How to Create Faux Leather Walls

This technique requires a little time, but even an inexperienced amateur can turn out a beautiful wall with just a little effort. Seen in many designer showcase homes, these are a wonderful and durable surface for your home.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Brown bags or kraft paper
• Pigments such as raw umber, burnt sienna and burnt umber
• Latex glaze
• Bucket
• Latex gloves
• Smoothing tools--a flat wallpaper tool is ideal
• Brush
• Razor knife and replacement blades
• Straight edge
• Sponge and warm water for clean up

1. Tear pieces of brown bags or kraft paper into pieces ranging from 4 to 6 inches and up to a 10 to 12 inches. Crumple these and put aside until you have at least a trash bag full. The amount of paper you will need will depend on the size of the wall you have chosen. Don't worry if you run out, you can add more to it at any time.

2. Add a few drops of pigment to about 1/2 gallon of water. Add a cup of latex glaze and mix well. Each pigment will require its own mixture. You will need one container (bucket) for each color. Mix well.

3. Uncrumple the paper pieces and dip in one of the pigmented glaze and water buckets. Lay them to dry on your covered basement or garage floor, or ideally out on the grass on a sunny day. These will dry in the open air in an hour or so.

4. When you have a nice full large leaf bag filled with the dried pieces you are ready to apply it to the wall. You may start anywhere you like. Mix a bucket of 4 parts latex glaze with 5 parts water. Brush a 2-foot area on the wall, now lay one piece of paper on the glaze--brush some more on top and use your smoother to assure complete contact with the wall surface. Do not smooth all wrinkles out - as they create the look of old leather. Proceed to cover the entire wall with these pieces, overlapping and working them out to the ceiling, baseboard and corners.

5. Using a straight edge and the knife cut the edges at the ceiling and baseboard in a nice straight line. You should do this while wet, as they will adhere to the surfaces. Now using a clean sponge and warm water clean the glaze mixture from the areas you do not want to cover.

6. Apply a final coat of glaze to the finished wall. To darken the effect you may add a little more pigment to the final coat.

Tips & Warnings

• This type of wall is easy to wash, keeps its character and looks like old leather.
• This is not hard to do, but may take a little extra time.
• Cutting the edges will make it look expert and finished, but any of the edges can be covered with molding and have a lovely paneled look.
• Do be sure to use a drop cloth in the area. You want to protect any surface which you will not be covering. This cleans up with warm water while still damp but cannot be removed when dry.