DIY Faux Beam, pt. 1
A month ago I was laying in bed, trying to drift off to sleep when a vision popped into my head - our living room’s vaulted ceilings clad with beams. Honestly, I’m shocked I’d never thought of it before in the 8 years we’ve lived in our house. Our ceilings were MADE for beams! In fact, I’ve struggled with how to make the room feel more cozy for years. I thought painting our large wall behind the couch teal would give it some depth - and it helped - but I quickly outgrew the color and started heavily gravitating toward neutrals.
When we finally repainted that wall light gray, it felt open and airy, which I loved, but it also felt overly expansive. It needed something to break up all the white. That’s why when the image of beams on the ceiling popped into my head, I was immediately enamored with the idea. I was so obsessed with the thought of what it might look like, I sketched it out in Procreate (this was also my tactic for broaching the subject with Joe. He is always more receptive to an idea when he can see my vision).
Aaaaaaand obviously once I saw it like this, I couldn’t unsee it. Joe was surprisingly optimistic about the idea and agreed it would look great (SCORE). We decided to start with the center beam and go from there.
Materials purchased:
5.5” wide poplar (beams)
1X3 common board (cleat)
Minwax Stain in Ipswich Pine
Recommended: Minwax Primer
2.5” screws
Sand paper
Tools needed:
Table saw
Nail gun
Drill
Circular saw
Stud finder (we used the Stud Buddy)
2 Ladders
Snap chalk line
I stained the boards first. PRO TIP: Prime your boards before you stain. I didn’t do this and some boards came out super splotchy. Minwax sells primer right next to the stain. I highly recommend taking the time to do this.
Then we lined up the boards and decided which pieces would look best next to each other based on color and grain. We used a table saw to miter the edges.
Then it was time to install the beam! This is a two person job, for sure. They snapped a chalk line in order to keep the cleat straight, found the stud, and started drilling the cleat into the ceiling. Once the cleat was on, it was just a matter of nailing the boards to it with the nail gun. The whole process went surprisingly fast.
Voila! Isn’t she pretty??? I can’t stop staring. The last thing I did is optional, but I think it made all the difference. Some of the seams were obvious because the grain of the wood came to an abrupt stop. In order to blur those lines, I used Citadel: Shade Nuln Oil (yes, this is commonly used to paint DND figurines… it’s what I had on hand. You could also use stain) in order to create a continuation of the grain and make it look more like a real beam.
Stay tuned for the next step in this process - we’re not stopping at just one beam. The best is yet to come!
