How to Do Fan & Swirl Designs on Your Walls

Prepare the room you plan to paint. Cover or remove everything you don’t want splattered, and seal windows and electrical outlets and fixtures under plastic tarps and painter’s tape. Fill in any damaged areas or nail holes with spackle and, after it dries, sand it down so the spackle isn’t sticking out from the wall. Finally, cover the floor.

Add one coat of primer to cover the old wall color and to ensure all the spackled areas are now blending in with the rest of the wall. Let this dry. The canister will have the exact timing, which can vary between manufacturers.

Paint the entire wall with one coat of paint, and let that dry. If you want a two-tone effect when you make the swirls and fans, the Renovate Your World website suggests using a lighter color of satin or semigloss paint as the first layer, and a darker glaze combination for the top layer.

Pour paint into the roller tray. Dip the roller in and start painting a small section of the wall. Start with sections of 1 to 2 square feet only. Do not let the paint dry.

Place the teeth of the paint comb against the painted section of wall and drag the comb, steadily but carefully, across the painted section. Turn and swirl the comb to create circles or semicircle fan patterns. Be aware that stopping the movement for even a moment can create a small jump in the lines of the pattern.

Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until the area you want covered in patterns is finished.