Ty Pennington and the crew of EMHE used faux brick panels in some of their incredible Joplin building projects.

But the good news is that Friday’s episode promises to be the biggest, best and most tear jerking ever. In this special television event, host Ty Pennington and the rest of the EM:HE crew – including FauxPanels.com and FauxWoodBeams.com president Steve Barron, will head to tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri for a special “Heart of America” episode.

Taking part in Extreme Makeover’s most ambitious project yet, FauxPanels.com and FauxWoodBeams.com will help build seven unique homes for deserving Joplin families – all in just seven days!

“It’s the most inspiring episode Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has ever done – and that’s saying something!” Steve Barron says. “FauxPanels.com and FauxWoodBeams.com are proud to participate in a project that perfectly showcases America’s ability to spring back from any adversity.”

FauxWoodBeams.com and FauxPanels.com are donating materials and expertize to help create five of the seven homes featured in the episode; with each one designed and built to perfectly match the lives and personalities of the families who will be living in them.

FauxPanels.com couldn't be more honored to help those impacted by the devastating Joplin tornado.

One bedroom will be fitted with our Regency Old Chicago faux brick panels; vividly delivering the look and feel of antique brick, but in a form that’s easy-to-maintain, easy-to-install and much more practical than using real brick. It’s also safer. In areas prone to tornado-speed winds, bricks and stones can become potentially lethal projectiles with the power to plunge straight through windows, doors and walls.

Although everybody at FauxPanels.com and FauxWoodBeams.com are very sad that this will be our last partnership with the team of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, we couldn’t be happier or more honored to know that we’ve played a part in their most important project ever; and wish the deserving families of Joplin, Mo. years of happiness and safety in their new homes.

• “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – Joplin, Missouri” will air at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT on Friday, January 13 on ABC. Check your local listings for the time and channel in your area.

Modern appliances and cabinets clashed with dated wallpaper.

Insurance expert Dave Weiner, from New Jersey, is a man who knows how important the small details can be. That’s why he managed to use just a few of our Oxford Ledgestone Faux Stone Panels to completely transform his dated-looking kitchen.

In other stunning kitchen remodeling we’ve been sent pictures of, faux panels often make up just part of the project – complimented by new cabinets and worktops.

However, in Dave’s case both his cabinets and worktops were in great condition and their stylish design meant they hadn’t dated like the floral wallpaper had. He planned to give his kitchen a cool new look while keeping those important elements as-is.

The trick was creating a decorative stone backsplash from our panels. Because they’re molded from durable polyurethane, Dave was able to cut them perfectly to size using a wood saw and that meant they fit seamlessly in the space between the worktops and counter; giving the impression of an authentic stone wall but without having to make any alterations to the design of the existing kitchen layout.

Attaching the panels to the wall was easy – it can be done with regular construction glue, or screws if you prefer. Even better, the panels are 100% waterproof and impervious to damp; so they were ideal for creating a backsplash that was as practical as it was impressive.

Kitchen backsplash completed with decorative stone panels

Dave made one more clever decision when he ordered his panels – he got them fire rated. Many products in the faux panel line can be ordered with fire rated, and in Dave’s case it was perfect for ensuring that whatever appliances he puts up on his kitchen counters – from a toaster oven to a tea kettle – the faux stone panels will stand up to the heat.

The results, as you can see from these before and after pictures, are pretty impressive. Even better, it took just a few panels for Dave to perform this amazing transformation – making the whole process quicker and significantly less expensive that ripping out an old kitchen would have done.

Do you have any similar kitchen remodeling projects you’d like to show us? We’d love to see them. Send your before and after pictures to info@fauxpanels.com and we might even showcase them here!

Friends and neighbors helped out to make the Extreme Makeover possible.

Fauxpanels.com and FauxWoodBeams.com will mark their twelfth collaboration with ABC’s hit TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this Friday, with an episode dedicated to the deserving Dunning family, of Delaware.

As part of their “Jusst Sooup” charity,  Dale and Ken Dunning get up at 2am every morning to cook delicious soup for distribution to seventeen local soup kitchens.

Inspired by their story, designer Ty Pennington and the crew of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition decided to help give the Dunnings a brand new home for their charity, in the form of a modern building built to look like a classic farmhouse.

To achieve the rustic look, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition reached out to FauxWoodBeams.com; asking them to create a towering king truss in the main room of the new home.

FauxWoodBeams.com was happy to help out.

