How to a Make a Color Wash Finish with Antiqued Border

Textured walls finishes add depth to a wall without overwhelming the surrounding areas. A color-wash is one of the simplest and most attractive wall finishes. Textured walls add grace and elegance to your home. Take a plain white wall and make it a focal point for your entrance. Here is how to make a color-wash wall with an antique border.

Things You'll Need

• Gloves, low tack painter's tape, base coat, warm yellow, roller pan, foam roller, 2-inch brush, glazing medium, mixing bowl, orange tint, dark brown tint, black tint, cheescloth, 1 or 2 inch bristle brush, blending brush, pre-pasted embossed wallpaper border, rag, tape measure, pencil, drop cloth, wood putty and sand paper

Instructions

1. Prep and patch your walls as needed.

2. Tape off the ceiling windows, doors and baseboards

3. Fill in any holes with wood putty. Allow the wood putty to dry and then lightly sand the area

4. Wipe the area clean with a cloth and ensure that you remove all of the sand residue.

5. Take your roller and warm yellow paint. You will be applying two coats of warm yellow paint as your base coating. Allow the first coat of paint to dry for at least 4 hours before applying the second coat of warm yellow paint. Allow the second coat of paint to dry overnight.

Preparing the Glaze for your ColorWash Wall

1. Put on your gloves and grab the mixing bowl, your orange tint and your glazing medium. You will be using a 3 part glaze to each part orange tint.

2. Add 1/2 cup of dark brown tint and 1/2/ cup of black tint to the mixture. The color should be a deep terra cotta color. Mix well with a paint stick.

3. Apply the glaze to the wall using a 4-inch brush. Always work with a wet area, which means doing small areas at a time.

4. Put your brush aside and pick up you cheesecloth and make it into a ball in your hand. Softly dab the walls with the cloth, going back and forth as you work. Do your dabbing in a random method.

5. Put down the cheesecloth and pick up your badger blending brush to soften the texture and softly blend the two finishes moving up and down and then back and forth.

6. Repeat the glazing, cheesecloth and blending for the entire wall. Repeat this procedure until the wall has been completely glazed.

Coloring your Wall Border:

1. Mix a dark brown glaze using a 1 to 1 ratio of glaze medium and dark brown paint.

2. Take your white roll of embossed border and use a 1-inch brush to apply the glaze to the border.

3. Use a rag or paper towel to remove most of the glaze from the border.

4. Allow the border to dry completely before you start to affix the border to the wall

5. Affix your embossed white border approximately 3 feet from the floor base. Use the manufacturer's instructions when applying the border.

Tips & Warnings

• The wall will be a focus point as your guests enter your room. They will love the way the room welcomes them.

• Use soft soap and water to wash the walls when necessary