How to Paint Your Antique Walls

Use a frottage technique to create an antique look with depth. After applying your base color to walls and allowing it to dry, apply faux finishing glaze to a section of wall from floor to ceiling with a roller. Cut a strip of craft paper slightly narrower than the area you applied glaze to and long enough to reach from floor to ceiling. Crumple the paper into a wad, then flatten the paper back out. Lay the sheet of paper over the glaze and use the wallpaper spreader to flatten the paper against the wall. Peel the paper away from the wall. The wrinkles in the craft paper will have left behind a unique texture reminiscent of yesteryear.

Color-wash your walls for a soft, subtle antique wall finish. Paint a base color onto your walls using a roller. Once the base color is dry, use a brush to apply glaze in overlapping diagonal "x" patterns to an entire wall. Using a damp rag, lightly dab over the glaze while it is still wet to blur your brush strokes.

Try a ragging technique. Apply a base paint color to walls with a roller. Once the base color has dried, roll glaze onto a section of wall. While the glaze is still wet, use a crumpled rag to blot the glaze lightly. Decide if you will "rag on" or "rag off" your faux finishing glaze. To "rag on," use a damp crumpled rag dipped in glaze to apply the product on top of the base color. To "rag off," apply glaze with a roller and blot wet glaze with the rag to create textural patterns. Apply glaze to a few square feet of wall at a time and continue working in sections to prevent an area from drying before overlapping with fresh glaze.

Sponge your walls for a textured look. The sponging method is exactly the same as the ragging method -- but using a sea sponge -- and you may sponge the glaze on or off. Sponging glaze onto the wall will give a mottled effect, whereas sponging off will result in a subtle pattern. Sponging is one of the easiest faux finishing techniques to execute successfully, especially if you lightly apply glaze to the sponge with a paintbrush.

Apply paint to walls with a plastering trowel. Use at least three different colors for a more interesting effect. There is no need to clean the trowel in between paint colors. This faux finishing technique works best when paint application is random and some blending of colors occurs. Plus, you can easily adjust the effect you're getting by using more or less of different colors.