Artificial wood allowed the team to produce a stunning interior truss that would have been impossible with real timber.

“We wanted the Dunnings’ new space to feel homey. An old-fashioned ceiling design made with modern materials was the perfect way to do that.”

The episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featuring the faux wood truss and the deserving Dunnings family will air this Friday at 8pm EST / 9pm CT on ABC – and designers Michael Moloney and Paige Hemmis will also be appearing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on Thursday and Friday to raise money for Jusst Sooup.

FauxPanels.com has also been featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and many other shows like it. You can see a gallery of featured faux panels on our website, here.

Also, stay tuned for the biggest Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode yet; their 200^th episode, in which FauxPanels.com and FauxWoodBeams.com will both be contributing to a project to rebuild homes devastated by the tornado in Joplin, MO.

DIY Network's Matt Blashaw saw an opportunity to save money and add style to this garage makeover.

The idea behind DIY Network’s Money Hunters is simple – home remodeling projects intended to make more than their cost back in elevated property value. For hosts Matt Blashaw and Deanne Bell, that’s not always an easy task to accomplish; especially with home prices hovering at some of their lowest levels for years.

Which is why Matt was quick to turn to our faux stone paneling when it came to a recent challenge: The task was to turn a dank garage into a welcoming rec room – and do it for a third of the budget most contractors would charge. With just $25,000 to spend, Matt’s plans of adding a stacked stone accent wall should have been out of the question – but our panels made achieving that iconic look affordable.

“Look like stone? It does to me. But heavy like stone? No.” Matt picked our Windsor Ledgestone Panels because their low height made them easy and versatile for interior projects. “They’re made of high density polyurethane foam – the same stuff you see in car bumpers, dashboards… It’s durable stuff.”

“They look just like the real thing, and the best part about it is that they’re easy to install.” Matt was able to cut the panels to size easily, with a regular miter saw, and then install them with regular deck screws.

“They’re so easy to install,” he admits, “I feel bad. The cameraman is working harder than I am.”

Money Hunters ended up spending $2,000 on the faux stone paneling they used in the project – and compared that to a minimum of $6,000 for a real stone accent wall; not to mention the cost of hiring a mason to install it.

“That’s a steal,” Matt admits.

Check out the transformation yourself in the video below – and see our products featured in other home makeover shows on our videos and TV show page.

Stone veneer panels are great for installing in a finished basement; even one prone to flooding.

Fortunately, many of us on the east coast escaped with relatively minor damage; losing shingles, water in the basement and other inconveniences that remind us of just how lucky we were.

While repairing roofing and cleaning out a flooded basement is a pain, many turn the inconvenience into an opportunity; turning simple repair and maintenance work into an excuse to start, or finish, a home remodeling project they’ve been putting off for a while.

Our faux panels, exterior siding and other faux stone, brick and wood products are great tools for making the most of these remodeling projects, as they’re affordable, easy to install and 100% waterproof; which is especially relevant as many of us are being forced to reevaluate just how vulnerable our homes are to water.

Even better, if a post-flood home design project is on the “to-do” list, this Labor Day you can instantly save 5% when you order faux panels online by using a special Labor Day sale coupon FauxPanels.com has created.

Labor Day sale coupon

It’s easy to use. Just shop for what you want online, at fauxpanels.com, and then enter the Labor Day sale code at checkout – SMP11.

This savings code is valid throughout September 5, 2011 – and must be used at the time of purchase and cannot be combined with any other savings or sale offer.

Let us know what you buy – and how you use them! And if you send in before and after photos to info@fauxpanels.com, we might even ask to use them on our blog!

There’s no better way to enjoy the summer sunshine than by the water – and customers Jane and Jim Sheridan had a beautiful swimming pool to enjoy in the back yard of their Georgia home. But despite the combination of crisp blue skies and sparkling blue water, one thing was stopping them fully enjoying their poolside relaxation: an ugly retaining wall.

Bare wood got the job done, but this retaining wall was ugly and attracted mold

“It was just plain unsightly,” Jim wrote to us, with accompanying pictures of his poolside project. “The wall was made of untreated and ugly wood, which would get damp and attract mold. Trying to cover it was a Band Aid solution to a bigger problem – after a few weeks, the paint would repeatedly peel.”

Jim and Jane’s options seem limited. The foundation wall did its job, even if it was unsightly, and replacing it with brick or stone would have taken weeks and cost thousands of dollars.

