In this historic home, my clients were eager to restore all the trim in the Living Room and Dining Room to its original dark stained finish. After a few attempts themselves, they realized that stripping and refinishing the wood was too overwhelming a project. The next best thing to real mahogany would be a painted wood faux finish.
Not only did the wood in this 100+ year old house already have many MANY coats of paint, a lot of it was not in the best condition. Nicks, gouges, missing pieces, crooked molding, corners that don’t meet, and many other “charming” imperfections, typical of a home this age. My clients decided to embrace that charm and hired me to add a few more coats of paint!
We settled on a dark red mahogany finish. Mahogany has a tight smooth grain and many variations in depth of colors, making it a perfect project for me to paint, and one of my favorites techniques! After a few small repairs, sanding, cleaning and priming, I painted layers of paints and glazes, followed by a top coat of tinted polyurethane. All water-based products. The result is gorgeous! It brings a warm cozy and unified feeling to this home, while camouflaging all the imperfections in the trim.
Here are some before, during and after photos!
