We have another great question from a reader. She asks about doing a faux lime wash finish over walls that are in bad shape. Here is what she wrote…..
Hi Painter Lady,
Thank you so much for emailing me the painting & faux finishing tips. I LOVE them! I do have a question if you don’t mind answering it. I am getting ready to do a color wash or ‘LIME Wash finish on my bathroom walls.
This room is small. If I use the Lime wash, I am planning to use a medium to light green paint along with the lime wash.
If I use a straight color wash, I plan to use a blue and green paint with the following formula: 5 part glaze to 1 one Part paint on the green & blue paints, and just plain glaze to soften the colors, and smooth out any brush strokes.
What do you think of these ideas, and are they very hard to do? Please note my walls are in rough shape because I have had a killer time getting the old wall paper off. I am having to patch A LOT OF AREAS where the wall paper tore into the sheet rock. Any ideas or suggestions?
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR ANYTHING YOU MIGHT SUGGEST.
Sincerely, Eve
Hello Eve,
Your project sounds great! And you really seem like you know what you are doing so that is even better.
The limewash / colorwash finish is very easy to do. My only concern is the condition of your walls. They really need to be properly prepped before doing any type of faux finish. Make sure they are patched as well as possible, sanded, cleaned of all dust, and then primed. You may think that the faux finish will disguise the imperfections in the wall, but sometimes that is not always the case. It may actually draw more attention to the blemishes because the glaze will settle and be a bit darker in those areas.
So even if you can’t get the walls perfect, make sure you at least prep them with the instructions I listed above. Priming will be very important because (worst case scenario) the wet paint and glaze can mix in with the old wallpaper adhesive and can cause bubbling.
Would love to see pictures when the project is complete! Happy Painting!
DEBRA
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What is a Limewash Faux Finish?
For those of you who don’t know what a limewash is, it’s a technique using colorwashing & glazing to achieve the look of old white washed walls. It gives a white chalky look to the walls. Think about a whitewashed fence how you can see the wood through the paint. It is achieved by painting or colorwashing over a darker color with a thin / watery white paint / glaze mixture. Well, with limewashing you use a paint & glaze mixture that is a little bit thicker (more opaque). You want the walls to look chalky as if they were old plaster. A thinner coat of paint applied would be called white washing or pickling.
