How to Paint a Faux Finish

A faux finish can make a room look elegant and professional, especially using a sponging on or off technique. With a little time and patience, you can use this technique to give a boring room a new life.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Painter's tape
• Drop cloth
• 2 colors of paint
• Paint brushes or rollers
• 1 empty bucket
• Faux finish glaze
• Stir sticks
• 1 to 2 large sponges
• 1 bucket full of water

1. Determine what colors you want to use. You can uses two different hues of the same color or two different, yet complementary, colors--like a shade of blue and a shade of green. Any store that sells paint has samples of colors for you to mix and match with.

2. Prepare the room for painting. Remove all furniture. Use painter's tape to mark of non-painting spaces. Secure a drop cloth. Paint the walls with the base color and let it dry completely.

3. Prepare the second color. Pour one part paint (about one quart) and four parts glaze (about one gallon) into the empty bucket. Stir to mix. The paint mix will be more fluid than the regular paint.

4. Sponging On:
   
   Dip a damp sponge into faux finish mix. Squeeze a bit out and let excess drip back into bucket. You want the paint to be even across the surface of the sponge, rather than have blobs of paint on some sections. Start in a corner and work in squares.
   
   Blot the wall with a sponge until you get your desired look. Occasionally wash sponge in the water bucket and squeeze out water before dipping back into paint mixture. Make sure you blur the lines between your squares to have a more cohesive look. Continue until the whole room is finished and you have achieved the look you wanted.

5. Sponging Off:
   
   Use a paint brush to paint the faux finish across a squared area. Working quickly, use a damp sponge to blot the paint off of the wall. After each blotting off, wash sponge in water and squeeze out all of the excess water.
   
   If you take off too much paint, reapply the color and sponge off again. Make sure you blur the lines between your squares to have a more cohesive look. Continue until the whole room is finished and you have achieved the look you wanted.

Tips & Warnings

• Work corners and difficult areas first, using a smaller sponge.
• This technique can be used with more than two colors.
• When you choose the colors you want to work with, use the color you want to see most as the base coat.
• If you are unsure of how you want the finish to look, it may be a good idea to do a "test paint" on a wooden board.