I love faux painting. It just makes your walls look unique and personalizing them by using a blend you choose is even more special. This was a project many years ago in a fixer-upper. The great thing about it is if you mess up you can just paint your base color over the mistake and start again.

Sponging is one of the fun methods and if you choose the right colors that compliment each other you will have great looking walls. This is why if you want to save time, get a board and practice there first. This will let you see what the colors you are mixing together look like before you put it on your wall. If you do not relish the idea of repainting a wall because the colors just do not look right together, you will want a practice board.

My idea was for a living room and I had chosen earthy tones to create the look I wanted to achieve. One important thing I found out was you must use a sea sponge for the effect you will get when sponging. Other types of sponges do not give you the same terrific look that a sea sponge will.

You can buy faux painting kits that take away all the guesswork, but I like to choose the different colors of paint that I want to use. This was not really a time consuming project even though I figured it would be. If you buy the right kind of paint, it dries pretty quickly so you can begin to add the other colors as soon as it does. Latex paint is one that does not take long to dry.

The first thing I did was to choose a base color for the wall. It was a tan – not too dark and too light – so the other colors do not overwhelm the bottom layer of paint. The other colors were more of a brick red and a gray and a green. These colors complimented each other well and if you are not sure, you can get a color wheel and see what colors blend well together.

This was a project that I did by myself. I didn’t want anyone to see if it didn’t turn out so well. So I decided to start when I was alone and no one would ever see it if I had to repaint the wall. Actually it was very simple and once you have the base coat on the wall, sponging the colors you are going to use onto the wall is not difficult either. The hardest part is making sure your sponging technique is the same throughout.

If you should decide to tackle this project yourself, it is one of the most fun types of painting because you are creating a look that will be unique for your home. No one else will have anything quite like it. They may use the same colors you use but that does not mean the effect will be the same.

This was the first time I had attempted this so yes, I did practice on a board some before actually putting it on the wall. This will allow you to create your own unique way of sponging as well. Everyone does not do this the same way and that does not mean that one person’s method is better than another.

I really had fun doing this and it was amazing to watch everyone looking at it once it was finished and trying to figure out what I had done to the wall. There were a few people that really believed this was wallpaper I had chosen and hung. Once you have the sponge painting down to a tee you will no doubt want to move on rag painting or stippling, feather painting and color washing. Always remember to practice first so you can get the general idea of what you want before putting it on the wall.