How to Faux a Wall Using Rag Painting

How to faux a wall using rag painting. Faux painting doesn't have to be hard. Here I'll show you how to get it done quickly and easily. Because it's so easy, it's one of the best accent wall ideas for just about any room.
In this video I used Behr paint as a base and as a topcoat for the faux finish. This faux finish painting technique is much easier than buying specialty sponges or other tools. You simply need an old t-shirt or lint free, SMOOTH rag along with a cheap lint-free roller.
You first must paint the wall with your base color and let it dry for a few days. After it's good and dry, you will want to mix a contrasting color with the faux, and apply it in sections to your surface. Quickly dab the paint with the rag ensuring to randomly rotate it every 3-4 dabs.
Items you'll need:
All of these items can be found at any Home Depot or Lowe's. I got everything from Home Depot.
- Glaze ( I used Behr Faux Glaze which isn't available online. You have to just go to Home Depot)
- Painter's tape: homedepot.sjv.io/AoRLyK
- Clean white T-shirt
- Scissors
- Paint (I used Behr from Home Depot)
- Paint Roller Frame: homedepot.sjv.io/P0m1rj
- Paint Roller: homedepot.sjv.io/DVRDQ5

[@steved1880]

I have watched several videos on how to do this. Most make it difficult and I didn’t like the end results. You made this easy and I loved the results. I showed this video to my wife and now she demands I do this. LOL I actually can’t wait to start this. Thanks for this helpful and great video!!!

[@ChubbyUnicorn]

thank you for showing this technique on an entire wall w/o edits because how to really work the glaze & timing everything finally makes sense!

[@ToolDeals]

No problem! Yeah man, when people edit stuff it gives a false sense of what's really happening because oftentimes they're doing stuff that they aren't showing. Or, correcting a mistake.

[@sharon4864]

Hands down the best & easiest looking how to glaze video I've seen yet, and now I can quit looking. Thank you so much!

[@kathyfocht3718]

Thank You ! I was trying to get an answer about the glaze. Others made it difficult an really didn't explain well. Great job for people who don't know what they are doing an do not paint. You explained perfect !

[@Apollo_Blaze]

That wall came out beautiful...great work and skill. Thanks for this.

[@timpanogoshypnotherapy5125]

I’ve done faux before and always is more glaze than paint is a ratio of one amount of paint for two of glaze. Lighter paint color as the base then jet it dry . Choose two or three darker color each in a container with the glaze. Apply on the walls with some small pieces of polyester fabric. Blend the colors . The glaze makes it look like wall paper.

[@junestrickland1478]

The best tutorial I have ever seen for this. it's so easy to do. thank you so much for sharing

[@ToolDeals]

Glad it was helpful! I just did it in my new house last week on bigger walls. Comes out beautifully!

[@rafavera2994]

Really cool video, I just finished painting my wall and it looks great!

[@ToolDeals]

Very cool! This technique makes walls look like a million bucks.

[@reducecotwo]

I use to paint with two colors in the paint tray over a newly painted wall, dark and light on each side, a very cool aswell.

[@jumboJetPilot]

Nice job! I’m renovating my beach condo at the moment. I’m thinking I’m going to do a nautical theme with blue faux paint throughout.

[@ToolDeals]

That would look really nice with the beach vibe! Maybe even mix some greens in there!

[@jumboJetPilot]

@@ToolDeals I might very well! One time I blended blue and green paint to make a beautiful aquamarine. It looked great!

[@kevinvitale8980]

Excellent video… thanks for the tips

[@ToolDeals]

No problem Kevin!

[@gilbertjaramillo8735]

Wow that is what I'm talking about. I have a room I want to try your method. Your work really looks great. Thanks.

[@ToolDeals]

Thanks Gilbert! Yeah, I have some walls to faux in our new house. Think I'll make another video on doing other intricate designs as well. Thanks for watching!

[@gilbertjaramillo8735]

@@ToolDeals Sounds good. I will be watching out for it.

[@LovinDebsFit50s]

I wish I would’ve seen this before I invested in buying some faux glazing tools. I faux glazed my hallway 9 years ago with a Color Washing Brush, using 2 glaze colors and it came out so beautiful, fast forward to now…my house was hit by major hurricane last year. We just repainted most of the entire house and my husband wants the hallway faux glazed again and using a Woolie Tool is stressful. I had to remove the glaze twice and I’m about to start again. Unfortunately it’s really hard to find the glazing liquid that I bought by Behr. I had to buy the individual 16 ounces of Valspar clear mixing glaze and it’s a lot more expensive this way. Beautifully done!!

[@ToolDeals]

Sorry to hear about the storm! But yeah, that Behr is hard to find. I'm not sure why. It said it was discontinued for a while but then I started seeing it everywhere in the DC area. Long gone in Atlanta though.

