Ideas for a Faux Cabinet

Paint your cabinet to imitate the grain of quarter-sawn oak wood for a rustic look. Sand the cabinet with medium-grit sandpaper down to bare wood. Use a paint roller to apply a coat of primer. Study reference photos of wood grain to guide your painting.

Roll on a base coat, called the under-graining, of golden-yellow to match the lightest value of the oak. Drag a coarse-bristled brush of a darker shade of yellow over the cabinet. Leave brush marks to suggest the direction of the wood grain. Use a small detail brush to paint in the darkest lines of the close-grained oak.

Give the cabinet an exotic, tropical look by imitating the dark grain of mahogany. Use a paint roller to apply a reddish, burnt sienna-colored under-grain. Add some white to tint the color a lighter value. Mix black with the burnt sienna to paint the patterns of mahogany heart-wood grain.

Imitate the grain of virtually unobtainable, old-growth bird's eye, or curly maple wood. Start off with a base coat of light, pale yellow. Over-paint it with a thin, translucent coat of white-tinted raw umber. Dip your finger in a bowl of vinegar thinned with water to create wavy lines and round bird's eye grain patterns. Fill in the grain details with a small pointed brush dipped in raw umber paint.

Give your cabinet an aged, antique look with a crackle effect known as craquelure. Roll on a light-colored base coat. Apply a coat of crackle compound with a roller. Let it dry until it's slightly tacky. Use a moist, natural sea-sponge to sponge-paint a coat of polyurethane gloss. After drying, use the sponge to apply a thin coat of darker paint to fill the cracks.