Holli's original siding was finished with bland and boring concrete blocks.

One great example was recently sent to us by customer Holli Verhovsek; who used our Wellington Dry Stack wainscoting panels to totally transform her home’s exterior.

Holli’s challenge was replacing the boring concrete block wainscoting of her home with something more exciting. Her first choice was stone or brick; but the cost of laying actual bricks, or using real stone, was prohibitive.

That’s where our stone veneer panels came in.

Our dry stack panels are molded directly from authentic dry stack walling; and vividly rendered in durable polyurethane for a finish that’s practically indistinguishable from the real thing. Using them, Holli was able to get the classic look she was looking for.

From appearance alone, the only real difference between faux and authentic is that stone veneer costs a fraction of what real brick or stone would; and can be installed in a fraction of the time.

In fact, Holli’s project was the perfect canvas for using these panels. The broad, concrete wainscoting made it simple to first attach the recycled polypropylene drainage mats required by local and regional building codes, and then the interlocking faux panels themselves.

Wellington panels covered just a fraction of the exterior - but transformed it entirely

Attached to the drainage mat with regular construction adhesive;  each panel is then secured through to the concrete wall with screws set at twelve-inch intervals. Each panel interlocks for a quick, seamless appearance.

Holli didn’t tell us exactly how long it took them to install the stunning wainscoting panels; but customers who’ve completed similar projects have often boasted of finishing the project in a single weekend; or less!

And the results, as you can see from the before and after photos, are impressive.

What’s really great about Holly’s project was how a small change – in this case, adding stone veneer to just a  small area of her home’s exterior – made such a vivid difference.

Have you had similar results using our faux stone panels? If so, we’d love to see pictures. Email us at info@fauxpanels.com.

You can trim faux stone panels with a regular wood saw - making it a snap to install around fittings like garage doors.

Cutting faux stone panels to size makes them easy to install even it trick spots like doorways and corners.

Willoway Nurseries have created a portable nursery garden as their trade show display

Willoway Nurseries are an Ohio based wholesale nursery that carry over 2,000 different plant varieties; all offered within an easy day’s drive of half the U.S. population.

For over half a century, they’ve provided some of the country’s most beautiful plants and shrubs to florists and stores across the country; and continue to seek out new business by attending trade shows across America.

Yet wherever the Willoway trade show team goes, they’ve found a way to make sure they bring a little piece of home with them. Their stunning portable trade show display looks as impressive and permanent as any garden center gateway; with sturdy brick columns and rustic cobblestone walls.

Willoway managed to achieve this with two types of our faux stone panels. For the cobblestone walls and flowerbeds, they used Carleton Cobblestone faux stone panels in beautiful Summer Tan.

For the towering columns that create the structure of their display, they used matching Carlton Brick Columns.

Stone veneer panels and columns have enabled them to create a stunning display that's entirely portable

The result, as you can see from these pictures, is impressive. Even more so is the fact that this sturdy structure can be dismantled quickly and easily and taken from one trade show to the next; something that would be impossible with real stone materials.

Check out our gallery of other trade show displays to see how other companies have used our products to create conversation-worthy showpieces – and if you’re a business owner yourself, make sure to send in photos of your faux panel trade show displays to info@fauxpanels.com. We’d love to feature them here.

“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.

Sue transformed her bathroom with our Oxford panels, plus joint compound and sand

Visit old farmhouses in England or Ireland and you’ll often see the most amazing interior walls – where stacked stone had been covered up for decades by wattle or filler, and is then loving chipped away to uncover the natural beauty of bare stone. It’s a timeless trick that really shows off the history and heritage of an old home.

Here in the United States, even our oldest and most historic houses are generally made from wood – meaning the ‘uncovered’ stone look is very rare even in buildings that date back a century or more.

Fortunately, an enterprising fan of Faux Panels pioneered a way to get that authentic renovated stonework look using nothing more than joint compound, sand and our Oxford stone veneer wall panels.

“We added a mixture of joint compound and sand,” customer Sue explained, in an email accompanying the photos she sent in, “and applied them over some areas of the panels to make it appear like the stone had been ‘uncovered’ during a renovation.”

It was simple trick – but by pairing the panels with rustic, bare wood cabinets and faux wood window headers, the results are remarkable.

