A homeowner can add quick style to a room by choosing from several different painting techniques for the walls. Some techniques in painting can make a DIY paint job look very professional.

You need to make sure that you are well prepared before you start any type of painting on your walls. This means keeping all your supplies at the ready, prepping the walls by filling in any holes or cracks, and tapping off windows and trim with blue painter’s tape. You will need certain tools to accomplish either painting technique, so make sure you pick these up as well.

Rag Painting Technique

No paint brushes or rollers are used in the rag painting technique. Instead, paint is applied to the walls with simple rags such as old t-shirts or any type of cotton rag. This technique will cause a marbled effect on the wall. For rag painting:

Immerse the rag in a container of paint and shake off any excess.

Then dab the rag onto the wall, applying the paint in any pattern you want, but make sure to not spread the pattern out too much.

A darker base color can be applied, and then a lighter paint color can be ragged on to add a more creative touch.

Sponge Painting Technique

Sponging or sponge painting is a technique used for giving walls depth and interest. Before you can sponge paint, you will need to apply a base color to the wall. In order to sponge paint:

Using any paint or glaze of your choice, dip a regular sponge or sea sponge into it.

Begin from the outside of any of the walls and randomly dab the sponge.

You can choose to complete all the walls in this manner or choose to do only one if you want.

Color Washing Technique

If you want a subtle finish that gives the appearance of floating color, then color washing is your technique. This technique is great for anyone with walls that have many flaws that you want to hide. This technique can take a little more time than the other since you need to build up layers for the full effect. To use the color washing technique:

Paint the wall in a base color you want and the wait for it to dry.

Then a complimentary or slightly different color will need to be used to apply another layer of paint.

Only use a paint brush when painting this layer and apply paint in all different directions, going over your strokes in order to have the base color show through in random areas.

More than one layer of painting can be done like this if you desire for another color to show on the walls as well.

From a kitchen to a bedroom, these painting techniques can be used in any room. These styles are great ways to add style sot the walls and to spruce the room up a bit.

Paint Patrol Winner

This is the winners submission for the contest:
My name is Deanna and I would like to nominate my cousins house for this contest. This house is in the heart of oak cliff-it actually use to belong to my aunt who past away 10 years ago. This house was left to her 3 children Mari (who was in her early 20s) Lorena (mid teens) and Rafael aka Chuck (pre-teens). After my aunt past away with a sudden brain tumor, Mari the oldest with a 3 year old of her own took custody of her younger siblings. So the last 10 years they have resided at this house their mom left them. Through the tragedy of their mom they were able to find Christ and have clinged to him this whole time. Now that her younger siblings are getting older and moving on with their lives with marriage, etc. Marisela and her husband of 3 years now are in this old house that really doesn’t look like the house it could be. We always joke around during halloween and say it would make the perfect haunted house. I know with a paint job they will not see this house as crappy rag down house anymore, but will start to see it as the house that held them together through the toughest times of their lives. Their house has always been a place our whole family has gathered to celebrate holidays and I know my cousins sometimes feel embarrassed because they don’t have the money to do a full paint job. If you could please please consider my cousins for this contest I know this would be a tremendous blessing for them. Thank You

I am thrilled with the painting done in my scraproom/office. The guy that came to paint was awesome, neat, efficient and really nice. Thank you so much for the great service. I will certainly be recommending your services.

Thanks again,
Lisa
Frisco, TX

We don’t use scoring devices. The concept behind them is that they will allow more water or wallpaper remover chemical to get to the adhesive. The problem is they create thousands of little holes in the sheetrock that require a skim coat on the sheetrock. If both layers of wallpaper do come off the wall without a scoring device then you can move right on to applying the new texture.

To read more about wallpaper removal, check out this Washington Post article we found.

Thank you from DFW Painting and 94.9 KLTY for everyone that entered the contest and congratulations to the top five finalists. Happy Voting!

Good Luck!

If you purchase a top-quality 100 percent acrylic latex interior paint, you probably won’t need to spend time applying a primer to the wall surface. That’s because many of these paints act as both primer and paint.

However, in some circumstances, it may still be advisable to invest in a specialty primer as a first coat.

Specially formulated stain-blocking primers are made to protect the new coat of paint from “bleed through” of staining matter such as embedded dirt, grease, ink or crayon marks, rust, or smoke residue. If the walls are messy or marred even after cleaning them, you might want to consider applying this type of primer as a failsafe before you paint.

Another specialty primer that is useful in special circumstances is a “vapor barrier” primer. These undercoats are often applied in kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms and other areas that tend to be damp and humid. Their purpose is to minimize the passage of moisture of exterior paint. Vapor barrier primers also help maintain a comfortable level of indoor humidity in colder months.

Remember that all latex coatings – primers or paints – are much lower in odor than oil-based finishes, making them far more pleasant to work with and to live with indoors. Plus they are much kinder to the environment.

Blue-Chip Paint
While interior painting allows you to scrimp on the remodeling budget, one place you don’t want to scrimp is on the quality of paint you use. True, the best quality paints will cost a few dollars more per gallon, but they’ll typically provide many more years of superior performance.

Compared to ordinary paints, top-quality 100 percent acrylic latex interior paints are much easier to work with. They go on easier, resist spattering and tend not to show brush marks.

These paints also have better “hiding” characteristics, which is especially important when painting over a darker color. That capability, and the single-coat paint-and-primer performance you’ll get with these paints will save you the time and money that would otherwise be needed to apply a second coat.

Top-quality 100 percent acrylic latex interior paints also are tougher and more durable than ordinary paints, which your customers will appreciate in high-traffic locations or in any location where there are little ones around. These paints resist fading, yellowing and staining, and even if they do get spotted or stained, discoloration can often be washed off without damaging the finish.

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