[@LovinDebsFit50s]

@@ToolDeals Thank you! It’s definitely a great glaze. I can’t find it here in Louisiana.

[@VictorBurnch-gz8xz]

It's so good looking bro thanks

[@ToolDeals]

No problem and thanks!

[@gregorypope3899]

Great job! What paint finishes do you use for base coat and glaze coats. (Flat, egg shell, semi?)

[@relaxcalmdownandchill9281]

Dang good job brother

[@ToolDeals]

Thank you!

[@marijabu]

Nice job.

[@ToolDeals]

Thanks!

[@movementsNYC]

Niiiice!

[@ToolDeals]

Thanks!

[@troyvseverybody5397]

Bro, i cant find glaze ANYWHERE! Can anyone recommend where and what kind of glaze to get???

[@drquinley]

Great video! What type of roller (texture?) were you using? Also, when applying the rag/shirt, are you bunching it up or applying it as a fairly flat, folded surface like when a shirt or towel is folded up? Apologies for the newb questions.

[@ToolDeals]

No apologies needed, these are great questions! I'm going to make another video going over details soon once I get this backlog of videos posted. But I used a microfiber roller. I can't remember the brand but it has green stripes going through it and I got it from Home Depot. As for the shirt; I just balled it up and kept rotating it and re-balling it up. The idea is to get the shirt to be as random as possible to get natural looking texture. Keep the questions coming because these aren't things I'd think to mention. Thanks for watching!

[@drquinley]

@@ToolDeals Thanks so much!!!

[@davidd.perata2085]

Really, really nice!! I'm trying to duplicate the wall finish of an original Queen Mary cabin. The pattern and color look very similar to this video. It would need a final semi-gloss rubbed effect smooth sheen. Any ideas?

[@ToolDeals]

Hey David! So I looked up the pattern and I agree, it's very similar; and you are correct, to nail it very close to perfect it'll need to have a semi-gloss finish. What I'd recommend is first, trying it out on a single section of the wall first to make sure the end result will be what you want and just repaint over it with your base color once you know what you should use. But I would try using a semi-gloss paint and mix that with the gloss. I would think this would give you the look you're going for. In the video, I used a flat paint, but the gloss gives it a slight sheen. But again, try it on a small section, maybe a 3'x3' section of the wall first. Tape off any adjacent walls really well so you can get those edges and corners perfectly. Hope this helps!

[@davidd.perata2085]

Thanks very much!

[@WARRIOR4CHRIST70]

Great video. Question; all the faux glaze has been discontinued. Do you think I can use flowetrol (it’s a conditioner you add to semi gloss paint so it doesn’t dry quickly) as an additive extender to the paint I’m going to rag on the walls?

[@ToolDeals]

I know, that's crazy! When I see it on the shelf all dusty I try to grab a few. But, that sounds like it would work perfect. That's all the glaze is doing anyway, keeping it from drying quickly and adds a little sheen to it.

[@valerieschantz9177]

How many colors did you use? What if the wall that you are painting is a different color? You are painting on a wall that is similar, so it won't clash if it shows through a bit. For example, what if you would have had a dark teal color on the wall you painted?

[@ToolDeals]

I used Expedition Khaki as the base and the color for the glaze I can't remember... looked it up. English Saddle! But if you use different colors you'll get a different look. I recommend doing the lighter color as the base and darker on top but nothing too different. Like black and white. Grey and Black would look better. So for your dark teal, you'd want a lighter color as the base which would be the color of the wall. Hope this helps!

[@gjt6474]

What paint colors did you use (base coat and top coat mixed with glaze)? Can this be done on textured, popcorn like walls?

[@ToolDeals]

It should be able to be done just fine on textured walls. For this I used as a base color, Behr Expedition Khaki, and for the faux I used... what I THINK is called English Saddle, also by Behr.

[@Garapetsa]

Can't find the glaze anymore.

[@blutexas]

cool

[@ToolDeals]

Thanks!

[@5dollarmeals226]

Cool video! Great results! I hate to be the one asking stupid questions, so forgive me because I'm brand new to this. For your prep work you have to wash and tape the walls. Do you mop it or sponge it? Do you use soap or just water? Do you then sand them? Do you use primer? I think next people say you put on two base coats, but I don't know if you did that. Please explain your entire prep process, so I know all that I need to get to do this. I'm very very new to painting, sorry.

