Faux Wall Finish

Faux finishing is a painting technique used to create the illusion of texture on a wall. Over the years, it's become an art that's easily accessible by using simple tools like sponges and rags to produce effects that leave virtually no traces of the tools. Faux Wall Finishing may sound complicated, but it's something that anyone can tackle without expensive materials or complicated resources!

It's appropriate on drywall, plaster or wood, and it requires no more preparation than any other new paint job, just a clean, primed surface ready for finishing.

While we highly recommend faux wall finish in Kansas City, Missouri, there are a few things we've learned since starting faux wall finish that we'd like to share with you. Some of these items are things to "not do" that we've learned the hard way. Others are tips and suggestions that we've found helpful over the years.

1) Go to your local paint store or decorative painting store and look at the samples they have. For example, Home Depot has lots of different booklets and paint chips with faux paint finishes on them for you to look at and even take home to look at in your lighting. That pretty metallic finish on a paint chip in the store make look garish when you get it home and look at it in your home's natural lighting.

2) Consider taking a class in Missouri or Kansas City before doing your first project. Some paint stores and home improvement stores, such as Home Depot, offer free faux painting clinics and workshops. You can also find some very good faux wall finish techniques for a reasonable fee by visiting our classes!

3) Practice your technique on a piece of scrap wallboard before doing it on your wall. This is especially important if you are blending colors.

4) Remember that the texture of your walls will dictate, to some extent, what faux wall finish techniques you can and cannot use. If your walls are smooth you can do just about any technique you want. But textured walls are very common, especially in newer homes in Kansas City, Missouri. You may see striped walls in a brochure or on a sample wall and decide that's what you want to do in your home; but if your walls are textured it's going to be nearly impossible to achieve straight lines for your stripes. Keep in mind that faux finishes on paint chips from a store are done on a smooth surface. They will look a little different (but may still look very nice) if you do that same technique with the same colors on a textured wall.

5) If you're going to do a faux wall finish in an entire room don't start on the wall that people will first look at when they walk into the room. That means don't start on the wall directly across from the doorway. Unless you're a professional, it takes a little while for you to get your technique perfected in a room. Put that less than perfect start in the least noticeable part of the room.

6) If you get tired while painting and need a break, don't stop in the middle of a wall. Stop at a corner. If you stop in the middle of the wall and don't come back to work on the project again until after the paint is dry, you're going to have a noticeable line on the wall. It won't be pretty.

7) Think twice about mixing your own color with paint you have at home unless you are absolutely positive you're going to have enough paint to do the entire job. If you mix your own color and run out of paint before you finish it will be time-consuming and challenging to match that color. You might be able to match it because many paint stores in Kansas City, Missouri have specialty machines that can match a paint chip you take in, but if you've mixed together two different sheens of paint (for example let's say you mixed a flat paint and a satin paint together) you're going to have a hard time reproducing that same sheen. In some cases it may not be noticeable; but in other cases it will.

If you're a beginner, start with an easy faux wall finish technique. Sponging is very easy and looks great. It's really easy to use and the results are fantastic. Buy paint colors that are at least two places away from each other on a paint strip. For example, if you pick out a paint strip with 5 yellows on it, don't buy two colors that are right next to each other because they will be so close in color that you won't see much variation when you put those colors on the wall and start to blend them.

We also offer a wide variety of support for your faux wall finish projects:
Faux Finish Brushes
Farrow and Ball Samples
Faux Finish Glazes
Faux Finish Colors
Base Coats
Aqua Crackle
Faux Wall Finishes
Top Coats
Faux Finish Brushes
Specialty Products
Faux Samples
Designer Stencils
Mad Stencilist
Royal Design Studio
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