“We were at a loss as how to renovate,” Jim told us – until he and his wife learned about our Nailon faux stone wall siding.

Made from durable and weatherproof polypropylene, our Nailon Granite Gray Stone Wall panels install just like regular siding – and are molded from real stone, intricately detailed to look almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

This gave Jim and Jane two important advantages. Firstly, the faux stone panels wouldn’t get saturated with moisture as the wooden wall did – making it resistant to ugly and unsightly mold.

Secondly, the Nailon Granite Gray Stone Wall panels looked amazing – giving the instant impression that the Sheridan’s serviceable wooden retaining wall was actually created from hand-laid stone bricks.

As you can see from these “before” and “after” photos, installing faux stone panels on the retaining wall instantly transformed the poolside; giving it a clean, beautiful, top-dollar appearance for a fraction of the cost of building a real stone wall.

Even better, the job was quick and easy.

Nailon Granite Gray Stone Wall panels transformed this poolside retaining wall

“The siding was applied as part of one of our weekend projects,” Jim admits. “It was breathtakingly easy to install.”

Both Jim and Jane are thrilled at the results.

“We’ve already had so many compliments about how much this has added and improved the area. The wall is a centerpiece of beauty and sets off the area complimenting the deck – we could not be happier.”

What do you think of the Sheridan’s new poolside view? And have you used our faux stone panels for your own poolside or backyard design project? If so, we’d love to see the pictures.  Send them to us at info@fauxpanels.com.

Just recently, Denny Bushong from California sent us pictures of how he’d created a stunning faux stone façade over an ugly cement wall using our Novi Stone Wall Siding. It was a quick and easy way to turn an eye-sore into a backyard feature to boast about – and here’s how he did it:

STEP ONE: First Denny installed a wooden framework around the wall to make installation easier. Our Nailon siding is breathtakingly easy to install, and you can mount it just like you would regular siding, using nails or screws.

Denny installed a wooden framework on this concrete wall. This make installing his faux stone siding easy.

STEP TWO: Next, Denny started arranging the Novi faux stone siding panels to get ready for installation. As you can see, they’re designed to be interlocking for a really seamless connection. This means the end result looks fantastic – but it’s worth the extra time to lay the panels out to make sure they line up right.

Lining up the Nailon Stone Wall Siding prior to installation made the whole process easier.

STEP THREE: As you can see from the picture, the wall Denny was covering was about two-and-a-half panels high. This meant he had to cut the last row of panels to fit flush with the top of the wall. Because our Novi Stone Wall Panels are molded from polypropylene, this was an easy enough step. You can cut our faux stone siding and panels to size with a regular wood saw or electric circular saw.

Each Novi Nailon Siding panel interlocks, for a flush and seamless fit

STEP FOUR: Installation was straightforward. Starting from the bottom with a starter strip and working his way up, Denny installed each row by sliding the interlocking pieces onto the previous panel.

TIPS & TRICKS: A neat trick Denny used here is to offset each row of panels – preventing each row from looking too symmetrical to the one below and above it. You can do this by trimming the first panel of each alternating row in half.

As you can see, the results are amazing. Denny turned a really ugly cement wall into the centerpiece of his yard; and much more quickly and affordably than he’d have been able to using real stone.

The trick is to make sure you measure everything twice; to be sure you don’t waste any materials and you get a flush, seamless fit wherever you choose to install your faux stone panels. Check out our installation instructions and get familiar with them before you begin.

Then, after installation, comes the fun part! Just sit back and enjoy the attention and compliments your hard work will receive!

BEFORE: Marks lake house was built out of generic building materials - the antithesis of the craftsman aesthetic

“My wife and I wanted to modify our very basic lake house so it had a craftsman-style cottage appearance,” customer Mark wrote to us, enclosing pictures of the home remodeling project he’d undertaken with our faux stacked stone. “Your Wellington Dry Stack column wraps really helped us move in that direction.”

You can’t fault Mark’s taste. America is rich with architectural styles, but few are as striking – or popular – as American Craftsman style. Pioneered during the late 19^th century, it was a style of home building that celebrated originality, simplicity of form and the use of local, natural materials – a far cry from the “McMansions” of today.

Mark used our Wellington Dry Stack column wraps around his bare front porch columns – recreating the hand-made look by combining molding with our artificial stacked stone. They pay perfect tribute to the craftsman style, and are a marked improvement over the plain wooden beams that held his porch roof up previously.

