventing fresh finishes that push the envelope. I can highly recommend this book, especially to beginning artists (as well as intermediate) I can't wait till he comes out with a book on his new 3d paint techniques!


To see more of Gary's work see the Chicago church section of the book: "The House that Faux Built: Transform Your Home with Paint Plasters and Creativity." The House That Faux Built He uses his signature metallic foils, lace and shimering plaster to create a beautiful finish that looks amazing but is deceptively easy.