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Faux Finishing, Decorative
Finishing Workshops
As consumer demand for faux finishes has skyrocketed, so has the need for qualified practitioners equipped with the skills necessary to provide the high-quality work the marketplace has come to expect.

Donna Mabrey, who runs Donna’s Designs and Faux Finish & Business Workshops outside Atlanta, Ga., recommends prospective students gather as much information as possible about a workshop and its teachers before making a choice. “You need to find out where they were trained, how long they’ve been in the business, and how long their school has been in business. You should also request letters of recommendation from previous students of the school. Have they returned for additional classes? That’s a good indication of a workshop’s quality.”

Prospective students should also determine if the class teaches skills for a broad range of finishes and products, Mabrey believes. “I think it’s important for the faux finisher to have a varied portfolio, not just in colors and the various looks, but in price range as well,” she says.

“Many faux finishes involve five or six layers or different steps, which make them more labor intensive and therefore more expensive. The use of high-end products also pushes the price higher. There’s a large chunk of the market that perhaps can’t afford the high-end finishes and products but still wants a quality job. You can win some of that business if your portfolio includes more moderately priced finishes.”

Judging the Curriculum
Some workshops are organized to cover a set number of finishes in the allotted time; others are loosely structured depending on which skills are requested by the participants. Some cater to those just getting started; others aspire to take seasoned veterans to the next highest level of expertise. Some limit their focus to craft and technique; others provide substantial instruction on how to start and run a profitable faux finishing business.

At Kelly S. King’s Institute of Decorative Finishes Inc. in Omaha, Neb., “We give them a thorough business education because we want them to be successful. Too many people acquire faux finishing skills but fail to make any money because they don’t understand pricing, or overhead, or estimating. There’s such a huge market for faux finishing, so it’s a shame when skilled artists lack the business smarts to make a decent living at it.”

Many workshops update their curricula every six months or a year, dropping techniques that have fallen out of fashion and adding new ones. Consequently, students can take the same class a second time and learn a new set of skills. “We change our courses all the time,” says Gary Lord of Prismatic Painting Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio. “We don’t want to get stale, and we don’t want to grow bored with what we’re teaching. We’ll often determine course content based on demand, and what’s hot in the market.”

Space and Materials
“It’s good to know where the workshops will be held,” says Sandor. “Lighting is crucial to help students learn how colors and textures should look. I also believe students should work on easels or some other vertical surface when experimenting with techniques because vertical surfaces are what you’re going to be working on at job sites.”

As for the actual paints and materials used in faux and decorative finishing, there are two schools of thought. One involves the use of a specific line of well-regarded, high-quality products available only through certified distributors; the other advocates the use of any high-quality product available at your local paint or art supply store.

Lord and others endorse the Faux Effects line of water-based products. “They have a big repertoire of product, and it works well. But I also use a variety of other products,” he says.

“I don’t sell product; I sell technique,” says Mike MacNeil of Los Gatos, Calif. “I use all acrylics that you can buy at the paint stores. These new exclusive lines are very good, but I can get any result they can with materials that have been around a long time.”

The cost for workshops ranges from as low as $60 for a one-hour course to $3,000 for a three-week intensive program. In most cases, the cost includes tools and materials, workbook and other printed pieces, and a portfolio of board samples to take home with you. Travel, hotel and meal expenses for those traveling from out of town are typically not included in the workshop price.

The Future of Faux Finishing
“Decorative art is now a definitive part of interior design,” says Day. “It’s as common as wallpaper, straight paint, or wood paneling. The option to glaze your wall or do Venetian plaster or some other special effect on architectural surfaces is now part of the mainstream. I don’t think it’ll ever go away.”

Hoppe says he sees faux finishing and decorative painting used in most of the commercial establishments he frequents. “Look in the malls, the high-end stores, the restaurants. More than half have some sort of faux finish, Venetian plaster, or mural, some of them quite labor-intensive. Now that the masses are heavily into faux finishing, the more elite want something different.

“Everybody’s doing ragrolling and sponging,” he says. “If you have the budget, there’s almost no limit to what you can do to set yourself apart from the pack.”
Mabrey notes that an increasing number of her students are former wallpaper installers looking to adapt to the changing marketplace. “Wallpaper had its heyday, and now it’s on the way out. Consequently, the wallpaperers’ business has dried up as well, and they need to learn how to faux paint in order to stay in business.”