Painting walls using ombre or gradient technique

The ombre technique (from the French ombrer “shade, shade”) is a smooth transition, overflow of various shades. There are several options for gradient wall painting:

1. Tones can flow into each other from dark to light horizontally, from bottom to top – this technique is most often used on walls if the designer or owners want to visually raise a low ceiling. This staining option is considered one of the most popular..
2. The opposite flow of tones – from light to dark, also horizontally. It is used less often, because a darker color at the top of the wall can visually lower the ceiling.
3. Vertical blending. Blurry stripes, without clear edges, run along the entire height of the wall. The effect is quite impressive. At the same time, tones can flow from dark to light, and vice versa. Or just alternate.
4. Darkens the corners and highlights the middle of the wall. In this case, the room is visually rounded..
5. Lighter corners and a darker shade in the center of the walls will help to visually expand the room..
6. Drawings, whole panels, made in the ombre technique. This is the most difficult option, which a layman, most likely, will not be able to implement. Although, if you have the talent of an artist and you like to draw, you can take a chance.

To try your hand at gradient wall painting, you will need:

1. Experts advise using a spray gun or airbrush, but it is quite possible to take two brushes – a hard and a softer one, as well as a roller.
2. The roller requires a sufficiently capacious bath, which can be replaced by a regular plastic eggplant cut along.
3. Masking tape, self-adhesive paper to separate areas of different shades.
4. The paint itself. You can choose almost any, water dispersion is excellent – it does not have an unpleasant odor, dries quickly, and is easy to wash. It is better not to use oil.
5. The colors you will add to the white paint to get the shades you want. The minimum set for the ombre technique is two colors; in general, experts advise taking three or four to get a noticeable effect.

As for the choice of colors, designers do not recommend using contrasting shades in the ombre technique, because it implies a smooth transition. For example, shades of fuchsia, cream and strawberry are best for a pink ombre effect. Shades of the blue range go well with each other: blue, turquoise, indigo. Designers call ivory and peach, white and blue, light turquoise and dark turquoise the ideal combination. You can try how the shades of your choice will be combined on a piece of paper or an unnecessary piece of drywall.

We will not describe the preparation of walls for painting, we think that all your surfaces are already leveled and you can proceed to the final stage. First, according to the rules of the ombre technique, the lightest of your chosen shades is applied to the entire surface of the wall. It will become the base. It should be ensured that the layer of the lightest paint is uniform, durable, so you can walk along the entire wall twice.

Now you need to wait until the base, lightest layer is completely dry. Select with masking tape layers, stripes, areas where a different shade will be applied. Start with a dark color. Don’t wait for the paint to dry – you don’t need a clear separation line. The joints of the stripes are shaded alternately with a soft and hard dry brush, you can use a sponge. The transition between layers of paint should be smooth – this is one of the main conditions for an ombre.