How to Faux Paint by Dragging

Dragging with a Brush

• 1

  Paint the wall a solid color. This will be your background color.

• 2

  Select an acrylic paint color that contrasts nicely with the background color.

• 3

  Prepare and tint glaze with the acrylic paint you have chosen to create your desired glaze color.

• 4

  Tape a plastic drop cloth to the baseboard of the wall you are painting to protect the trim and the floor from drips.

• 5

  Brush the glaze onto the wall, covering a 2-foot-wide strip from top to bottom. Use a crisscross pattern, brushing top to bottom, then side to side, then top to bottom again over the same strip.

• 6

  Stand directly in front of the wall area that you covered with glaze in step 5.

• 7

  Pull or drag a wide brush downward through the wet glaze, pressing hard enough to slightly bend the bristles. Keep a steady hand so that the stripes made by the brush bristles stay parallel.

• 8

  Wipe the excess glaze off the brush with a rag.

• 9

  Use the brush to drag another vertical row without overlapping.

• 10

  Repeat steps 5 through 9 until you have covered the wall.

Dragging with a Comb

• 11

  Prepare a comb by cutting a plastic lid in half.

• 12

  Cut V-shaped notches about 1/4-inch long into the straight edge of the cut lid. Space notches evenly or unevenly, depending on the look you want to achieve. Make the teeth fairly narrow to avoid excess paint buildup between the notches.

• 13

  Prepare the glaze and brush it onto the wall as described in steps 2 through 5 above.

• 14

  Hold the comb so that your thumb is on top and your fingers are on the bottom.

• 15

  Place the comb at an angle to the wall and drag the comb down in a vertical row.

• 16

  Clean off the comb with a rag and begin on another vertical row without overlapping.

• 17

  Continue to apply glaze in 2-foot strips and drag as described in steps 14 through 16 until the entire surface is covered.