Special painting effects

There’s little art in painting a room once you are well prepared, but if you’re the type who likes a challenge, then you might just feel like creating a more dramatic effect.

There are many different painting techniques used by professional decorators which you could try your hand at. The most well-known are rag rolling, sponging and colour washing.

Choose your colours carefully before undertaking any of these techniques. If you have decided on rag rolling, then pick out two colours which complement each other.

Finding a base coat is generally easy as you have a range of emulsion paints to choose from. Make sure the base coat is a lighter shade than the colour glaze which you will apply over it with a rag.

“In general I would advise people not to contrast colours too much when rag rolling. For example if you choose a gold base colour, then you could go for a deeper shade of gold on top,” says Alf Buckley, of Pat McDonnell Paints.

Rag rolling can create a lovely rippling look down your walls, but experts say you won’t always get it right the first time. Applying the two layers of your base coat is the easy part of the job.

Once this is dry, apply the colour glaze to one section of the wall. Take your rag, rolled tightly into the shape of a rat’s tail, and begin to roll it from the bottom to the top of the section.

“I advise people to work in sections because you only have an hour before the colour glaze dries. If you have applied it to the whole wall then you’ll be under pressure to work very quickly,” says Mr Buckley.

Try and start the second section before the first section is completely dry. This means you’ll be able to rag roll from one section to another without leaving marks.

According to decorator Martin Bracken rag rolling is “all in the hand of the artist.” He uses an oil based eggshell paint rather than a water-based emulsion for the base coats.

“The rougher the rag the better, have a good few rags ready for the job. Cutting up an old sports coat makes for a pile of good rags,” he says.

Decorator Pat Murphy believes people often don’t do a proper job of rag rolling because the DIY kits advise using water based paints instead of oil based ones.

“Water based paints dry very fast, but an oil-based paint will give you more time to work on rag rolling. Decorators always use oil-based paints for the job,” he says.

While rag rolling isn’t the easiest of techniques to get right, colour washing is considered to be less difficult. The light brush-stroke effect on walls can also look impressive.

Apply two coats of your base paint and let it dry. Standing at arm’s length from the wall, brush the light colour wash over the walls in a haphazard way.

After each wall has dried go over it another time to fill in gaps which you may have missed the first time. The top colour should be quite transparent for best results.

“It’s important to have the right brush, try and find one which is worn down. Or if it’s a new brush, make sure the bristles are short because with long bristles the job can be messy,” advises Mr Buckley.

Sponging is probably the easiest technique to master. Similar to rag rolling and colour washing, you first apply two coats of an emulsion paint to the walls of the room.

For the third coat, which you will sponge onto the wall, you can pick either a colour glaze paint or a ready-made colour wash. The latter is cheaper than most colour glazes.

Pour the colour wash into a tray and immerse a sea sponge into the paint. Then squeeze the sponge out before dipping one side of it back into the paint.

“Sponge the colour wash onto the wall lightly. If you put too much pressure on the sponge then you’ll create ridges and blotches, which will mess up the job,” says Mr Buckley.

Rag rolling is probably the most popular of the three techniques, although it’s not as much in demand now as it was a few years ago, according to decorators.

But having a rippled look, or colour wash effect on your walls can be very eye-catching, especially when it’s only in one section of a room.

If you have admired the results of rag rolling or decorative painting techniques in other homes, then why not consider trying it yourself.

Even if you end up botching the job, it’s a consolation to know that you can always paint over it.