“Our boring living room was begging for a focal point,” admits New Jersey resident Jessica St. Clair, writing to fauxpanels.com with details of her fireplace makeover project. “It was your faux panels that helped bring my vision to life!”

Jessica’s room lacked a focal point until she added stone veneer panels

The before and after photos reveal Jessica’s dilemma: Although beautifully decorated, with stunning terracotta walls and contrasting furniture, her room lacked a definitive focus point.

Her answer was a timeless addition that has helped bring focus to rooms for centuries: An electric fireplace.

Jessica chose a beautiful all-electric model built into a dark wood surround mantel; which gave the instant impression of a real log fire with fixture. The secret to completing that look, though, was the use of our stone veneer panels.

“With a quick rearrange of furniture and the addition of the electric fireplace, beautifully set off by a tall faux river rock chimney, our living room now boasts character and style.”

Jessica created the faux rock wall with a single column of Oxford Large River Stone veneer panels with Standard Ends. Using wooden caps on either end, she gave the instant appearance of a real stone chimney rising from wooden mantel to ceiling; and unlike using real stone, it was a breeze to install.

“The material arrived promptly, was easy to use, and made our weekend project a great experience!”

Our Oxford River Rock panels instantly gave a chimney look to a modern home

Proof once again that our faux panels often offer design possibilities that real stone and brick wouldn’t, Jessica finished off her chimney design with the addition of classical American five pointed stars and a flat-screen TV; mounted straight through the panels onto the wall behind. Jessica also had the option of mounting pictures on the panels. Learn how to do that here.

How does she feel about the results?

“I’m so pleased with the last project,” she admits. “I’m already looking forward to the next. I will be sure to shop fauxpanels.com again! Thanks for a great product and offering so many fantastic styles to choose from!”

If the results are as impressive as her fireplace makeover, we hope Jessica will be sending us pictures of whatever she gets up to next, too.

Batman's Secret Lair

It was Batman who created the original “man cave” during his comic-book adventures in the 1940s. A subterranean lair, deep beneath stately Wayne Manor, it was where Batman could solve crimes, tinker with the Batmobile and, on a Sunday night, watch the big game with Superman, Aquaman and The Flash.

Today, you don’t have to wear tights to have your own cave. In fact, an increasing number of homeowners have set aside a corner of the house – most commonly the basement – to be a “male only” space;  where husbands can slink away to play poker with their buddies. CNN even published an article suggesting that a man cave is an essential ingredient to a happy marriage:

“Separate time is important,” says marriage counselor Steve Brody, a clinical psychologist from Cambria, California. “A good relationship has both intimacy and independence. Man caves may just be the 21st-century wrinkle to it.”

But creating a unique man cave design is a challenge – one in which stone veneer panels can prove invaluable.

Going Caveman

“Part of the appeal of a man cave,” said Pat, a homeowner we spoke to, “is that it’s a uniquely masculine space. There aren’t any throw pillows, china ornaments or frilly curtains – none of the stuff my wife insists on having in the rest of the house.”

“My man cave is in the basement,” he explained, “so the first thing I wanted to do was give it a real ‘cave like’ atmosphere. Stone veneer panels were perfect for that.”

Regency Stacked Stone

This is why Pat chose to line one entire wall of his man cave with Regency Stacked Stone Veneer Panels, in realistic Earth tone. It gave appearance of rough, hand-stacked stone and instantly delivered an evocative, subterranean atmosphere.

“The great part was that I could install them myself,” Pat explained. “In fact, it took me just a day to put the panels up, and I could even cut them to shape myself with tools I already had in the garage.” He installed them with nothing more than a combination of construction glue and strategically located screws – and less than a day later, had transformed his boring basement into an authentic looking “manturary” any self-respecting caveman would be proud to call home.

Pub Life

Another man caver, David, moved to America from Great Britain about fifteen years ago. When he set about transforming the basement of his split-level ranch into a man cave he had a different set-up in mind.

“I wanted to recreate the look and feel of the old pubs I went to when I was younger,” he explained. “After all, our basement mostly gets used when my friends come over to drink beer and watch sports.”

To that end, David created a stylish wooden bar from scratch, and added shelves, a dart board and even a kegerator tap to pour fresh, foaming beer straight from the barrel.

To complete the look of the classic English pub, David chose to line the walls in a mixture of  a Dark Red Oxford Brick Veneer Siding and Oxford Rustic Barnwood Artificial Panels.

“Most of the pubs in London were built in the Victorian days,” David explained, “you have a lot of red brick and dark, aged wood.” He used the Barnwood Panels to complete the bar area of his man cave and the Brick Siding to give his plasterboard walls the appearance of aged London brickwork.

Dark Red Oxford Brick

Again, the panels made installation easy:

“Although I did get my friends to help,” David admitted. “After all, some of them are over my place so often, it’s almost as much for their benefit as mine.” The only time they swapped the veneer panels for the real thing was a section of hardwood surrounding the obligatory dart board – while the Oxford Siding and Panels are made of hardy polyurethane, David was the first to admit he didn’t want to poke holes in them.

