Artistic Painting Effects

Even if you think of yourself as someone with little artistic talent, there are interior painting techniques that can make your walls look as though Da Vinci paid a house call. One great way to get artistic walls is to invest in a decorative roller. In former days, only through the offices of an interior decorator could you end up with specialty decorative wall effects. But now, with the help of these amazing rollers you can "do it yourself" at a fraction of the cost. Your walls will look as though you hired a professional.

Patterned Foam

There is nothing difficult about decorative paint rolling with a well-designed patterned paint roller. You start by applying a base coat of paint color. Then you go over the base coat with the patterned roller which has been saturated in a second color or a glaze. Some of the patterned rollers are made of foam which means you can control how much paint you wish to apply to the patterned roller. This technique is called "positive paint application."

You can use the technique of decorative paint application on an entire wall so that it resembles wallpaper, or use the roller to make a border just below the ceiling. Decorative roller painting is so much easier than papering your walls. You don't have to worry about the mess of glue or misaligned lengths of wallpaper. You don't even have to worry about peeling edges and replacing the paper. When you tire of your creation, you can just paint the room anew.

Loading Technique

Patterned rollers come in many different designs, some of them well-defined to make actual patterns, and others which can create a soft, inviting mottled look. Try using a vibrant base color to which you then apply a softer color with the decorative mottling roller. Another way to achieve a look is to paint with a base coat and then apply a glaze with the decorative roller. This is known as "loading."  Or try using a negative interior painting technique by removing just-applied glaze by running a decorative roller or a rag over the still wet paint.

Other interior painting ideas include the techniques known as "broken color" and "color washing." The broken color technique is achieved by using many colors over the base coat with a patterned roller so that walls look textured. Color washing helps you "fade" paint so that it looks washed out and not so new. To create these looks you can choose either glazes or washes to use over the base coat. Glazes are made from oil-based paints while washes are latex paint that has been thinned with some water.

Try out your technique on a piece of sheetrock or on a board before you attempt this type of painting on your walls or ceiling. You'll soon see how easy and fun it is to use the decorative paint rolling techniques. If you need more ideas, search the internet for decorative roller painting schemes and techniques.