Back in the 90's faux finishes was a really big thing to do to walls. A place in Vero Beach, FL., started teaching classes on faux techniques. At that time I was a snowbird to Melbourne Beach about 30 minutes to Vero. However, in downtown Melbourne, they started classes on faux painting at the time frame I was here, so I decided to take the classes. Following are some of the things I did:
This is a striping technique, where I rag rolled over the top of striping. I explained earlier about rag rolling with paper towels. Not as messy as using cloths. this particular one was with a creamy white background and a beige stripe with the white background color rolled over the whole thing.
This is rag rolling using paper towels. I used 2 shades of white. The bottom is pure white and the top is a beige white.
Another great way to add texture is through a texture paint or mix in sand with your paint and roll in on. Remember, if you decide to redo the finish, you will have to sand the walls. Ralph Lauren and others have made paint especially for faux painting. In my home , I have a linen look that was painted on the walls when we bought the house. I like that look, however, now it needs to be redone and the wall must be sanded first. It is a messy job as the grit gets all over everything. My alternative is just to paint over it and let the cross hatch look come through. Not sure what I am going to do.
Another way to make a neat finish is a knock down plaster look. This is easy to do. You can use joint compound, available at all paint stores, Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace, Hardware, Menards, or other home improvement. I believe Menards is a Midwest store. All you do is take a trowel and trowel it on the walls. Go over it flat and you have a knock down look. Don't ever be afraid to ask the people who work in the paint department to help you, they have an amazing bit of knowledge.
The next picture is of wallpaper that has a rag rolled look.
See how close this looks to the rag rolling. It is difficult to see, but on the wallpaper, there is French writing, very faint.
With rag rolling, you can use a stencil to put writing on your wall. When you are ready to change, just pant over it.
I really don't want to get you all mixed up as what you should do, get some poster board as I said before, and practice on it. It works well as you can tape it to the actual wall and see what it looks like. I have a box full of boards ( poster board ) up in my attic, from jobs I did in the 90's. Once you get into this, you will love it. There are many professional painters who do faux finishes as well as wall murals, painted furniture and floor cloths.
Here are a few examples of painted furniture:
These stools were painted to match the clients everyday dishes.
This nightstand was purchased for $40.00, was painted white with hand painted ferns on it.
Today, you can buy spray paint in a can that has a primer in it, to get a much better finish then you used to get. I use a professional paint sprayer to paint furniture. I am going to buy a can of the white spray paint with primer and see how it works. I'll bet it is much less messy. I am for much less messy. If you are artistic, you can paint or stencil anything on any piece of furniture. I absolutely love painted furniture. It adds great character to a room. This was an old French Provincial piece, wonderfully made and fruitwood as the base wood. . It was so scratched and nicked that I really felt white distressed was the best. Some of the most beautiful painted furniture comes from Habersham. They used to have stores, but they closed all of them to my knowledge, but I see ads in magazines still. There is a lot of pictures of painted furniture in all magazines. Study those pictures of those rooms, look at the details.
My art students are so aware of details everywhere. I try and teach everyone to look at thing a little different than they did. This evening after teaching, I met a few friends at the Chart House. I noticed that all the wood pilings were yellow green on one side and gray on the other. I looked immediately to see which way the yellow green side was facing, to see if the sun was causing that. It was although it was raining at the time, I checked on the direction of the sun at that time of day. My question was answered..
Pay attention to the sun side, light, color and any other tiny little detail. More pictures later in the week, as I dig out my boards. I will give you some information on how to do them.
Bits of detail, pieces of knowledge!!!!!!!!!!
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