“And after a few pints, my aim isn’t all that good.”

In both Pat and David’s examples, the strategic use of brick, stone (or wood) veneer panels helped them create an undeniably masculine man cave within a very short time frame – and with a budget that’s just a fraction of what it would have taken with real brick and stonework.

Modular Homes

In the past, adding the look of stone or brick masonry to modular homes wasn’t really a possibility. The real stuff’s weight, complicated installation and difficult transportability limited the modular home’s design reach. Luckily, the invention of polyurethane stone and brick paneling allowed modular homeowners to get the look and feel of traditional construction without all of the expense and hassle. Now you can spiff up the exterior with a foundation covering, exterior siding or an entrance column, or warm up the interior with brick or stone in the kitchen, family room, around the fireplace and more.

Wine Cellars

If you’ve made the investment of adding a wine cellar to your home, you want to make sure that it’s walls mirror the sophistication and taste of the wine it houses. Luckily, stone veneer panels offer a simple, easy to install solution to help
create an inspired interior design. An added benefit is the panels’ imperviousness to moisture, a particularly important factor for a room that is often located in the basement level of a home.

Business Signs

In most cases, the first thing your clients or customers lay eyes upon when visiting your place of business is your sign. First impressions are key, so you want to make sure that your business sign invites confidence with a professional and attractive look. Many of our customers have found great success by using stone veneer panels to surround or accent their outdoor signs – a project that can be done quickly and with little expense to complete your sign on time and under budget.

To see even more ways stone veneer has been used in these applications, visit the Modular Home, Wine Cellar and Business Sign photo galleries.

Our latest proud parent moment came when Debbie Wensink, from Gooding, Idaho, shared with us the transformation of her home’s exterior façade, which she completed with the help of her husband Harlan, their entire family and (naturally) Faux Panels.

The Beginning

Debbie and Harlan’s plans for spicing up the front of their home began percolating when they grew tired of the washed out, bland coat of paint adorning their home’s exterior. “Our original plan for the summer of 2010 was to paint the house. [But] we couldn’t agree on any color,” Debbie says.

While she doesn’t remember exactly where the idea of using stone paneling on the façade originated, Debbie does distinctly recall Googling “faux rock,” which fortuitously led her to FauxPanels.com.

Debbie and Harlan originally purchased a handful of samples in order to work out which style would be the best fit for their project. And here’s where the magic began. While Debbie and Harlan had been torn when it came to picking paint colors, deciding the style of faux stone was no-brainer. “My husband and I agreed on the same three right off the bat.  What a miracle in itself!” Debbie says.

A newcomer to the world of faux paneling, Debbie was a little hesitant to click the “buy” button on her large order.

“It was very difficult to ‘place the order’ as I am a skeptic at heart,” Debbie tells us. “Who are these people, what is my product going to look like when I get it, is it going to be junk, am I going to waste my money?! These are things I agonized over for days.”

Good thing for Debbie “these people” was us, and the product is something we stand by 1000 per cent.

The Middle

Debbie and Harlan’s story continues when the panels arrived (“in a very timely manner”) and they set to work installing the panels. The couple’s two sons—one with his family in tow—arrived on the scene to pitch in.

“It was a whole family affair!” Harlan tells their local newspaper.

Seven days later, the Wensink’s took a week off from work to focus on the project, their home looked better than new!

Before

After

The End Product

Debbie and Harlan’s renovation included the use of faux stone panels on the bottom third of their home, retiling their porch, plus a new coat of paint and general sprucing.  The end result gives their home’s exterior the much-needed dose of character it craved.

The Wensink’s home makeover also became a topic of local news when it was profiled as a Do It Yourself success story in their paper, the Times-News.

The Times-News writes, “The rural home has a lot more personality now. Friends and family weren’t so sure about how the faux rock would look, but Debbie’s son, who works with real rock, approved of the product, saying it looks like stone with a shiny varnish.”

Debbie’s final word on her home’s new look? “This project was exciting and scary at the same time.  We are so pleased with the results and I am glad to share my experience with anyone!”

You can read Debbie and Harlan’s full report on our testimonials page, and here’s a link to the Times-News article.

Keep sending us your before and after photos!

Entrance with Nailon Stone in Glacier White

There are two towns in the area where I live that are about six miles away from each other, yet virtually a universe apart when it comes to their building aesthetic. One of them is your classic New England village, with stately old whaling captain houses – lots of white wood and black shutters. The other is well…not. The majority of the town is covered in little summer cottages and restaurants that are every bright color you could imagine, usually in the pink and purple families. We’re not talking understated lavenders and roses here…

Exterior with Glacier White Nailon Stone

So shocking magenta or violet may not be your cup of tea, but the average white wood house isn’t really your bag either. You might want to consider the look of white brick or stone. White looks good with everything, no matter what your landscaping or surrounding areas look like, yet the texture can give your house that little something extra. And what a more perfect time to spiffy up your home’s exterior than spring?

Luckily faux panels are super-easy to clean, and if after awhile you feel like a change, they easily can be painted. You just might want to avoid that can of Pepto-Bismol pink.

Colonial White Nailon Brick