Faux Painting Ideas

A very simple and inexpensive way of sprucing up a room to give it an instant makeover is through faux painting. There are different faux painting ideas for you to choose from depending upon your style and suitability. Some easy faux painting techniques are decorative stripes painting, sponge painting, aged leather finishing, crinkle paper painting and strie painting. All these faux painting ideas will help to create a unique look in different rooms of your house. Be bold and try to experiment with a variety of interior faux painting techniques.

Aged Leather Painting Technique

The aged leather painting technique is one of the best faux painting ideas if the walls are not completely even or for concealing some structural irregularities. For this first you need to apply a base coat of paint in the walls and let it dry completely. Once the paint is dry, apply a small area of the wall with glaze, with the help of a roller. Now quickly place a sheet of plastic over the glazed area of the wall and lightly smooth it out. Move the plastic in an up and down or to-and-fro motion to create random lines and creases. Once you are satisfied with the way the wall looks, remove the plastic. Work in a similar way throughout the whole wall to create this look by scrunching and twisting the plastic in the wet glaze. In this way you will create an old leathered texture on your walls.

Strie Painting Technique

The strie painting technique is also called the dragging technique. To get this effect, first you have to paint the walls with a base coat. When the paint is dry, mix another complementary paint with glaze and dip a paint pad into this mixture. Carefully remove the excess paint from the paint pad and apply it on the wall in one continuous stroke. Now take a dry clean paint brush, apply even pressure and drag it against the wet paint. Continue in this way, until you have covered the entire wall. For a variation of this effect you can also apply the paint in the horizontal direction.

Color Washing Technique

For the color washing technique, you need to select two paint colors, one dark and the other light. First apply a base coat of the brighter color on the walls and allow it to dry. Once you are certain that the top coat has dried completely, dampen a small towel or a clean rag and dip it into the lighter paint color. Squeeze out the excess paint and apply the color saturated towel directly on the wall to create a swirling pattern. Work from the top most left hand corner of the walls to maintain continuity. Make sure that the swirl patterns are roughly of the same size to give it a polished look.

Before embarking on any painting project, first paint a small section of the wall to make sure that you like the overall effect. If you do not want to make too much of changes in your room, consider painting the ceiling of your room in a soft muted color and stenciling your favorite pattern or animal in it. Faux painting is an innovative and inexpensive way of transforming the look of your room.