6 Unusual Painting Techniques
Think Outside of the Box With These Painting Techniques
Tackling a home painting project may seem like little more than a chore, but you can transform it into a creative pursuit if you’re so inclined. Aside from using the right products and tools, there are no hard and fast rules for how to go about painting your property. Plenty of homeowners will go by the book, of course, painting their walls with single, solid colors without any visual or tactile texturing. Others, however, might want to try something a bit outside the box.
With the right approach, you can paint drywall to resemble various other materials, visually age your interiors, add texture to your walls and ceilings, and more. Let’s explore six unusual painting techniques you might consider for your next home interior painting project.
1. Sponging
The title of this basic technique gives away how it’s performed. Using a painting sponge or natural sea sponge, a few different paint colors, and a glaze, you can add visual texture and flair to your interior spaces. This technique involves dampening a sponge with a mixture of glaze and paint, then dabbing it somewhat randomly on the surface in question. Results can vary widely depending on the type of sponge you use, the size of its pores, and the colors and sheens you incorporate, ranging from a tie-dye look to a dotted, almost sparkly finish.
2. Marbleizing
There’s no denying the beauty and elegance of a marble surface, but these accolades come at a cost. If you’re willing to put in the effort, though, you can imitate the appearance of marble with the proper painting technique. To achieve this faux finish, you must have a small roller, small angled paint brush, paint sponge or bunched up rag, multiple paint colors that work well together, glaze, and a varnish to finish the job. The key is in the layering and the direction of your strokes. Making thin, diagonal “K” and “Y” shapes with your angled brush will resemble the natural veins found in real marble.
3. Strié/Dragging
This unusual painting technique allows you to replicate the look of fabric without the material. The idea here is to create visual texture by dragging a long-bristled brush (usually vertically) through a colored glaze over a base coat of paint. For this, your paint and glaze colors should be different, preferably providing a strong contrast. Make sure the glaze is still wet when dragging your brush along it.
4. Antiquing/Distressing
If you want to give your surfaces a weathered appearance, you can do so via an antiquing (or distressing) painting technique. There are many ways to achieve this type of look (i.e. using gradients of paint colors, incorporating browns, yellows, and grays, applying paint with sponges and rags, etc.), but the easiest, most basic method simply involves using a base coat of paint and a layer of glaze. You might begin with a light, earthy base coat and layer it with a darker-colored glaze, or vice versa.
5. Wood Graining
Experienced interior house painters can even replicate the appearance of different types of wood with the proper technique. First, they’ll typically apply an acrylic urethane glaze with a grainer applicator. After that, they’ll use a cylindrical stamping tool called a rocker to imprint designs that resemble wood grain. A whisk broom is then gently grazed over the surface to create the fine, fiber-like textures found in wood. A final coat of glaze is usually applied to provide some gloss and enrich the tone.
6. Texturing with Additives or Pre-Textured Paint
The faux finishing methods outlined above can have a powerful effect on your home’s aesthetic. That said, it takes time to master these various finishes, and even if you do, they only provide visual texture, not anything you can feel. So, if you want to provide both aesthetic and tactile texture to your interiors and/or you don’t have the time, patience, or skill to apply a faux finish, you might use a pre-textured paint or incorporate a textured additive to your paint mixture. Pre-textured paints come in a variety of grain sizes and types, and paint additives include materials like stone, sand, popcorn material, and more. Applying textured paint, while generally easier than applying a faux finish, still requires the proper technique, so if you need assistance, hire professional home painting services that offer these options.
This list of unusual painting techniques barely scratches the surface of everything you can do with paint. If you’re interested in getting creative with your home painting project, partner up with the skilled Nashville painters at Nash Painting. To learn more about us, our services, and our values, call us at 615-829-6858 today!