How to Rag Paint

Adding flair to your home with paint is an economical and easy way to spruce up any room. Paint is a relatively inexpensive way to update faded decor or incorporate new and different colors into your color scheme. Paint is also forgiving in that if you make a mistake and decide you do not like the effect, painting over the surface is not difficult. One of the most simple effects that can be added to a painted wall is called rag painting. This is a very easy method of adding different degrees of color and variation to a painted wall.

Things You'll Need

• Satin-finish paint (base coat) (estimated 2 gallons of paint per wall)
• Satin-finish paint to use with the rag (may be more than one color) (estimated 1 quart of paint per wall)
• Paint tray
• Paint roller
• Ladder
• Clean rags
• Paintbrush (2-inch width)
• Work gloves (latex if possible)

Instructions

1. Select the interior paint color for the base coat of the wall and the paint color(s) for the rag painted layer. Generally, the base coat color will be lighter than the rag painted layer for best results.

2. Put on the work gloves. Apply the base coat paint onto the surface of the wall with a paint roller. Allow time for the base coat to dry completely.

3. Pour the paint for the rag painting technique into the paint tray. Dip the rag into the paint. Squeeze the rag sufficiently to make it saturated but not dripping.

4. Hold the rag in your hand so that it is loosely wadded. Begin to lightly dab the rag onto the wall working on small 2 x 2-foot sections at a time. Start in the lower left corner of the wall and progress across the wall. Experiment with rotating your hand to achieve various patterns with the paint. Start with a light touch to the rag painting technique--you can always go back later and make it darker. It would be more difficult to make it lighter later. Stand back often to survey your progress and work slowly. Take breaks if you get tired.

5. Use the paintbrush to apply dabs of paint carefully into the corners that you cannot reach with the rag. Try to make the dabs of paint applied with the paintbrush resemble the dabs applied with the rag as much as possible. Again, a light touch is recommended for this technique.

6. Let the rag-painted wall dry completely. Add more rag-painted layers of complimentary colors in the same fashion if desired.