You usually want your wall paint to be nice and flat. But if it's an older home with buckled plaster walls, then trying to cover those walls in flat paint is only going to highlight the problems. If a full-scale wall repair isn't practical, another solution is to go over it with textured paint, which is paint with sand or other solids mixed into it, or stucco, which is basically a thin pigmented cement. The whole point of these products is to give your walls enough texture on the surface to make the texture in the structure look natural.
Choose Your Paint
Generally, the worse shape your walls are in, the more texture you want your paint to have to hide them. If the wall is just a little wavy, then a lightly textured paint may be enough to mute the problems. If the wall is so wavy and scarred that it looks like the side of some craggy rock face on a mountain, then you might consider a heavily textured stucco that will make it look like that's just how you wanted the wall to be. Ceilings should generally be done in a medium-grit textured paint or light stucco.
Prepare the Wall
Walls don't have to be flat to apply stucco or textured paint, but they do have to be clean and solid. Pull out all old picture hooks, remove any grime with household cleaners and patch up any cracks and holes with patching plaster. Get the wall as smooth and solid as you can.
Application
Apply textured paint or stucco with a heavy roller or, if it's a thick stucco, trowel it on like you would cement (consult the directions of the paint you buy). After it's on the wall, there are many ways to work it into the texture you want. Textured rollers will imprint specific designs--such as swirls and lines--or you can press and swirl your large metal trowel in conjoining circles. One classic method is to press a rubber trowel flat against the stucco, then pull it straight off, leaving ridges and peaks.
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