Some modification was required: Mark had to cut the column caps to fit his 4” x 4” interior posts, and fit the white molding on top. However, our faux column wraps are made from durable molded polyurethane and are easy enough to cut with a regular wood saw.

AFTER: Faux stone column wraps and molding helped create the illusion of stacked stone columns

In fact, the modifications are what helps the columns blend so seamlessly with the other craftsman-style updates Mark has been working in – and it’s only fitting that adding the “craftsman” look involves some modest craftsmanship of its own.

And the end result is spectacular. Mark finished his email to us by boasting: “My neighbor and my sister were so impressed with what I’d done that they’re placing orders for Faux Panels too, for use on their own homes.”

We’d love to see pictures of what they do with them!

Modern materials made renovation more affordable, but didn't match the character of the 100-year-old house

“Our house is over 100 years old,” Kathie wrote, enclosing before and after photos of the incredible transformation her property had undergone, “but recently it needed a foundation renovation.”

The beautiful wrap-around porch – a design staple of Kentucky houses from that era – needed some support work to keep it stable. Kathie’s challenge was to complete the work to modern standards; but not spoil the classical look of her charming antique home.

At first glance, it looked like she was left with two unsatisfactory options:

The first was to do the work that needed to be done, and just settle for a modern look and modern materials that appeared completely out-of-place on the front of her historic house.

Royal Rock Face Faux Rock Panels gave the appearance of large rock foundations, as would have been common over a century ago.

The second was to go “all out” and complete the foundation renovation to the standards of a century ago. The problem there was one of time and cost. Rebuilding foundations with large rocks and mortar would cost thousands of dollars, and take weeks or more.

Fortunately, Kathie looked a little deeper into her options – and the idea of faux panels cropped up.

“Your product was exactly what I was looking for,” Kathie explained. Choosing fake rock panels allowed her to use affordable, modern renovation techniques to rebuild the foundation of her home, but still give them a timeless appearance by covering the modern materials with the rock paneling.

Once installed, the fake rock panels perfectly disguised the modern renovation work, and maintained the character of the historic home.

Molded from real rock in tough, waterproof polyurethane, they perfectly resemble the rock walls and stonework that would have been common over a century ago. Another plus point is that they’re totally waterproof and weatherproof – important as Hickman County bore the brunt of flooding and storms last year.

Now that the Rock Face Panels are installed, Kathie is thrilled:

“We really love the results! Thank you so much!”

Check out the pictures for yourself. Our fake rock panels already look like they’ve been there for decades – and they’ll stay looking that good for many years to come.

Adding real stone to this attractive fireplace would have been expensive and inconvenient.

“My husband and I wanted our fireplace to be in stone,” she wrote to us, supplying pictures of their recent remodeling project, “but when I started to think about how we were going to do it, I realized we needed an alternative to real stone.”

“My husband had just finished adding real stacked stone to the outside of a home, and I’d seen how much work it was – all the dust, the time consuming process of getting all the stones to fit just right and the mortar clean up using muriatic acid. We weren’t ready to put up with all of that inside our house.”

“Faux stone panels seemed like the perfect solution for our fireplace. It was more affordable than real stone in price, and a lot less time consuming to install – plus no clean up!”

But Patti admits, she had concerns about using artificial stone paneling.

“We were fearful, even after receiving samples, that the product would not look like real stone once it was installed – trust me when I say that we’re very particular about our home.”

But Patti’s fears were unfounded. “Once installed, the simulated stone panels look very realistic.”

Faux stone panels captured the look and feel of authentic stone, without the expensive and difficult installation

Patti’s fireplace design was transformed using our Norwich Dakota Stone Wall Panels – which were an excellent choice for a fireplace as they can be ordered Class A Fire Rated for a small additional cost.

“The faux stone panels were very easy to work with,” Patti wrote. “We did have a minor issue with some of the trim stones coming scuffed up – but worked with a FauxPanels.com customer service representative and were quickly able to resolve the problem.”

To give the stone veneer panels an even more realistic appearance, Patti writes: “we used sanded chalk between the trim stones to give it the real mortared in look.” You can see from the “after” picture how good this looks.

“Our project turned out really well,” Patti wrote, “we’re very pleased with the faux stone panels. With the combination of oak and stone, it’s given our fireplace a much more sophisticated appearance.”

From the “before” and “after” photos Patti supplied, we’d have to agree with her.