THAT PainterLady.com

What type of paints should you use to paint a wall mural? If you have just decided to try your hand at painting a wall mural… you might be a bit confused about choosing paint. Just hit the paint aisle at your local craft store and the choices can be overwhelming. 

If you're just an average Joe, wanting to use inexpensive materials to get started with your first (or even second) wall mural… it's easy to find cheap paint products to safely use on your walls.

It may seem like you need to go to your local big box hardware store and buy a jillion gallons or quarts of "wall" paint… because you are painting on walls, right?  Nope… that's not the way to start painting cheap at all.  That will cost you in the hundreds of dollars and then you will be left with a bunch of cans filled with leftover paint that you won't be able to ever use again. YIKES!

Now… if your doing a large mural of a beach scene or Italian countryside… then you may want to get a few quarts of wall paint. Maybe a pale blue for sky or a warm tan for buildings or beach. These cans of paint will go a very long way… but they are only for very large wall murals and only if the mural includes a large expanse of one color.

I have invested in quarts and even a gallon of pure white, high quality wall paint that I use to mix with other colors to create a large pallet of colors to use for wall murals. 

With a basic set of 6 colors you can create almost any color needed for a wall mural. Just add a bit of blue to a half-cup of white wall paint and you could paint a sky or ocean filled with water to fit an 8' square mural.  

If you need a nice sand color for your beach… just mix up equal amounts of red, blue and yellow and this turns to brown. Now add that brown to a 1/2 cup of white wall paint and you should be getting close to a nice sandy color for your mural.

BASICS ACRYLICS SET/6 4 oz

You must first walk before you can run! 

What does walking and running have to do with learning to paint?  Put another way…you must learn to Painting Rooms Like a Professional before you can learn to do great faux painting.

Why? Because all great faux painted walls started with great base coats.  Beware…a poor base painted wall, will never look beautiful…even with a fantastic faux treatment. 

Have you ever spent hours taping up all the trim around windows/doors/floors and ceilings?  Only to find out that the paint seeped under the tape and is now dry?  Wouldn't you love to learn how to paint trim like a professional?  Without tape?  Quick - Clean - Easy?  

Have you tried to paint with a brush and found the paint lands more on the floor and you than on the wall?  You are probably not loading you brush correctly.  Would you like to learn how to load a brush the way the professionals do? 

Does it take you forever to paint a room with a roller?  You know professional painters learn a system of painting with a roller…"time is money".  Painting with a roller can be hard work.  You need to know all the professional tricks for painting with a roller.  How to load, how to roll with your back and how to keep it off the furniture…(Those rollers can really get away from you)

How about all those brushes and rollers that are ruined because you didn't get all the paint out?  Money instead of paint down the drain.  Learn how to clean up after yourself and save your tools from a pro.  

TIP:  I throw all my brushes and rollers into a bucket of water with a few capfulls of fabric softner.   The paint seems to just clean itself out of those tools.  

TIP: Have some dried paint?  I used to use that stinky stuff - "Goof Off".  Now I use the oderless Simple Green.  It takes a bit longer, but it works great…and it doesn't smell up the house.

Check out this website with a ton of videos you can watch right now! Painting Rooms Like a Professional from a Pro!

Purdy - Professional Painting Tools

Have you ever thought of painting a Faux Brick Wall on Brick? Do you have brick in your home that has been painted? All too often this is the solution used by homeowners to “freshen up” worn red brick. Maybe the design of the room called for something other than worn red brick.

The easy solution was to paint the brick…mortar included.

While each home and homeowner is different…and we all have our good ideas, how can learn to paint the brick back to original? How about painting the brick with a faux finish to resemble brick? It really is much easier than trying to strip all that old paint.

Question from subscriber:

The following is an email with just that question and my solution to the problem…including a link to some free information.

Hi Debra,

I have four real brick pillars on our house - 2 are four-sided supports for the entryway porch and 2 are one-sided at either side of the garage.

All this brick was painted white (horror of horrors) when the house was built 13 years ago - I would like to restore the brick to a natural brick appearance — I have not been able to find a local painter who does this special work and am wondering if your instructional materials would applicable to this particular project.

I do not want a single color brick so there would obviously be some artistic skills required to replicate the multi-color design (with natural variations) from brick to brick - Can you help me?? Any advice/suggestions??

My Answer:

I have faced this problem many times. Imagine being paid to paint a brick wall back to looking like bricks after someone covered them with paint. The fact that the grout is usually painted as well makes painting in the faux brick wall back to original looking brick and mortar… a challenge.

The techniques taught in the

Faux Brick Wall

Video and eBook for mixing colors and painting in “bricks” one brick at a time… are very useful. They are the techniques I use to faux bricks for clients.

The trick is to paint the grout first. You can be as messy with the grout color over the bricks as you want. Just get the grout color in to every nook and cranny before you start painting the bricks. This will make your life so much easier.

Then just worry about painting the face of each brick. One at atime…so you will get the variations.

Thanks for the question.

Want to see the process in step by step photos?

Here is a link to photos and actual step by step of repainting brick to look like brick. Check out the inventive way they painted in the grout using real mortar!

Click on each of their photos to see all the details up close!

Faux Brick on Brick Finish