[@ToolDeals]

No, no, those are excellent questions! I am actually going to do the laundry room and I'm going to make another video and I'll include all of that information. But for now, I'll just tell you what I did. 1. Sometimes I clean the walls. It depends on their condition. If the house was non-smoking, all I do is get a regular wash cloth (dedicated to cleaning) and a bowl of warm water with a little bit of dish soap and bleach added to it. Literally a drop of soap and a half cap of bleach in a fairly large bowl, and I spot treat it. Wipe up any spots and vacuum any cobwebs. 2. I do not sand them unless I needed to make any patch repairs, or if there were any gashes or nicks in the drywall. If there are those imperfections. I just get some of this: tinyurl.com/5f9weuv9 and I go through and patch up the little nicks. If you spackle it properly, it'll eliminate the need for sanding if the imperfections are small. 3. As for the use of primer, yeah I do. I always faux over paint that I just put on the wall because the underlying color is what's going to help you achieve the look you want. You can also faux over the faux with a different color and get unique results as well. But the paint I always use is Behr Paint and Primer all in one as a base. Even the paint I use to mix with the faux is paint and primer all in one. So there's no need to do primer separately. Just get paint that has it in it already. 4. The base coats. Sometimes I do 2 coats, just depends on how it looks after the first coat. Darker colors generally require two coats, while neutral colors sometimes don't. This is all dependent on the type of paint you use as well. Behr Paint and Primer is very good. They have a version that's One coat paint. It works really well. Depending on the color you may need to do two anyway though. I don't always like using that paint because of the VOC. The fumes are terrible and they last almost over a week. One way to help remedy that is to have a fan at the opening of the room that blows the air out of the room. Keep the windows open, and have a big bowl of vinegar or baking soda in the middle of the room, it'll help absorb the VOC's. Thanks for the awesome questions! Questions like these help me improve my content! I'll be sure to outline all this stuff in the next video.

[@holleyhagerty2560]

@@ToolDeals so the base coat has to be dry before apply the glaze or no?

[@ToolDeals]

@@holleyhagerty2560 Yes! You want the base coat fully dry. Sometimes, I wait a few weeks if I know I need to put tape on it just so I don't have any issues with it peeling off.

[@NIkkiNunyuh]

Do you prefer any special on kind of brand of paint or fav laying roller ?

[@ToolDeals]

I use microfiber rollers, make sure you use a little tape to get the "trash" off the roller first. As far as paint goes, I use Behr paint and primer. The glaze gives it a longer working time, but Behr can dry REALLY quick, and that's not ideal for fauxing. In my past experience, Glidden dries slower.

[@NIkkiNunyuh]

@@ToolDeals thank you

[@No777ah]

whats the paint glaze ratio?

[@ToolDeals]

Sorry! I'm trying to catch up on comments. One full can of glaze (1 quart) only needs a sample sized (8 oz) amount of paint. So 4:1. 4 parts glaze to 1 part paint.

[@holleyhagerty2560]

Do you have to use glaze? Can you just lay your base coat down then cover with another color then pat with rag?

[@ToolDeals]

Awesome question Holley! You do not have to use glaze. Glaze does a couple of things though, 1. It extends the dry time of the paint and makes it easier to work with. When it comes to faux, you don't want paint that dries quick! I prefer a longer dry time because I can make the wall perfect since I can go back and correct any imperfections. 2. It gives the paint a slight satin sheen that seems to blend the base paint and the faux paint together making the pattern lines soft and gives them excellent transition. The cool thing about painting walls is, if you mess up you can do it over. Sometimes that's annoying but unlike cutting things, there's all the room in the world for error. If you're going to try doing it without the glaze, I'd suggest testing it in one spot first and seeing how you feel about it. Then when you've decided on how to proceed, repaint that part you did with the base color, wait for it to dry, then go for it! This will prevent ugly lines.

[@holleyhagerty2560]

@@ToolDeals ok I didnt have any glaze but the 2 colors im working with is what im wanting. So off to the store I go to purchase some glaze 🙈😁 Thank you very much for replying back. Your work is very beautiful ❤

[@ToolDeals]

@@holleyhagerty2560 lol, better safe than sorry! I bought some a couple of months ago from home depot for $7! I should've got more. And thank you so much for the compliment!

[@holleyhagerty2560]

@@ToolDeals mine was $17 bucks 🙈

[@ToolDeals]

@@holleyhagerty2560 Oh no! I guess that sale was over. I've never seen them $7!

[@ngocdiepk6249]

👍👍👍

[@ferrollg]

That is two colors. How would you add a third color?

[@ToolDeals]

The same way, I have some pictures where I've done 3 colors. I'll make a video on it. But basically I did a dark base color, then I did the same khaki over it that I used as a base on this wall, then, I finished it off with the same top coat color I used in this video and then sealed it (it was a floor) came out looking great! But you have to apply them a certain way in a Dark, light, dark, color pattern. Great question, I'll make a video on that today.

[@petecapooth1858]

Dude, why didn’t you say what colors you used?

[@greatestchamp4351]

Copy 15yrs. In stupid easy thx

[@khaleefax9553]

*Exactly what colors of Behr base paint and topcoat did you use?*