“We used barn siding and also tinted several of the rocks to vary the colors more,” Sue explained. Wrought iron accessories and finishing touches like an antique milking stool really also show off Sue’s innovative decorating technique.

Cleverly considered accessories and matching fittings completed the look

The finished renovation results in a bathroom that looks like it belongs in some centuries-old French farmhouse, or ancient Irish cottage. Hard to believe it was all brought vividly to life with a few simple tools, our stone veneer panels and a very creative imagination.

The trick to making the ‘uncovered’ stone look work is to use the joint compound and sand mixture in the corners and edges of the panels – especially around windows, joints and doors. In authentic old houses, these are the spots that decorators normally leave the filler in place – to add stability to what might be less than solid stonework.

The real secret, though, is ‘less is more.’ The key to the uncovered stone look is a subtle application of joint compound and sand – never being the focus of the transformation; just a frame to add depth.

This is because the way to make the technique ‘pop’ is to showcase it with matching furniture accessories and trim – that’s what makes Sue’s bathroom so impressive and should be your aim if you try a similar project.

Renaissance Faires inspired Josiah's interior design

Take 25-year-old Josiah, for example.

Monday to Friday, if you met him on the subway, you wouldn’t give this I.T. specialist a second glance. But, during the summer months, he’s away wielding a sword at Renaissance Faires across the country.

“I’ve always loved Renaissance Faires,” he told us, “ever since I was a teenager. There’s the romance, the heroism – and all the girls in corsets.” His love of the Renaissance lifestyle has stretched to several hand-made costumes, a collection of swords and axes and even a half-suit of armor that cost more than is first car.

But when Josiah got the opportunity to move from the suburbs of Long Island to New York City, it seemed like he’d finally have to follow the advice his parents had been giving him since he hit 21 – and “grow up.”

“Something told me swords and surplices wouldn’t exactly ‘fit in’ in Queens,” he explained, which is where he ended up finding a modest studio apartment to rent.

But in the end, Josiah was able to bring a little bit of his rebel, Renaissance lifestyle to the big city – thanks to stone veneer panels.

Carlton panels recreate the Middle Ages look perfectly

“My apartment’s on the top floor of a three family home,” he explained,” and the owner actually lives downstairs. When I moved in, he told me to ‘decorate it however I wanted.’”

“He was probably only expecting me to splash on a coat of paint or something; but when he saw the removal truck roll up with my suit of armor, he was the one who suggested what I eventually ended up doing.”

In order to add a little period charm to his apartment design, Josiah’s landlord suggested he use stone veneer panels – and even offered to help them install them.

“Because you could install them with screws and glue, he didn’t mind me putting up panels on one wall of my apartment,” Josiah explained. “At least, not after I’d signed a two-year lease!”

In the end, Josiah picked out Carlton Cobblestone Faux Panels to cover the wall at the head of his bed: “I liked those the best because they really looked like they could have come from a medieval castle.”

At 45” wide, it didn’t take many panels to cover the wall – and it was very affordable. “With installation and everything, I worked it out to be about $12 a square foot,” Josiah told us, “which wasn’t bad, since my apartment is tiny!”

Paired with a rich, royal-red bedspread, plus wall displays for his swords and axes (and that famous half suit of armor) the result looks straight out of the Middle Ages; and Josiah loves it.

“The only sticking point is with my Mom,” he jokes. “She says I’ll never be able to bring a girl home with the place looking like this.”

Although so far, he’s the first to admit that hasn’t been a situation he’s yet needed to deal with!

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.

We mean that statement in the best sense in that stone veneer panels and siding can virtually be used in any room, on any exterior in any application with amazing results. If you’ve got the design imagination (and we’re confident you do), then stone veneer is ready to carry your plans to fruition.

If that imagination of yours just needs a teeny-tiny bit of a jumpstart, here’s just a few places where you can put stone veneer to good design use.

Accent Walls

When you hear about accent walls in interior design circles, they’re often referring to using paint to emphasize a single wall of a room to create visual interest. While this is a solid idea, let’s get a little more exciting, shall we? Stone veneer is a great alternative to paint in that you’re adding the bold texture of stonework in addition to color, and even better, stone veneer never needs a re-coat.

