How to Create Faux Leather Walls Without Paint
If you find yourself with a room that has old paneling, cracked walls or broken plaster, you might think you'll need to spend hundreds of dollars or more to improve the look. If you're willing to spend some time on a simple craft, you can give your unsightly walls a faux leather look.The deep brown wrinkled surface will remind you of an old bomber jacket. You can complete the look in a couple of days even if you've never papered a wall before. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Brown kraft paper on large roll
- Wall primer
- Paint brushes
- White glue or wallpaper adhesive
- Paint tray
- Rubber gloves
- Wallpaper smoother or plastic spatula
Instructions
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Coat the walls in your room with primer and allow it to dry thoroughly. This will seal the walls and keep the glue from soaking in.
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Tear pieces from a roll of brown kraft paper. Tear them in sizes from dinner plates to business cards, depending on the look you want and how much work you want to do. Keep the pieces from the edge of the roll separate, as they have one perfect straight edge that you'll need.
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Crumble up the pieces of paper, then smooth them back out to give the paper a wrinkled look.
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4
Mix two parts of craft glue and one part of water in a paint tray. If you don't want to use craft glue, pour wallpaper adhesive into the paint tray.
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Put on rubber gloves. Paint a piece of paper with the glue, starting with an edge piece. Put the glue on the inside curve of the paper, where it would have touched the roll below if it were still on the roll. Set the pieces of glued paper aside for about 5 minutes so they can relax and absorb some glue.
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Stick one edged piece of paper to the wall. Line up the one straight edge with a corner of the room, either between two walls or between the wall and the ceiling. If the entire piece doesn't stick well, use a smaller brush or your gloved hand to add some more adhesive to the paper.
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Rub a wallpaper smoother or the edge of a plastic spatula over the paper to help the edges stick down.
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Add more edge pieces until you have entirely outlined the room. Overlap all the sides of the paper pieces. The edges should be rough and not matching, but should sit atop one another.
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Fill in the middle of the wall by adding more pieces of paper, always overlapping the edges of your paper piece over the one you stuck before it.
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Allow the paper to dry completely. Add a coat of sealer or more primer to seal in the paper and protect the surface.
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Tips & Warnings
Experiment with smaller and larger pieces or wrinkled and unwrinkled ones to create a different look.
Use rolls of red rosin paper if you prefer a rosy hue to brown leather.
References
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
