How to Make a Faux Stone Wall Appearance

After you have prepped the wall, or walls; meaning – they are clean and the floor has been dropped off, the receptacle (electrical outlets and switches covers) plates have been removed and covered with painters tape.

The first thing you want to do with your joint compound (mud) is thin it out. You want to think “mayonnaise” when you are doing this process. Open your pail of mud and add water to it while mixing with a mud paddle until the consistency resembles that of mayo. I’m not kidding!

When you have achieved the desired consistency, the rest is only described as “little kid – mud pie” fun! For the first step you’ll need a trowel. Using the trowel, add approximately 1/4 inch layer of mud to the wall in 4’X4′ sections. You want to work in small, manageable sections to avoid excessive drying. And don’t worry about attaining a smooth surface at this point… really, it won’t matter.

When the mud has had a chance to rest for about 20 minutes, you want to take your CLEAN trowel and press into the mud and pull away abruptly to create peaks. Then, immediately after that take your trowel and pull out the peaks creating high and low spots by dragging it over the surface, but make sure you’re doing this in different directions; not just up and down, left or right… looks cool huh?

When your mudding and texturing is done, you’re ready for best part! THE FINISH… By now you have figured out your color scheme, so we won’t go into that… right now you’ll need to apply your base coat, which will be an eggshell finish (whatever color you desire).

Now for the Pièce de résistance… Mix together the color of your top coat (which should be darker than your base coat) 50/50 with a glazing medium. Sponge on or paint on… it’s a personal preference. Next, and time is crucial, take a clean rag and wipe of the excess top coat. When you do this, make sure you’re not wiping all in one direction; the more you mix this up the better the outcome. Interior painting specialists, such as myself – and customers – never get tired of this spectacular outcome.

Paint manufacturers will say that the “curing” time can be up to 30 days. Don’t be alarmed by this, as soon as it is dry to the touch you can put your room back together.