Test color combinations and practice tecniques on scrap wood for best results.
Not every kind of decor benefits from a fresh clean coat of paint. If your room is rustic, shabby chic or has an old world style, a clean coat of paint can take away from the appeal and just make your beautifully distressed furnishings and accessories look like you haven't been keeping up your home maintenance. Give your walls a faux paint treatment to mirror a weathered, distressed look, and your interior decor will look more authentic.
Instructions
Prepare your Wall
1. Move everything away from the wall, and cover furniture and floors with drop cloths. Remove wall art, nails and screws, window hardware, outlet covers or switch plates, and set them aside. Tape off areas you don't want to get paint on, such as molding, the ceiling or another wall.
2. Patch holes and scratches in the wall, if desired. Using spackle for dry wall or putty for wood, following the manufacturer's instructions. Sand to a smooth finish with a fine-grit sandpaper. Wipe sanded walls, moldings and woodwork with a damp rag to remove dust and debris.
3. Prime walls if they are new drywall, unfinished wood or have not been painted in years.
4. Paint your walls a base coat, which should be two or more shades darker or lighter than your finishing coat will be to add contrast. Allow the base coat to dry.
Crackle Painting
5. Apply a crackle paint medium to the wall according to the manufacturer's instructions. The thicker you apply the medium, the more cracks you will have and the more noticeable they will be. You can make the entire wall look crackled and peeling, or just apply the medium in select areas, such as around doorframes, in corners or along the wall just below the ceiling.
6. Allow the crackle paint to cure according to the manufacturer's directions.
7. Paint a single top coat over the crackle paint. The thicker the paint coat, the larger the cracks will be. The cracks will be fine and more subtle if you put on a thin coat. As the coat dries, the crackle paint will begin shrinking to create lines and crinkles, showing the base color below.
Color Rubbing
8. Select a paint glaze that is several shades darker than your top coat if you wish to further age your wall. This technique works best in place of crackle paint or in conjunction with it if you only crackle painted in a few select areas.
9. Dip a rag into the glaze and rub it onto the walls in a thin coat. Work in sections if the wall is large. Use random circular motions.
10. Rub over the glaze with a clean rag to remove some of it. Again use circular motions, leaving some of it on heavier in some areas and wiping it off more in other areas. You want to make it look random, as though some places are more worn.
11. Allow the glaze to dry.
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