Fireplaces

Over at our sister blog, Faux Wood Workshop, we recently talked about using faux wood mantels to improve the look of a fireplace. You can take the design even further by installing stone veneer as a fireplace border, as a decorative backing to a wood stove or laying it in all the way up the chimney. Many of our customers choose faux stone veneer panels to enhance the look of their fireplace, not only for the realistic look of stone, but also because their installation is much easier than building from scratch with the real thing.

Kitchens and Bathrooms

Stone veneer’s polyurethane composition is impervious to moisture – making it a perfect option for those high-moisture areas of your home. You can create backsplashes, surround an above-floor bath, kitchen island or cover every wall in the room – pretty much anything goes.

Outdoor Columns

Stone veneer’s other claim to fame is its ability to withstand extreme weather and climate conditions without failure, making it a great choice for creating exterior columns. These could be anything from driveway columns, fence columns or stand-alone decorative columns to porch and mailbox posts.

These were just a small sampling of ideas of what you can accomplish with stone veneer – you can find more here by browsing through our photo gallery. Or you may come up with your own that we’ve never seen before. (We LOVE when that happens). If you’ve got a finished project that used stone veneer, send in the photos! We’re always looking to see what our customers come up with next.

I’ll assume you don’t already have framing underneath your home for attaching the faux stone veneer. If you do have some framing there already, the job will be that much quicker and easier.

1. Remove any old skirting and clear the area around the perimeter of your home.

2. Install pressure-treated 2×2 studs 24 inches apart between the underside of your home and the ground using Skirting-Mates®. Each Skirting-Mate consists of a top pocket that you attach to the underside of your home and a stake that you drive into the ground. For each stud, repeat these steps:

a. Measure from the underside of your home to the ground, and cut a 2×2 stud 1/2 inch shorter than this measurement.

b. Attach the top pocket with the two included screws. Set it back enough to accommodate 1/2-inch sheathing plus the thickness of the stone veneer you’ve chosen.

c. Slide the stake onto the bottom of the stud so its point is above the bottom of the stud, and tighten the thumbscrew on the stake.

d. Insert the stud into the top pocket, and tighten the thumbscrew on the pocket.

e. Carefully plumb the stud with a level. Loosen the thumbscrew on the stake, and pound the stake into the ground, making sure you hold the stud plumb. Leave this thumbscrew loose so the stud can move with the ground during freezing and thawing.

3. For extra strength, install horizontal bracing between the studs as shown in the first photo.

4. Install 1/2-inch exterior sheathing onto the studs using exterior screws. Keep the sheathing about an inch off the ground, so it will have no contact with the ground or water.

5. Install the faux stone veneer over the sheathing in the usual way, using exterior screws and adhesive. Cut it so it’s tight against the ground or even slightly buried; it won’t rot or absorb moisture.

6. Fill all screw holes and gaps with matching caulk.

7. Offer to show your envious neighbors how you did it, and give them a hand when they decide they must have a stone foundation too.

Same goes for your business. The sign out front—you know, the one that everyone can see when they drive by—is kind of like your interview outfit. (Yeah, I’m going to go with this tacky metaphor for a little longer, bear with me.) You want it to show off your personality, display your commitment, say, “I believe in what I do and am your best choice for this job.” So, don’t you want your sign out front to look its best? To be all tucked in and ironed?

We’ve had a bunch of people send in photos recently showing how they’ve used stone veneer panels to help their business’ signs reach their fullest potential. And we think this is such a great idea! After all, stone veneers are classy, professional, and varied enough to really show off your business’ point of view.

This gallery shows off our customers’ handiwork and is chock full of great ideas.

Love your current sign? Use faux stone veneer panels as a base support or bookended columns. The panels could also provide a cool backsplash or frame. Heck, why not get creative, like this hanging Texas sign which used stone veneer to make an overhead archway.

Veneer panels are great way to spice up indoor displays as well. Take them with you to company trade shows and be the baddest booth around (this is a good thing). The faux stone is lightweight enough to move from place to place, and will stand out against a sea of nylon banners printed at Kinkos.

But make sure you have a firm handshake ready; your sweet sign can’t be expected to do all the work.