Marbling and Graining is where something that is not wood or marble is painted to look like wood, marble or stone.

This is done using paint and transparent mediums. Decorative paint finishes imitating natural materials such as wood and stone have been used to enhance interiors for many centuries and the techniques were particularly fashionable during the C17, C18 and C19.

Graining and Marbling can be used to solve a wide range of design problems:

A cheap material can be made to look like an expensive material.
Damaged timber or marble can be repaired using paint.
Marble may be too heavy to install or plaster pillars and mouldings may already exist in a space where it makes little sense to replace them, so a hand painted marble becomes a practical and attractive alternative.
A certain timber may be impossible to source to match existing trim, we can match the existing finish in wood graining, retaining the character of a traditional room.
You can also tailor your marble or wood to match your colour scheme which nature will not always let you do.

In all these instances the use of paint becomes the answer to a problem.