Fancy yourself as the Pablo Picasso of the painting and decorating world? These 5 painting techniques will help you showcase your skills and provide your customers with a great painted finish that they will love. Not only will mastering these techniques help you stand out from the crowd, but they will also help you win more business. So, let’s dive in and take a look at the decorative painting techniques and how you can master them.
1. Metallic paint
This is definitely one that takes some practice to perfect. Metallic paint offers a great way to add a decorative finish to walls and using techniques such as stippling, sponging, criss cross, overlapping, strié and other painting techniques. It is best to experiment with different strokes to see which give the best finish. The results can be truly stunning and will help you provide a luxurious finish that looks great in bathrooms, bedrooms, and hotels.
2. Stencils
Next up on our list is the humble stencil. Like most decorating jobs the key to getting a great finish when using a stencil is plenty of preparation. Keeping a straight edge and working to a level will help you achieve a perfect stencil finish, using a paint pad will help you get an extra smooth finish and precision edge. Stencils offer a great alternative to wallpaper and help you create elaborate patterns that otherwise would be extremely difficult to achieve.
3. Stripes
This is one technique that never ages. Stripes are an incredibly popular option with customers as they help to break up large walls and can help to make ceilings seem higher or small rooms feel larger. From big to small and horizontal to vertical, you can really get creative when it comes to decorating customer’s homes. Whether adding stripes to an existing paint scheme or starting from scratch, this technique is easy to achieve with your favourite masking tape.
4. Colour wash
Colour washing is a beautiful technique that adds texture and depth to a space. This is a fantastic technique that creates a very vintage and rustic look. To create this look first coat the walls with a satin base paint before overcoating with a glaze using a large brush. This will give that wonderful colour washed look which can either be subtle or vibrant, depending on the base colour.
5. Rag rolling
Create a marbled effect with the help of rag rolling which adds texture and depth to any painted finish. Instead of smoothing your paint with a roller, simply roll a rag up and down through wet paint to create a subtle finish and one that customers will love.
6. Strié
The French word for streaking, strié is a painting technique that creates horizontal or vertical lines that resemble linen material. It helps to add warmth and texture to a finished wall and creates a beautiful finish. This finish may look complex but with a little bit of practice any painter or decorator should be able to master it. Start by painting the wall a base colour – this is what will show through the glaze and should be the main colour that you want on your wall. Next up roll the glaze that you want to use on the wall, remembering to tape off your ceiling and baseboards first. With the glaze still wet drag a wallpaper paste brush through the glaze from ceiling to floor for vertical stripes.