Use a simple faux painting technique to age the look of your walls.
Aging a wall with paint techniques is a cost-effective and satisfying way to create some theater in your home. The faux finish works well for period d cor, old houses with architectural details that blend with the aged finish, and some shabby and country decorating styles. Vintage wall treatments involve glazing and rubbing. The process is fairly simple but it can be time-consuming so it's best to schedule a wall or a room when you won't be interrupted.
Instructions
1. Strip wall coverings, like wallpaper or vinyl, down to bare paint. Clean the wall to remove any glue, paper residue, dust, dirt or grease. Repair cracks in the plaster--you are faux aging the wall, not encouraging it to fall down.
2. Leave a clean but shabby wall as is, or give it a coat of light colored paint. The wall shows through the finish and an old wall will add to the sense of age. A dark wall or a patterned wall should be painted.
3. Tape the ceiling and baseboard edges. Tape the corners where the walls meet, if you are just painting one wall. Use painter's tape, which pulls off the wall easily when the paint dries.
4. Mix thinned paint for the color-rubbed finish. For latex paint, mix four parts water to one part paint. The finish is very transparent, so you'll need a paint color dark enough to give the effect you want once it is thinly applied and rubbed.
5. Use acrylic glaze, instead of thinned latex, for a deeper tint. Mix two parts acrylic paint and one part acrylic glaze and dilute the mix with one part water. If you want a more transparent finish, thin the paint with more glaze before adding the water.
6. Apply the paint or glaze to the wall with a soft rag. Rub it to spread the paint around more thinly and continue to rub as the glaze or paint dries, until the color is uneven and worn. Cover the entire wall this way, working in small areas and blending the edges as you go.
7. When the wall is finished, protect the faux aging with a low-luster satin varnish. A coat of clear polyurethane will make the colors brighter and shinier but may be too glossy for a truly aged effect.
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