Suede Paint Technique for Interior Walls
Faux paint techniques allow you to make an illusion in your walls. Paint any fake finish, from marble to wood grain into Venetian plaster, with textured paint and easy tools. Cover a library, bedroom or dining room wall using a synthetic suede finish by employing a specially textured paint along with specific application patterns, or even a synthetic finishing technique that mimics suede. The results play and absorb with light. Soften the wall colour, and give the feeling of a brushed leather surface. Anyone who has painted a wall before can utilize this technique. But open the windows and make sure adequate ventilation before you begin.
Brush Technique for Faux Suede Paint
Clean and stain walls before starting. Fill cracks, holes or gouges with plaster and sand smooth when dry. Wipe down grimy or dusty walls using a dry cloth and then a moist sponge or a sponge soaked in a 1:1 ratio of a water and vinegar solution.
Tape the edges of this washed dry wall before priming it using latex interior paint. A light shade prime coat will not affect the shade of suede paint you choose.
Apply the first coat of suede paint using a paint roller. Start by edging in the corners and the angles in window and door frames and the ceiling with a little brush. Work in small sections to roll up the suede paint on the wall using a medium-size roller, applying paint in overlapping V-shapes. Combine each section with the previous one since you cover the whole wall.
Allow the first coat to dry thoroughly. It will look somewhat streaky and patchy — exactly the way you want it to appear. Apply another coat using a 3-inch brush, starting in one top corner and then working outward to cover the wall.
Crisscross your brush strokes as you apply the second coat — quite important. Make your pattern random and blend each “X” to the wet paint next to it. Both irregular paint application patterns help to create the illusion of texture to the wall when the paint is dry.
Eliminate the painter’s tape while the paint is still wet so you do not risk pulling away any dried paint using the tape. Let the wall dry for 24 hours.
Adapting Ragging Technique to Create Faux Suede
Modify a rag technique to approximate the appearance of suede paint on your walls, using ordinary wall paint. Prepare the walls as you would for any paint job: clean and stain them, filling any cracks or holes with plaster and sanding the dried patches smooth, and tape the edges along ceiling, baseboards and trim having low-adhesive painter’s tape.
Prime the walls using a soft, matte shade with hexagonal inside paint. Neutrals allow the topcoat colour dominate the wall; a coloured prime coat tints or reveals through a thinned surface coat. Let the primer dry before ragging the next coat of paint.
Thin matte latex paint to make a wash concerning the consistency of glue to produce the suede effect. Brush the wash above one little section of the wall at one time, moving the brush in overlapping massive X-shapes to prevent a uniform appearance.
Bunch a clean rag and then dab it in the wet wash fast, before the paint has a opportunity to dry. Use a light touch the rag will eliminate some of this paint, leaving a softly mottled, irregular finish. Change the direction of this rag and shake out and re-bunch the rag to prevent creating a discernible pattern on the wall.
Overlap the next coat of wash, taking care that you don’t produce a thick or hard border of shade where the two sections meet. Continue ragging every new wash of colour over the whole wall. Change to a new clean rag if the one you’re using gets overly saturated with paint.
Eliminate the painter’s tape while the paint is still wet or moist to prevent any disturbance of this faux finish. The water-based paint finish should be thoroughly dry within hours.