If you haven’t read part one – click here:
How To Paint Faux Interior Pillars
Now that you have the columns drawn on the wall… your ready to paint faux interior columns…
Fill them in with a mid-tone of whatever color it is you want them to be. If you want “pink” columns, then paint them a mid tone of pink. If you want them brown, mid-tone of brown. You want to be able to take that color and lighten it with white for highlights and darken it with the smallest amount of black for shadows and depth.
If you want your column to be one solid color that works too. Many homes have big gigantic white columns these days so maybe you want something like that. You will still need shadows and highlights to make it have depth. Like this one:
Adding shadows and highlights is what will make your column “pop” and look so real that people will have to touch it to make sure it isn’t a real column!
To add shadows first decide where your “light source” is coming from. I’d use the door as my “light source”. As you face the door (from inside the house looking out) you will want to add shadows to the outside edge of each column. The left side of the left column and the right side of the right column. You can use the picture above as a guide. It would be like the column on the right of your front door. Then just reverse it for the left side. 
To shadow you can use the base color and add some black. But be careful. A little bit of black goes a long long way. Add it in small small increments. You can always add more black, but you can’t take it back out.
You can do the same thing for highlights but instead of black you add white to the base color.
For truly deep shadows you can take black and add a bunch of water to it. Make it very thin so it is extremely transparent. Then use that to add depth to the darkest areas.
Same for shiniest spots. Use white. Sometimes you don’t even need to water it down. Look at the highlight in this picture:
The shine on this column is simply white paint. Watered down in some spots but thicker (more opaque) in others where the shine would be brightest.
Paint Faux Granite Columns
If you want your column to be “granite” instead of a solid color you’ll need a sea sponge and the same colors mentioned above.
Mix up some tints and shades of the base color (base color + white for tints and base color + black for shades).
Make your sea sponge damp (not soaking wet or it will drip) and then dab it in the paint, let’s start with the dark colors first. Gently tap the color on to the column in random patterns. Not necessarily all over but heavier in some areas and less so in others and not at all in still others.
Then add a little more black to that color and repeat, but less. Dab here and there, but not as much as you did the first time. Now take the lighter color (the tints) and do the same thing. First dab some here and there. Then lighten and do it again. NOW take the base color and dab some if it on, here and there.
After you have created the “texture” on your column, add your shadows and highlights as described above. To make a sharp edge on the not shadowed side use the wall color to clean up the edges.
And you’re done. Two beautiful faux interior columns on either side of your front door.
Click Here to learn about:
How To Paint To Look Like Marble
