Color washing is a painting technique that gives textured walls visual interest. It also allows you to use a thinner layer of paint and for mistakes to be made. Color washing is an easy technique, most often done in Tuscan-style homes to bring out the texture in the plaster and to avoid using thick and heavy paint as a means to painting your walls. It is also a fun alternative to traditional painting.
Texture
Color washing tends to work best on a wall that has a bit of texture. If your walls are flat, add texture by applying plaster to the wall while smoothing it down, but not causing it to be completely smoothed out. When it dries, you should clearly see texture on the wall. You want texture because the glaze in the color wash pools into the cracks and creases and brings more visual interest into the wall. For ideas on texture, look up Tuscan-style homes or head to an authentic Italian restaurant to see how the walls are done.
Preparation
When the walls are ready, you need to lay down a base coat. A base coat is a color that is two shades lighter than the color you'd like to do your color wash in. Use paint chips from a paint store to help find the right colors. For the color wash, choose a dark color found at the bottom of the chip, but lay the base coat down as a lighter color so the color wash will stand out. Both paints should be flat. Once the base coat is dried, you are ready to mix the glaze. Mix one part flat latex paint to one part water and six parts glaze. You can get glaze from any paint store. Mix well.
Technique
What makes a color washed wall unique is the technique used to apply it. Gather together a large sponge, a few clean white rags and plastic wrap--and start color washing. A traditional color wash simply uses rags to "wash" the color onto the wall. Pay attention to moving the color around, focusing specifically on areas of texture where you can push more color in. Use your sponge and plastic wrap to play around with the wash to create more texture. Color wash painting is forgiving when it comes to mistakes; just move the paint around until you get a look that you love. Use as many layers as you want as well. Have fun and enjoy your newly color washed walls.
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