Adding authentic-looking wooden beams to your home is affordable and easy with faux wood — and you don’t have to limit yourself to simple straight beams. Barron Designs’ range of arched beams mean you can add architectural flair that would otherwise be difficult — and prohibitively expensive — to achieve with real wood.
The Beauty of Arched Beams
Bending wood has always been one of the most difficult jobs in carpentry, but the end result can be stunning. Take, for example, Saint Catherine's Church in Honfleur, on the north coast of France. Its roof boasts dozens of intricately curved wood beams that create a striking effect. Tourists come from far and wide to view its beautiful architecture.
Hundreds of years ago, the immense beams used to construct sailing ships, cathedrals and houses had to be bent into shape with many hours of laborious, often dangerous work. Today, machines and technology help make the process quicker and more efficient, but they still use the same principles.
How Arched Beams Are Made
The problem, of course, is that beams tend to be straight — at least as straight as the trees they were cut from. Theoretically, curved shapes could be cut out of that wood, but the width of most marketed trees limit the curve that can be achieved through cutting alone. More often, carpenters use the same methods they’ve used for centuries: saturating a wooden beam in water or steam and painstakingly bending it by machine press, millimeter by tortuous millimeter.
As a result, curved beams combine the heavy weight and mounting challenges of real timber beams, coupled with a high price tag that has to account for the hundreds of hours it takes to bend the beams into shape. For that reason, arched beams tend to be found only in the most upscale of properties where cost was not a factor.
An Affordable and Impressive Alternative
For the home-improvement and design enthusiast, faux wood offers an affordable way to bring that same level of sophistication to a home transformation project at a fraction of the cost. Products like the Tuscany Arched Beam were molded directly from real timber, so they look exactly like the real thing. They are created in lightweight, durable polyurethane to combine the beautiful appearance of real wood with a lightweight casting that can be easily added to a ceiling. What really sets these faux beams apart though is the range of looks you can achieve with them.
Thanks to their practicality and affordability, these beams can be used for projects that most homeowners would never be able to complete with solid wood. Create beautiful wood truss designs, or easily modify the Tuscany Arched Beam to fit it with recessed lighting that casts eye-catching spotlights on the floor below. (The wiring can be hidden seamlessly inside the beam's hollow U-shape, and cutting holes for recessed bulbs can be done using nothing more than a power drill with a hole-cutter attachment.)
Many of our customers confirm that our beams are impossible to tell from the real thing, once installed. The wide range of possibilities they offer makes them a smart, stylish, and cost-effective alternative to real curved wood beams.
The Barron Designs Promise
When you choose to purchase from Barron Designs, you can guarantee that you’re working with the highest quality products on the market. Our faux wood beams look nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. The beams are molded to reflect the real knots, grooves and grain patterns of real wood. They are a fraction of the weight of real wood, and you won’t need special tools or skills to install them.
They are also incredibly customizable and can be trimmed to fit with a handsaw. A piece of real, aged wood that fits your project’s exact specifications would be nearly impossible to find — not to mention shockingly expensive. With faux wood, you can bring your design dreams to life in as little as a weekend!
Shop Barron Designs today for the faux wood beams, panels, and columns you need to complete your DIY projects!