We all love to think about decorating our kitchen. It's the room we spend the most time in with our eyes open. 

Faux painting kitchen walls is both a great and bad idea. 

It's always great to get creative and have one of a kind walls that your friends will ooooh and awww over.

But… Painting, especially faux painting, is hardest to do in a kitchen or bathroom. This is because many of the wall surfaces are surrounded by cabinets and counters. You will have to do much more prep work before you paint in a kitchen than in just about any other room.   

And yet… I painted lot's of kitchens for my clients. And they loved it. It was sometimes hard to explain why I had to charge more for painting kitchens and bathrooms than any other room with the same square footage.  If you don't remember why I hate to paint bathrooms… just think about hugging the toilet while you paint. Now think about doing that in anyones home but your own. See… I knew you would figure it out.

Now… lets get to the question:

I'd like to "faux paint" my kitchen walls.

I have practiced the sponging technique and am happy with the design/pattern I've made and the colors I've chosen. The only thing I do not like about the look is the shininess of it.

Can I accomplish this same sponged on look with more of a flat/matte finish? If so, how do I accomplish this?

Is it necessary to add glaze to the top coat when sponge painting? Could I just sponge the top paint color onto the base coat? Is there as purpose to adding the glaze to the topcoat other than to make it shiny? If the glaze is necessary on the sponge coat, can I follow-up with some type of clear topcoat that will eliminate the shine?

Thanks for any input you can provide.

Wow… this is a tough question. It really is more dynamic than you might realize. I'll do my best to explain.

First… good for you that you have practiced before jumping right in doing faux paint on your walls.

Second… I have several ways to answer the question about shine.  First… glaze is not for adding shine. It is to make the paint more slippery. This gives you the ability to blend colors and moooosh the paint around.

If you are using paint with out glaze or water dilution to " sponge " paint… you are using a very old technique and it will date your walls. It also creates a very busy wall finish that isn't pleasing to the eye. 

And… Why wouldn't you want at least a slightly shiny wall in your kitchen. Most of us would want our walls to be washable. So you need to make sure any faux finish is tough. Save the delicate finishes for the bedrooms.

Now here is the easy answer.  Do your faux finish with any paints you want and any glazes or no glaze. The key is… you will want to cover the entire project with polyurethane coating in any finish you want. It comes in flat, semi-gloss and gloss.

So… you see, you can use the paints you love and create a finish that you are proud of without worrying about the "sheen". Then when you are all done… Polycoat the entire thing and you will have a consistent sheen or no sheen and… it will be protected so you can wash it as well. 

I hope this was helpful… Now go and have fun!

Debra