Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Faux finish questions...

Has anybody ever done a faux finish on an inside wall, and if so, what degree of difficulty is the job and can it be done just using different shades of paint?

I'm not finding much info about the procedure on the internet.

Check for information at your local home center.

There are several different techniques. I tried my hand at the wrinkled plastic method based on the beautiful job another forum poster did in his HT room. Needless to say, I suck at Faux and have no words of wisdom to share. I messed it up so bad I decided to roll over it with the dark base coat I used. After two coats the lines were still there, but it looked pretty cool with the big screw ups covered and just a hint of the lighter Faux lines and smudges. Everyone who sees it tells me how good it looks – ha-ha…. If they only knew…. I call it “Mike’s Mistake”.

At any rate, do a search and this feller’s picture should come up. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, but he did post some more photos not very long ago of his second HT using the same technique.

I think it was faux suede look if that helps.

Mike, wasn't that 'Newf' who had the beautiful faux finish in his room?

I was also thinking you did the finish also but after reading your reply I now know the rest of the story. Our local Home Depot isn't much help, last time my wife went to get a gallon of paint mixed the guy had to give it four tries before he got it right ... said he normally didn't work in the paint department.

We did a sponge paint thing in the entryway of our last house with (I think) 4 colors of paint. Rolled-on the lightest shade to cover, then did 3 layers of sponge application with the other colors. I think we thinned the sponged paint quite a bit. You need a natural sponge. It came out pretty good, but it was a pain in the arse. Neither me nor the missus has felt compelled to repeat that experiment in the last ten years. I'll advise you to test the bejeezus out of the entire process before doing a whole wall.

I believe Home Depot has a whole kit for it. They also have rollers and sponges precisely for faux applications. we did a couple walls in our house and are very pleased with the results, but as Tom says it takes a couple practice shots on small sections of wall to get the desired results.

You sure you guys aren't neo-nazis?

We did a sponge thing in our bedroom on the moss green walls, gave it a leather look, pretty cool.

know what I mean?