Painting Metallic Walls In A Bathroom

Another question today from a faithful reader.

Debra:

Your expertise is gonna be so helpful.

I emailed you earlier about achieving the copper look on church bathroom. I am almost ready to paint it.

I was wondering if adding clear glaze to the ready mixed patina metallic copper
would make it more workable and extend the volume. The patina is really thin and seems to not stay workable like glaze is. Never worked patina before! I am pretty comfortable with glaze.

Also, we are trying to get his copper look, sort of leafed on. As of now, the base coat is a dark tone, Cedar. Then putting the copper patina on top.

Probably sponge it on and use the woolie, I guess. I am a little shy of rolling it on because I do not want full coverage in the copper. I hope the Cedar isn’t too dark, if so I guess I can go a little lighter on the top base coat walls are newly knife textured heavy.

Thanks for being so “accessible”.

Cecilia

Hi Cecilia

First if you want a “leafed” look.. I would use a Sea Sponge and pat it on all the walls. Its a bit of a pain in the corners so you will need to use a tiny bit of sea sponge and gently add a few in the corners and at the ceiling and floor lines to get it to look the “same” all over. Make sense?

Don’t ad any thing to the patina or you will cut the shimmer. It goes a long way!

You won’t need it to be “workable” if you want it to look like leaf speckles.

Rolling it on creates an all over shimmer… but can leave lap lines (roller marks).

You really do need a “dark” color as a base coat or the shimmer won’t show as well.

You could pat it all over with the woolie (my favorite tool) and then when it’s all dry. Pat over the shimmer with the cedar to “knock it back” and leave some of the metallic showing through.

It’s really best to do some “test” areas. You can paint over the tests… but you will find the look you love best first and then “Go for it”!

Hope that helps… Debra