How to Faux Paint Grass Paper

Faux comes from a French word meaning "false." Faux painting is an art technique employed for centuries to simulate textures or objects. Since authentic grass cloth, or grass paper, is made from woven grasses such as jute, arrowroot and sisal, its color varies from shades of brown to gold with light hints of green or pale red sprinkled throughout. Commercial grass paper is also available in a rainbow of bright colors. You can add your own stunning faux grass paper finish to a wall in your home in a few simple steps with a minimum of products.

Drop cloth
Blue painter's tape
Latex paint, eggshell finish
Paintbrush
Tape measure
Pencil
Long level
Plastic wrap
Latex paint, satin finish
Tintable glaze
Dragging brush

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare the room by taping molding, baseboards and window frames. Use blue painter's tape. Lay a drop cloth on the floor to protect the floor's surface.
- 2
  Paint the intended wall with a base coat of latex paint in an eggshell finish. Allow the paint to dry.
- 3
  Mark spots every 24-inches along the wall width, using a pencil, to represent the width of rolls of real grass paper. Use a long level to draw a vertical pencil line from ceiling to baseboard.
- 4
  Place painter's tape along the first panel pencil line. Tape only one panel at a time since the tape has to run along the line inside the adjacent panel to give access to the full panel you are painting. After you complete each panel, take the tape off and follow repeat the process for the next panel. Continue until all panels are finished.
- 5
  Combine one part satin finish latex paint, in a slightly darker shade than the base coat, with three parts glaze to create the top glaze, following the manufacturer's instructions.
- 6
  Paint tinted glaze on the taped-off wall panel. While the paint is damp, lightly dab a crushed sheet of plastic wrap against the wall from ceiling to baseboard. Allow the topcoat glaze to dry.
- 7
  Apply another coat of the tinted glaze to the dry panel. While the paint is still wet, use a dry dragging brush in strokes from the top to the bottom of the wall panel. Allow the glaze to dry completely
- 8
  Apply the last coat of glaze mix to the dry panel. While the paint is still wet, use a dry dragging brush to pull strokes across the panel, horizontally, from top to bottom. This creates the woven effect. Let the glaze dry.

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