It's Faux Easy with Gary Lord [Paperback]

Gary Lord (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2004

Since the beginning of time, society has valued a hand-painted finish as an alternative to other forms of decorating. For centuries, decorative painting techniques were kept as "trade secrets," with artisans working behind closed doors so no one could learn their techniques. Today, authors and schools throughout the world are sharing many of those "Old World" decorative painting techniques, but none better than Gary Lord. 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 colours; Paint colour 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-colour photos of the featured decorative finish; From start to finish, this book has everything readers need!

Editorial Reviews

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

Gary Lord is an accomplished artist, teacher, author and television personality. He appears regularly on US television. He has written previous North Light Books imcluding Marveious Murals You Can Point.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581805543
• ISBN-13: 978-1581805543
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary Lord has been a professional decorative painter and has owned his own decorative painting contracting business, Gary Lord Wall Options and Associates Inc., since 1975. Wall Options specializes in faux painting, marbleizing, wood graining, Venetian plaster, dimensional and embedded techniques, murals, furniture, cabinetry, concrete, metallic foils and hand-made wallpaper finishes. Wall Options has won seven National First Place Awards for the Best Faux Finishing Company in the United States from 2002 to 2006 from both the American Painting Contractor and the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America. Wall Options has also garnered hundreds of first place awards in local and regional home shows over its 35 years in business. In 2007 Gary personally received the honor of being the top choice for Who's Who in faux finishing by the America Painting Contractor. In 2008 Gary was also awarded the Who's Who spot for interior decorative painter by Stratford Business Services. www.walloptions.com

Gary also owns and operates Prismatic Painting Studio, a decorative painting school that teaches hands-on workshops and classes for the decorative arts. Prismatic Painting Studio has been in business since 1992 and teaches how to faux paint walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, cabinetry, countertops and concrete techniques. Gary has taught thousands of faux painters in a very easy to understand and clear format enabling them to perfect their skills. Gary has also sold over 10,000 VHS and DVD videos showing how to faux paint dozens of different techniques. www.prismaticpainting.com

Gary has launced a educational web site with inexpensive or free downloads on decorative painting technique. www.itsfauxeasy.com


Gary has appeared on over 100 different national television shows as a faux painter and demonstrated a wide variety of paint room finishes. Some of the shows on HGTV were The Carol Duvall Show, Decorating With Style and D.I.Y. On PBS he was a guest on Paint! Paint! Paint!, For Your Home and Paint Paper and Craft. On The Discovery Channel he has appeared on the Christopher Lowell Show and Home Matters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great if you want to buy stock in Aqua products, March 16, 2007

By 

Home Artist Gal (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Faux Easy with Gary Lord (Paperback)

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.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Faux Book, December 12, 2005

By 

Sonya "readaholic" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Faux Easy with Gary Lord (Paperback)

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.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gary does make it faux easy!, November 11, 2007

By 

Elizabeth Adrienne Van Dooren "Author, The Ho... (DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's Faux Easy with Gary Lord (Paperback)

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.