There is a variety of decorative painting techniques that can help you at personality and dimension to any room in your home. Today, we’re going to look at some of the proper techniques and the tools that will achieve the contemporary looks. Let’s start with color washing or glazing.
Color washing can be done with a wide paintbrush or a piece of lamb’s wool. But whichever applicator you choose, be sure to wet it first and then tap out the excess water. Glaze added to the paint makes it more translucent so the underlying coats bleed through providing depth and dimension to the walls. It also causes the paint to dry more slowly so you have more time to work with your technique. Choose a similar color as the base coat for a subtle effect or sharply contrasting color for a more dramatic effect. Continue applying the glaze with random motions where we are working in irregular three-foot section until the room is complete. Also, if you start in the center and work your way up to the edges, it helps to blend each section together.
Another popular technique is ragging. And as with glazing, you can allow more of the base coat to show through by applying the glaze mix with a rag or less by ragging it off.
To rag off, mix four parts glaze to one part paint and apply it to the base color with the roller. Work in small sections and immediately dab the area with a clean damp cloth or some high quality paper towels. Use a pouncing motion to dab off the glaze and reshape the rag or towels as they become full. If you like, you can roll a second glaze color on the different random areas and feather the edges with a rag. Repeat this process with for the next section while blending the lines between each section as you go until the room is completed.
Those are two examples of some softer effects that can add depth. Now, let’s take a look at some bolder approaches. You can create almost any geometric pattern by simply masking off the areas of a base coat with painter’s tape. Today, let’s look at making vertical stripes. But, you can use this same basic approach to create horizontal stripes, a diamond pattern, blocks, you name it. Mark a line down the center section of a wall with some simple chalk and measure out all the plan lines from this mark. Now, you can mark out each strip with the same width. But for less formal look, try random widths. It makes the math a little easier too. Press down firmly on the inside edges as you apply the tape and mark off the areas of the base coat that you want to keep with an X pattern. Then, roll on a new paint color and immediately remove the tape as you complete each stripe. Here, we simply rolled the new color onto the base coat but you can apply anyway you like. You can use a rage, a color wash, or this is a technique I like, you can buy an ordinary squeegee and cut a pattern in it and you can use it to make vertical stripes or horizontal stripes.
Remember, there is no right or wrong here. It’s whatever you like. So, try out a bunch of different textures on some scrap board. One last approach that I would like to cover is stenciling. You can apply a stencil to an entire wall or simply stencil the pattern in certain areas to add accents to a room. Either way, you need to hold the stencils firmly in place with tape or spray on adhesive. And, you need to dab the glaze on very gently with a special stencil brush so it does not bleed outside the pattern. Also, check that your pattern is straight and leveled before starting each new section. Those are just a handful of the decorative painting techniques that you can use. Be adventurous and be creative and bring a little piece of your personality to each and every room of your home.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services