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Living with
Paint (Part 2, ”To paper or to paint? That’s the question” series)
by Patrick Shields
After debating back and forth with herself and her husband, Sandy made her
decision. Her newly renovated family room was to be painted, not wallpapered.
From the beginning of the project, she had envisioned installing a wallpaper she
had seen in one of her favorite magazines. She still had the magazine clipping
and the more she looked at the wallpaper the more she liked it. But, after
showing her husband and three sons her plan, they complained loudly that it was
too feminine. After all, it was four against one and they wanted a more den-like
look in their new family room.
Sandy caved in to the pressure and opted to wood grain parts of the room and
stencil other parts. Her kids were off to college in a few short years and she
could always wallpaper later.
In the first article of the “To paper or to paint?” series, I outlined the pros
and cons of wallpaper versus paint. In the case of Sandy’s living situation,
when you are not ready for the full commitment to wallpaper, decorative paint is
the great compromise. Let’s explore what options you have if you choose paint.
First, there is the plain vanilla approach, the one-color solid paint on all
walls. If you are reading this article, you are probably the kind of person who
is not satisfied with a plain painted surface. You are looking for decorative
paint.
Decorative paint is known as the broken color technique. There are two basic
ways to break the color. Color can be printed on or color can be lifted off. If
you look at the background colors of wallpaper, they are broken color technique
with a stencil or printing over top of the color. There are many decorative
paint techniques. Some examples…
- Rag rolling -- applying color via a rag. If you use a light color over a dark
color, you get a contemporary look. If you use a dark color over a light color,
you will get a more classical antique look.
- Rough brushing -- made to imitate the way they painted 100 years ago with
large brushes or to imitate white wash or lime wash.
- Strie – classical English look; imitates the look of old varnished oil paint.
- Sponging – used mostly on furniture painting; another tool to do a broken
finish.
- Stenciling – alternative to having an artist hand paint; gives you the look of
a hand painted finish with minimal artistic ability or know-how.
- Sponge printing – imitates block printed finishes; like stenciling, it is an
alternative to applying a pattern without extensive artistic skill. It will give
you an old-fashioned look.
- Linening – technique to make the walls look like they are covered with a
fabric or upholstery; upholstered or tapestry walls have always been the highest
form of European decoration.
- Suede – texture paint to imitate the look of suede wallcovering.
- Venetian plaster – very popular right now; imitates a fine plaster finish that
has been buffed with wax.
The above techniques are basic applications of paint. If you want to imitate
wood, stone or marble, it is a matter of additional steps to the basic
techniques and additional layers of color. Wood graining and marbleizing are
advanced painting techniques. Decorative paint requires a minimum of two steps with at least two coats of
paint. After you have applied a base coat, you put on or take off color using a
tool sponge, rag, brush, etc. There are also products that simulate old products
like aged plaster or the texture of suede. These products have real texture. Use
these products with caution because they produce real texture. If you don’t like
it, you will need to sand the walls or maybe re-plaster.
With decorative finishes, you don’t have the wallpaper removal problem but you
get a similar effect to wallpaper. There are many books available and classes at
home centers or paint stores if you’d like to do it yourself. Decorative paint,
or the broken color technique, is more complicated than simple one-color
painting, but it can be less complicated than searching for the wallpaper
pattern you’d like.
Next time we’ll talk about stenciling, printing and hand painting designs or
murals.Got a question?
Click here to email me. |
