How to Faux Walls

Faux Linen Walls

• 1

  Paint your walls an antique white or creamy yellow as a base color, using an eggshell finish latex paint. Cut the corners and edges with a paint brush, and use a roller to cover the rest of the walls. Let the base color dry.

• 2

  Roll tinted glaze on an approximately 3-foot section of your wall. Use glaze tinted darker than your base color, such as a taupe or mocha color. Keep the tones in a neutral family to pull off the linen look.

• 3

  Take a wide, dry paint brush, and drag it through the glaze. Start at the top of the wall, and drag the brush all the way down to the bottom. Wipe it on a rag, then drag it on the next section, slightly overlapping the first. Proceed to do this through the entire painted section in order to create light vertical lines through the glaze.

• 4

  Drag a paint comb lightly across the glaze, going horizontally across the brush strokes. Move down slightly, and drag the comb through again, slightly overlapping the first horizontal section. Continue doing this, working your way down the wall. When dry, these cross lines will create a woven fabric appearance, making your wall appear to be wallpapered with linen.

• 5

  Move on to the next 3-foot section of wall, and repeat the technique in Steps 2 through 4. Continue until you've finished the entire wall.

Faux Leather

• 6

  Paint the walls a base color with an acrylic latex paint in semigloss finish. Leather comes in many different colors, such as red, shades of brown or gray, so choose a color you like.

• 7

  Allow the first coat to dry. Cut some plastic sheets, such as plastic drop cloths or table cloths, to 3-by-3-foot squares. You can work with only one plastic square at a time, but it will go faster if you use several throughout the whole process.

• 8

  Get a glaze tinted a couple of shades darker or lighter than your base color. Roll it on a 3-by-3-foot section of the wall.

• 9

  Press a plastic square to the glaze, and smooth it over the entire glazed section of the wall, then peel it off. Roll glaze on the next 3-by-3 foot section of the wall, and repeat using a fresh plastic sheet. Wipe excess glaze off the plastic sheets with a rag before using them a second time.

• 10

  Continue the process in Steps 3 and 4 over the entire wall, and let the glaze dry.

Rag Rolling

• 11

  Paint the walls a desired base color in satin finished latex paint. Allow it to dry.

• 12

  Roll a damp cotton rag around your roller nap, and secure it with rubber bands. Leave any wrinkles and bumps to create texture.

• 13

  Pour tinted glaze of a shade slightly lighter or darker than your base color into a roller pan.

• 14

  Roll the rag roller into the glaze, then onto the wall in random directions. Avoid making a pattern, and leave some of the base color to show through.

• 15

  Let the glaze dry. If desired, add a third shade to the wall for even more texture and depth.