Always make a checklist of the tools and materials that you will be using. Each faux finish project has different tools and material requirements, and knowing what you need and how much of it is important so that you don’t have to go running to the hardware store and break your mid-stride during your project to get more (which isn’t recommended in the first place).
You can get pre-packaged how-to kits make faux finishing these days. Their availability in the market now is proof of how popular faux painting/finish is now. There are marbleizing kits, kits for creating granite or quarry reproductions, wood-graining kits and stenciling kits of all kinds.
Always remember that you must prep the surface you’re working on well before starting your faux finish project.
With a sculpted twin roller, you can apply a decorative pattern with two glaze colors at one time. Most kits now come with a palette of colors that are designed to work together. These include a latex base coat and a glazing liquid that you mix with latex paint. These two colours will create depth for an otherwise plain wall in less than a day.
Tools and Materials
- Twin-roller faux painting kit
- Two shades of latex paint
- Brush/roller spinner
- Latex glaze
- Stepladder
- Poster board
- Drop cloths
- Masking tape
- Latex gloves
- Prep your wall and room for your project.
- Mix the glaze according to manufacturer’s requirements. Mix paint and glaze liquid and pour enough to fill the bottom of each side of the divided tray with your two colors, with 2 parts glaze to 1 part latex paint.
- Practise on a piece of drywall board.
- Roll the rollers in overlapping ‘W’ or ‘S’ technique to randomize the pattern and avoid a too uniform look. Vary the amount of paint you put on the roller, the amount of pressure and how much you roll back over the wet paint.
- Dip the twin roller into the glaze mixture and roll it back and forth on the tray to remove the excess.
- Work in 4-by-4-foot section of the wall at a time. Remember that the more you roll over the same section, the more you blend the colors and the less distinct the pattern.
- Clean your roller with warm soapy water, wring it out and run the clean roller on scrap paper occasionally so that your patterns don’t become too subtle and loses its contrast. This is so that you can maintain a consistent pattern.
- Continue until you cover the whole work area.
Tip: If you need to stop for a break or at the end of a session, stop at a corner as you\’re less likely to see a noticeable transition unlike if you stop in middle section of a wall.
