How to Faux Paint Walls in a Tuscany Style

Wall Preparation

• 1

  Move your furniture and protect your floors with drop cloths. Apply painter's tape along the edges of adjacent walls, the ceiling or the floor to protect their finish.

• 2

  Pull out nails, screws and hooks from the wall. Sand the walls with fine grain sandpaper using an electric handheld sander. Vacuum up the dust as you go to keep it to a minimum.

• 3

  Clean the walls down with damp rags using a mild detergent or all-purpose cleaner spray. Allow them to dry. For superior adhesion, prime the walls with a bonding primer using a a 3/8-inch nap roller. Use a paint brush for edging and let it dry for 24 hours.

Faux Plastering

• 4

  Scoop out some joint compound with a medium drywall knife and pile it onto a large drywall knife to hold it. The large drywall knife will hold the compound, serving a similar function as a painter's palette. The medium drywall knife is for the actual application of the compound.

• 5

  Start in the upper corner of a wall. Scoop some compound off the large knife with the medium-sized knife and smear it down a few inches of the wall on an angle. Scrape the coating on thinly, much like icing a cake.

• 6

  Apply another smear of compound going in a different random direction. Each time you apply a smear of compound, drag it in a different crisscrossing direction. Continue working down and across the wall to texture it. Let it dry overnight.

Base Coat of Paint

• 7

  Prime the walls with a latex primer and let them dry. Apply the primer with a 3/4 inch nap roller and use a brush to get corners or complete edging.

• 8

  Roll on your base coat, which should be a warm, neutral color such as a reddish-brown clay or antique white. Complete edging with a brush.

• 9

  Allow the paint to dry for several hours before proceeding.

Aging Technique

• 10

  Mix four parts glaze with one part paint in a light to medium brown shade, depending upon the color combinations you wish to achieve. Get a bucket of water and put a sea sponge in it to soak. Working in about 1-yard square sections, roll a layer of tinted glaze on the wall.

• 11

  Wring out the sea sponge very tightly. Work from bottom to top, patting the sponge on the wall at random to pick up much of the glaze. Remove more from some sections than others to create a mottled look. Rotate and flip the sponge frequently to vary the texture.

• 12

  Rinse the sponge and wring it out in the bucket when it gets coated with glaze. Roll glaze on the next 1-yard square section before the first section dries. Pat the sponge to overlap the connecting areas so you don’t see a separation or seam between them, then work again from the bottom to the top of the section sponging off glaze.

• 13

  Move to the next square yard and repeat the process until the entire wall is completed. Let it dry for a few hours.

• 14

  Trace along-side the edges of the painter's tape with a utility knife so it makes a clean break from any overlapping paint or compound that may have stuck to it. Pull off the painter's tape.