How to Faux Paint a Room

Use a wide brush for blending.

Painting faux textures and effects on your room walls is one way to create an environment that is uniquely you. Faux techniques allow you to create the look and feel of other surfaces, even on flat walls. Two of the most common faux techniques are wood graining and stone textures. For faux technique, a three-point system works best. Start with a base, or medium, shade. Add a lighter color to create highlights and a darker color to create shadows.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic sheeting
• Masking tape
• Roller
• Latex paint
• Paint brushes
• 10-by-10-inch drywall square
• Charcoal pencil
• Art brushes
• Sponge

Instructions

Creating a Castle Room

1. Choose a stone texture to emulate. Find a rock, or purchase a stone tile from which to work. Pick three colors from your stone sample. The base color should be the predominant color in your stone sample. Choose the lightest and darkest shades from your stone as well. Purchase at least one gallon of each color in latex satin finish.

2. Mask off your woodwork, flooring and hardware with tape and plastic sheeting.

3. Coat one wall with your base color, using a roller. While it is still wet, use a wide paint brush, 3 inches or larger, to brush on both of your other colors over the base coat. Blend the three colors together, with the same brush, using a crisscross stroke to create a cloud-like blend of the three colors. Allow this to dry.

4. Use a large drywall square to mark out horizontal rows of stone blocks, 10 inches high, with a charcoal pencil. Stagger the blocks so that the end of a block on the top row will fall in the center of the block below.

5. Paint the top line and one side line of each stone with the light color using a small art brush. This indicates the direction the light is coming from. Paint the bottom line and opposite side line of each stone with the dark color to indicate shadows. Keep the highlights and shadows on the same side of every stone. Repeat steps 1 through 5 for the other walls in your room.

6. Dip a sponge into each color, and lightly dab it onto each stone to leave a slightly speckled pattern.

Creating a Cabin Room

1. Choose a wood sample and three colors, just as in the stone sample. Mask your woodwork, floor and hardware. Roll on a coat of the base color.

2. Brush on your highlight and shadow colors, dipping only the tip of the bristles into the paint. Apply the strokes in a horizontal line, waving the brush up and down slightly to emulate wood grain.

3. Draw 10- to 12-inch-high horizontal lines with a charcoal pencil to represent rows of logs. Mark the ends of logs every 6 to 8 feet, keeping them staggered.

4. Using the light color, paint your highlights with an art brush along the top of and one end of each log. Paint the shadows with the dark color on the opposite end and along the bottom of each log.

5. Create a few knotholes randomly spaced across the wall using the dark paint to create swirls and the lighter paint to highlight the top edge of the swirl lines.

Tips & Warnings

• Use the same stone technique to create stone borders around doors and windows to complete the castle look. The wood technique can also be painted vertically onto the faces of doors to give a finishing touch to either room.

References

• "Faux and Decorative Painting": Christine Barnes; Sunset Books, 2004
• "Decorative Painting & Faux Finishes": Sharon Ross, Elise Kinkead; Creative Homeowner Press, 2004