Design Trend: Faux Bois

The term “faux bois” is French for “fake wood,” and it’s turning up all over the home decor world.  Check out some of the fun ways you can bring the faux bois trend to your home.

Faux bois has been around for centuries, probably getting its start with the trompe-l’oeil techniques popular during the Renaissance.  A cement technique used to replicate the look of wood was first used in late-19th-Century France.  Artisans used cement applied over a metal frame to sculpt the item into branches, tree stumps and other wood-look pieces.  It was typically used to create garden furniture and art.  This sculpting technique was historically referred to as faux bois, but today’s faux bois has taken many different forms and is made in a variety of materials.  Any item that looks like wood, but isn’t, is referred to as “faux bois” (pronounced ‘foe bwah’).  Following are a few of the items I found emblazoned with wood grain.

This garden bench, created in the original faux bois technique using cement over a metal frame, is available on Bellacor.com, along with many coordinating items.  As you can imagine, this is a very heavy piece of furniture:

Ballard Designs brings the original faux bois look indoors with this resin bracket shelf made of cast polyurethane – not cement.

Martha Stewart’s rug collection, offered through Home Decorators, features a wood grain look rendered in wool:

What about wood in your shower?  Now you can, with this realistic faux bois porcelain tile!

Crate & Barrel has faux bois vinyl placemats and their resemblance to weathered barn wood is uncanny – and much easier to clean.

Since I LOVE wasting time (er…researching) on Etsy (it’s just so inspiring…what can I say?), I have to show you a few of the items I found with a search of “faux bois.”  This lime green faux bois pillow created by Whitlock and Co is a fun twist on the original.

Another Etsy shop, Storytime Candles, creates these faux bois beeswax candles from sticks the artist collected with her family:

And, really, wouldn’t your morning coffee taste better in this handmade wood grain mug created by Rebekka Ferbrache and available on Etsy:

Faux bois is no longer limited to heavy, cement garden furniture.  Today’s faux bois is suitable for any surface, any home and any item.  Whether your home is a rustic log cabin or a modern loft, faux bois home decor will fit right in.