This home wine cellar project demonstrates how you can seamlessly blend the old and the new with faux.
In Hollywood historic movies, there is actually somebody paid to check every detail of the movie to point out historical inaccuracies. It prevents accidents like how, in the Civil War drama Glory, one Union soldier was revealed to be wearing a digital watch.
Even seemingly innocuous slip-ups like that can have a big impact. Glaring inaccuracies can really snap you out of your head space and spoil a movie for you - and it's something that doesn't occur only on the silver screen. In interior design, there is always a dangerous challenge faced when trying to use modern materials in an old-fashioned decor.
That's why we wanted to share these photos with you, sent in by a customer. In this beautiful wine cellar project, the homeowner had to find some way of adding period details to the room; while at the same time facing the obstacle of a pretty sturdy and rigid setup.
The challenge came because the walls of the cellar are made from real stone and pretty inflexible to work with. The homeowner wanted to install wooden beams, but the walls posed a problem with how to support a heavy solid beam. After all, in real historic homes, the stone walls were literally built around timber framework to support the wood.
This is where our faux beams proved to be so practical. The homeowner chose faux beams from Barron Designs. Made from lightweight and durable polyurethane foam, they could be secured to the ceiling on mounting blocks, using regular screws. Both ends were measured and cut accurately - with just a regular wood saw, no less - and then installed parallel to the stone wall to give the impression of a solid length of timber extending out of the structure of the house.
And, just like that, the beams looked entirely congruent with the walls. The realism of the beams, in combination with the installation, makes it look as if the cellar ceiling is actually supported by authentic wood beams.
Once installed, the beams look like genuine structural timber.
The whole project serves as a great demonstration of how to combine modern building materials in an old-style setting; and we're excited to share them with you here. Let us know what you think in the comments section below, or browse through our inspiration pages for more design ideas.