Faux finishes often require a little bit of skill and some pre-application learning and practice in order to achieve the desired finish. Paint manufacturers have addressed the faux painted finish market by developing some finishes that require very little of the usual faux finish skills. These finishes don't require any "glaze" and the tools are often just the usual roller and brush. This approach has opened up the world of faux painting to the average homeowner who doesn't have the time to attend a workshop on faux finishing in order to decorate their living room walls. One of these "faux finishes in a can" is the "Suede" paint finish.
Suede paint is basically a mottled flat paint. Almost all of these paints require a base coat and a final coat which gives the desired "look" to the finish.
Base coating
The base coat is a coat of the suede paint rolled on the normal brush and roll manner. Cut in the ceiling with a brush and roll out the walls as you would any other paint. This coat of suede does not have to look perfect or have perfect hiding as you will be going over the top of this with the final coat.
Finish coating
The finish coat is what makes the suede paint look like "suede" leather. This finish coat is applied with a brush. I use a 3" wall brush and find that I can execute the work fairly quickly with that.
The actual technique is simply a cross hatching brush technique, which basically is applying the paint to the wall in random semi-circular X's . Each "x" should be curvy and random.
Tape off the base board and ceiling with easy release (blue) tape, and tape off the adjacent walls too with the same.
Work in small (uneven "broken edged" for better blending) sections of 4' x 4' and progress down the wall in that manner, joining the sections together as you go.
Inside corners require a semi-circular brush stroke that pulls away from the corner in a curvy manner. Change the directions of the curves and keep them random.
Lapping and touching up: You will see that the suede paints as a rule do not touch up very well so do it right as you go and do not back track onto a previously painted wall to correct areas that don't meet your approval - try to get it right as you do it the first time. If you absolutely have to correct something on a already dried suede painted wall you will need to start at a breaking point and kind of "fade" it in with a uneven ending "patch" of suede paint. This is not easy to do, but it is do-able.
Suede paint is basically a mottled flat paint. Almost all of these paints require a base coat and a final coat which gives the desired "look" to the finish.
Base coating
The base coat is a coat of the suede paint rolled on the normal brush and roll manner. Cut in the ceiling with a brush and roll out the walls as you would any other paint. This coat of suede does not have to look perfect or have perfect hiding as you will be going over the top of this with the final coat.
Finish coating
The finish coat is what makes the suede paint look like "suede" leather. This finish coat is applied with a brush. I use a 3" wall brush and find that I can execute the work fairly quickly with that.
The actual technique is simply a cross hatching brush technique, which basically is applying the paint to the wall in random semi-circular X's . Each "x" should be curvy and random.
Tape off the base board and ceiling with easy release (blue) tape, and tape off the adjacent walls too with the same.
Work in small (uneven "broken edged" for better blending) sections of 4' x 4' and progress down the wall in that manner, joining the sections together as you go.
Inside corners require a semi-circular brush stroke that pulls away from the corner in a curvy manner. Change the directions of the curves and keep them random.
Lapping and touching up: You will see that the suede paints as a rule do not touch up very well so do it right as you go and do not back track onto a previously painted wall to correct areas that don't meet your approval - try to get it right as you do it the first time. If you absolutely have to correct something on a already dried suede painted wall you will need to start at a breaking point and kind of "fade" it in with a uneven ending "patch" of suede paint. This is not easy to do, but it is do-able.
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