Arguably the easiest and cheapest way to add new life and colour to a room is a fresh coat of paint, but consider taking some time and effort to apply a paint technique, such as sponging, ragging, stencilling or stamping. Even if you have no experience, you can brighten even the dullest room quickly and affordably.
Before painting your room, pick out a colour scheme for your walls. When you choose your paint, remember that many paint techniques use two shades of one colour, a darker base colour and a lighter top colour.
To sponge or rag a wall, paint your darker base colour and let it dry thoroughly. Then, dip your sponge or rag into the lighter paint colour and sponge or rag the lighter colour over the base coat until you are satisfied with the effect. If you are unhappy with your final result, you can repaint any areas that you don’t like with the base coat. Once the repainted area is dry, repeat the faux painting technique.
If you are considering a decorative paint technique such as stencilling or stamping, you may just want to create a wallpaper effect by stamping or stencilling a simple design over your base coat. However, you may want to go a step further with your project and use stencils or stamps to create a faux brick or stone wall.
You’d be happy to know that you don’t need to be an artist to create this look, just follow these simple steps:
1. Paint the walls with the colour you chose for the mortar between the bricks or stones.
2. Once the base coat is dry, stamp or stencil in your bricks or stones over the base coat.
3. Once the brick or stonework is dry, spatter a bit of the darker colour over your faux art to give it depth and make it appear more realistic.
Creating faux effects, such as, making your walls look like they are made of plaster or suede can also rejuvenate any room. You can easily learn how to create these seemingly difficult finishes at your local paint store. Paint bases that automatically give a suede or textured effect to walls are a shortcut that even professionals use to create quality finishes.
No matter which decorative wall paint technique you choose, remember that it is just a few layers of paint. You can always redo it as you learn more about the art of decorative painting and a professional painter is just a phone call away...
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