How to Make a Knockdown Wall

Spread the drop cloth over the floor beneath the wall. Apply painter’s tape around the adjacent edges of the wall to protect these edges from paint.

Open the interior texture paint and stir it thoroughly with the stir stick.

Load the trim brush with the texture paint and apply the paint around the perimeter of the wall.

Pour the texture paint into the paint tray. Place the looped roller cover onto the paint roller. Load the paint roller with texture paint.

Apply the texture paint to the wall with the paint roller, working in small 3-foot square areas to cover the wall evenly. Apply paint to the entire wall, working in 3-foot square sections until you cover the wall with an even layer of paint. Allow the texture paint to dry for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Apply a second coat of texture paint to a 3-foot square section of wall and allow it to dry for five minutes.

Place the trowel against the 3-foot section after the five minutes elapses and smooth the texture paint slightly by rubbing the trowel against the wall. Make the texture look the way you desire by rubbing in vertical, horizontal, diagonal or a combination of directions. Work quickly to create the texture you want before the product sets -- within about 10 minutes.

Set the trowel aside and apply a second layer of texture paint to the next 3-foot section. Allow the coat to dry for five minutes and then smooth it with the trowel using the same method you used for the first section. Blend the edges of both sections with the trowel to ensure you have a seamless effect on the wall.

Continue creating the knockdown texture on the entire wall, working in 3-foot sections, to add the second layer of texture paint and smoothing it with the trowel after it sits for five minutes.

Allow the texture to dry on the entire wall for 24 hours.

Apply a topcoat over the texture layer, cutting in the perimeter with the trim brush and applying the paint over the wall surface with a standard 1/2-inch roller cover on the paint roller. Allow the topcoat to dry for the time recommended on the product label.

Remove the painter’s tape.