What is this awesome wall treatment?

February 1, 2013 9:09 PM

I was watching THIS video that someone posted on Facebook the other day. I was really struck by the brown wall treatment in this guy's home. Best examples are at :40sec through 1min. I have been looking for it for some time. Pretty sure it's NOT Venetian plaster, as the texture is right, but Venetian plaster is glossy and slick looking. This look is textured, but matte finish, not glossy in any way. Can any of you interior decorator/designer types help me identify it? I would love to get this look in my house.
posted by Spyder's Game to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

It just looks like a sponged wall texture to me. In matte finish.
posted by vegartanipla at 9:30 PM on February 1, 2013

Could it be clay plaster? We did this at our previous home. It really is lovely and can be finished matte or shiny smooth. American Clay is what we used: American Clay Photos
posted by smuna at 9:39 PM on February 1, 2013

We've done something like this all over the house. Paint the base color, let it dry, then take a color two shades darker and dilute it with glazing medium (or a combination of Floetrol and water). Paint it on unevenly with a big brush, and blot it back off with rags or sponges. Looks especially nice on textured paint.
posted by ottereroticist at 10:27 PM on February 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

It could be a suede paint finish. See these examples.
posted by shoesietart at 3:28 AM on February 2, 2013

We've done something like this all over the house. Paint the base color, let it dry, then take a color two shades darker and dilute it with glazing medium (or a combination of Floetrol and water).

I have done pretty much the same thing, only with the darker shade as the base with light on top. It gives a different look but both work well. What you are looking to do is usually called "faux finish" or "faux painting". If you want to learn a little more, there are plenty of books on the topic on Amazon or at your local home improvement store. I have a good book I found at either Lowes or Home Depot, but am not at home so can't give you the title. There are plenty of resources on the internet as well. The reason I suggest getting some professional advice is that it is good to know how much to dilute your paint, what colors look good together, things a lot of non-pros aren't familiar with (like the aforementioned Floetrol) and so on. On the other hand, if you are more adventuresome, trial and error works fine too; it's not exactly rocket science.
posted by TedW at 5:58 AM on February 2, 2013

This may be the book I was thinking of, but there are plenty of others to choose from that may or may not be better.
posted by TedW at 6:05 AM on February 2, 2013

A friend painted their living room with a tinted lime wash, using materials and directions from Earth Pigments. More complicated than faux finishing but it's absolutely gorgeous, even close up.
posted by dogrose at 6:28 AM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Suede paint. You can also do it with glazes etc, I've done it in a blue colour and the contrast shows up more. You roll on the first coat and then use a wide brush sort of randomly brush on the second coat to get the texture. It's really easy and looks great.
posted by wwax at 8:25 AM on February 2, 2013

You can get a finish just like that with tadelakt.
posted by HopperFan at 12:55 PM on February 2, 2013