Try faux painting for effect!
Manasi Goel | Mumbai
Since accent walls have become the latest big thing in home decor today, faux painting is also turning out to be one of hottest trends in homes across the country. Creating an accent wall involves painting a striking colour on a single wall of a room. To jazz things up more, interior decorators suggest using faux painting techniques on the accent walls in your home.
One of the most important tools in creating faux finishes is the use of paints and glazes. “Glazes are added to regular paint to slow the drying process. Regular paint starts drying rather quickly which does not leave enough time to create an appropriate finish, which is why glazes are added to regular paints to slow the drying process and provide enough time to painters to use their tools and create a faux finished wall,” she says.
Many faux painting techniques are quite simple and need only a different type of applying tool to make that striking difference. Listed below is a list of some of the most popular faux painting finishes that you can use for your home:
Colour Washing: In colour washing, paint is first applied with a normal paint brush on the wall as the base coat. Next, instead of regular paintbrushes painters can use an old pair of socks or a specialised brush to spread a diluted mixture of paint and glaze in the same hue as the base coat on the wall to change the texture of the application.
Rag Rolling: In this technique, two coats of a base colour are first painted on the wall. Once this dries, a specialised tool brush or a clean twisted rag cloth is dipped into a mixture of a different colour and glaze that is then rolled on a wall to give it a crumpled effect.
Mottling: The mottling technique can be used to create a soft blurry marbling effect on the wall. The first step involves first applying a base coat on a surface and then overlaying it with another colour mixed with an oily glaze to give it a translucent tint. The second glazed layer can be applied with a mottling brush or a pad of cloth by using a swirling motion.
Smooshing: This method involves giving the wall a crushed paper look. After the base coat is painted and dried, a second coat in a different colour is mixed with a glaze and applied on the wall. Immediately, a large piece of plastic is placed on the wall. It is then bunched and removed very carefully from the wall which creates a ‘vein’ effect similar to crushed paper.
There are a myriad other techniques that produce crackled, suede, stone and leaf. Most painters have artisans who are specially trained to give faux painting effects to wall. As a precaution though, you should first ask your painter to create experimental samples on a small area of a wall or on a piece of wood before opting for one you like best. “This is just to make sure that the painters are well-versed in faux painting techniques. Or you may end up with something that really doesn’t live up to their previous description,” says Trishna.
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Since accent walls have become the latest big thing in home decor today, faux painting is also turning out to be one of hottest trends in homes across the country. Creating an accent wall involves painting a striking colour on a single wall of a room. To jazz things up more, interior decorators suggest using faux painting techniques on the accent walls in your home.
“Faux painting involves using a number of painting techniques, glazes and finishes to dress a wall, with the end product turning out more vivid than just plain old paint,” says Chembur-based interior decorator Trishna Mehrotra.
One of the most important tools in creating faux finishes is the use of paints and glazes. “Glazes are added to regular paint to slow the drying process. Regular paint starts drying rather quickly which does not leave enough time to create an appropriate finish, which is why glazes are added to regular paints to slow the drying process and provide enough time to painters to use their tools and create a faux finished wall,” she says.
Many faux painting techniques are quite simple and need only a different type of applying tool to make that striking difference. Listed below is a list of some of the most popular faux painting finishes that you can use for your home:
Colour Washing: In colour washing, paint is first applied with a normal paint brush on the wall as the base coat. Next, instead of regular paintbrushes painters can use an old pair of socks or a specialised brush to spread a diluted mixture of paint and glaze in the same hue as the base coat on the wall to change the texture of the application.
Rag Rolling: In this technique, two coats of a base colour are first painted on the wall. Once this dries, a specialised tool brush or a clean twisted rag cloth is dipped into a mixture of a different colour and glaze that is then rolled on a wall to give it a crumpled effect.
Mottling: The mottling technique can be used to create a soft blurry marbling effect on the wall. The first step involves first applying a base coat on a surface and then overlaying it with another colour mixed with an oily glaze to give it a translucent tint. The second glazed layer can be applied with a mottling brush or a pad of cloth by using a swirling motion.
Smooshing: This method involves giving the wall a crushed paper look. After the base coat is painted and dried, a second coat in a different colour is mixed with a glaze and applied on the wall. Immediately, a large piece of plastic is placed on the wall. It is then bunched and removed very carefully from the wall which creates a ‘vein’ effect similar to crushed paper.
There are a myriad other techniques that produce crackled, suede, stone and leaf. Most painters have artisans who are specially trained to give faux painting effects to wall. As a precaution though, you should first ask your painter to create experimental samples on a small area of a wall or on a piece of wood before opting for one you like best. “This is just to make sure that the painters are well-versed in faux painting techniques. Or you may end up with something that really doesn’t live up to their previous description,” says Trishna.
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