Tips on Painting Suede

Masking

• Suede paint is fairly thin and can bleed under regular masking tape, leaving you with messy, uneven lines wherever you've masked. Use 2-inch blue painter's tape to mask the trim, ceilings and adjacent walls. Apply it carefully in a straight line, pressing it down with your fingers to smooth out wrinkles and air bubbles that allow paint to seep under. Pull the tape off once you're satisfied with the finish.

Rolling the First Coat

• Several manufacturers sell special rollers for applying the first coat of paint--the first coat is rolled on, the second brushed for the suede effect. You don't have to purchase the special roller; any 3/8-inch nap roller will work. The second coat of paint covers all the imperfections in the first coat. Your goal with the first coat is merely to get an uneven field of color, with no missed areas, drips or dried ridges from the edge of the roller.

Brushed Coat

• Brush the second coat of suede paint using a high-quality 3-inch paintbrush. A budget-priced brush doesn't hold much paint and leaves uneven and obvious brush marks. Apply the paint in a crisscross pattern, overlapping the brush strokes to cover the first coat completely. Don't work in a grid pattern or straight lines. Instead work in a more random, free-form manner. Start from the top of the wall and work down.

Care and Repainting

• Suede paint doesn't clean without marring the finish, so don't use it in high-traffic or humid areas. If you need to touch it up later, use an artist's brush, and just cover the flaw. Touching it up with a larger brush results in an obvious demarcation between the original paint and the new repair.

  Despite its textured appearance, that is mostly illusory and suede paint is quite smooth. To repaint it later, you don't need to sand the wall or do any special preparation. Simply prime it with latex primer, and apply your paint of choice.