How to Put Texture on Walls
If the plain, smooth walls of your home are feeling less than inspired, break out of the rut by adding texture. Textures give walls a completely new look without the heavy task of breaking down and rebuilding the foundations. While many textures look incredibly intricate and labor intensive, creating them takes just a couple of supplies and a little bit of work. Put on your painter's cap and create a new wall texture. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Roller or paintbrush
- Base paint color(s)
- Stippling brush
- Glaze
- Fine steel wool
- Toner glaze
- Rubber gloves
- Rag
- Corrugated cardboard
Instructions
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Go from flat, smooth walls to a stucco or popcorn look with a stippling texture. Paint the entire wall with a regular roller or paintbrush in a base coat color and let dry. Dab a stippling brush into glaze paint and immediately touch the wall. Don't drag the brush back and forth like painting, just dip it into the glaze and touch the wall. Dab repeatedly on the wall to create the rippled texture.
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Change a new wall to an antique texture without waiting a couple of decades. Rub the wall with fine steel wool to give it a scratchy texture for the paint to hold on to. Paint the base coat and let dry. Paint on toner glaze and immediately rub the walls again with fine steel wool. As the roughed-up toner dries, it gives an aged, streaked texture.
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Take a cue from jewelry and give walls a tortoiseshell texture. Paint the entire wall yellow. Before the paint dries, layer brown glossy varnish over the paint. Immediately paint umber or black paint in a diagonal pattern onto the wall. Put on rubber gloves and tap the tacky wall with your fingertips. Move the angle of your hand to create different tortoiseshell textured patterns.
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Turn cement walls into semi-precious stone with a malachite texture. Pour paint onto a rag (not a paintbrush) and slap the rag onto the wall, dragging it back and forth. Drag a piece of corrugated cardboard through the wet paint from side to side, streaking the paint like the texture of the semi-precious rock. (Another option, called ragging, uses the first part of the malachite texture to simply apply paint with a rag, which creates a splattered texture effect.)
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