Make Magnificent Textured Walls Yourself

Textured or marbled walls are beautiful when decorating a room with plenty of antiques, but they’re also making a comeback for more modern decor as well. The textured walls have a look of marbled wallpaper but there’s no measuring or seams. This particular texturing technique is rather time consuming but will give your room a professional look at a fraction of the price.

There are no specific color combinations for marbling your room; you simply pick two colors that look good together. Many people marble white paint with pastels of blue or pink. Others marble rich colors like navy and gold or red and gold. Still others choose two off-setting colors like deep green with deep red. If you end up not like the colors you’ve chosen it’s a simple matter of buying one new color of paint to change it.

Start by priming the walls to cover any old paint that’s showing. One coat of primer is usually sufficient unless the existing color is very bold or dark. After the primer is sufficiently dry paint the room with two coats of paint, using only one of the colors you intend to use in the marbling. It’s best to choose the darkest color first, but if they’re both dark colors, just choose one.

After the paint is dry you’ll put on the last coat of paint, a little at a time. The last paint color should be mixed with glaze, found where paint is sold. The glaze should be two parts to the one part paint. Paint a place, say, three feet by three feet. Now take newspaper and place it on the wet paint, patting it here and there. Remove the newspaper and watch as part of the new paint comes off while some of it remains attached to the wall. This gives a marbling or textured effect to the wall.

You can use other things besides newspaper to get a similar effect: trash bags, squares of plastic, rubber gloves, or even brown paper. Each one seems to give a slightly different effect on the way the texture turns out, but only very slightly. Rubber gloves, for example, leaves a fingertip-type mark here and there on the wall. The newspaper probably does the best job but it also allows the paint to seep through and your hands will be covered in various shades of paint in no time. Newspaper with rubber gloves is ideal.

The marbling and texture creations can be done on other items, too, like vases, cupboards, doors, book cases, and even picture frames. It’s so easy that kids can get in on the action, too, whether you’re doing a vase or a wall.

Consider a dark color with metallic second color for a velvet-and-gold-type look, or two pastel colors for a soft, warm effect. Want the room clean and bright-looking? Try a medium to light shade pastel and texture with white glaze. You’ll love the new look which will last for years but don’t be surprised if people suddenly start wanting to hire you for their future projects!