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How to Color Wash a Wall
Sam Lutz • Jul 21, 2015
Think about every Italian restaurant you’ve ever been in. Close your eyes. Recall the walls. You can imagine it now: a warm, sunny, golden orange with a mottled, textured appearance.
That mottled look is a combination of two colors blended together in a technique called color wash. This faux finish is associated with Tuscany, fresh pasta, wine and the comforts of home. Color wash is easy enough that anyone, even beginning faux-finish painters, can try it.
Pick the Colors
Before you start the process, you’ll need to select the two colors for your wash. The colors you choose should contrast with one another enough that they’ll both be distinguishable on the wall. If they’re not different enough, they’ll simply blend together into one solid hue.
When picking the colors, focus on picking two paints of significantly different hues (like complimentary colors) or colors of significantly different values (with one color light and the other one dark). This will ensure that the paints will be different enough that they will both be visible on the wall.
Materials
- Paint roller
- Paint tray
- Two paint tray liners
- Semi-gloss paint, two tones
- Clear glaze
- Two flat paint brushes, 2.5 inches
- Flat paint brush, 4 inches
Process
This tutorial assumes that you’ve already prepped your walls and the room for painting. If you haven’t, take a look at this post from late last year, with a step-by-step tutorial.
- Use the paint roller to paint the entire wall (or walls) with which ever color you choose to be the base color. Wait for the paint to dry.
- Mix the second paint color with the clear glaze. Mix two parts paint with one part glaze. Do the mixing in the paint tray with the liner.
- Use a 2.5 inch paintbrush to make rough, choppy X marks on the wall with the paint and glaze combination you mixed in step 2. Allow big patches of the base color to show through the X’s. Let the paintbrush get relatively dry before refreshing it with more paint. Cover the entire wall with the X marks. Bring the paint all the way to the edges of the walls. Attempt to make the application of paint relatively even, so that equal amounts of base paint and the second paint color appear on the wall.
- Mix the remaining paint used for the base with the clear glaze in a 2 to 1 ratio. Mix this paint and glaze combination in the second paint liner.
- Use the second 2.5 inch paintbrush to make rough, choppy X marks on the wall with the base color that you mixed in step 4. Paint the X marks directly over the layer of X’s that you painted on the wall in step 3.
- Use the 4 inch flat paintbrush to smooth the transitions between the first layer of X’s and the second layer of X’s. Smooth the paint until both colors are showing through, and the colors are blended but still distinguishable.
Tips and Resources
Practice this technique on a few pieces of scrap wood or some other wide, flat surfaces. Don’t attempt to do this on your walls until you’re relatively comfortable with the process. If necessary, take a look at this helpful tutorial
before getting started, or watch the video below:
Need more tips and advice? Stop by Ace Paint and Unfinished Furniture! We can help you pick out the right paint and give you pointers.
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