Decorative painting of walls instead of wallpaper

Recommendation points

• Benefits of using decorative paint
• Is it possible to create a decorative effect using regular wall paint or why pay more
• The tools you need to create an unusual decorative effect when painting a wall
• Preparing walls for work
• What effects can be created on the wall using ready-made decorative paint
• Special paint technologies and additional materials
• The cost of decorative paint from different manufacturers

In this article, we will offer you several options for creating unique wall finishes using decorative paint. Let’s talk about what tools are needed to paint the walls yourself and at the same time achieve an amazingly beautiful effect. We will describe all the main stages of work and consider the advantages of paints with a decorative and textured effect. We will explore the possibilities of using ordinary paint to create a unique design, as well as ready-made proposals from well-known manufacturers.

Paints are probably the oldest human invention in the field of home furnishing. The walls of the caves were also decorated with rock paintings, which were applied with paints created from plant extracts and extracts. Since then, progress has stepped forward, and the variety of types of paints can confuse a homeowner who decides to start renovating.

Modern decorative paints have a number of indisputable advantages and are increasingly replacing the usual wallpaper, decorating the walls of children’s rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and even bathrooms. This article is devoted to the use of decorative paint in the interior..

Wallpaper in a flower or strip is no longer fashionable, many homeowners believe, choosing decorative paints as the ideal option for wall decoration

Benefits of using decorative paint

The main difference between decorative paint and ordinary paint is precisely the aesthetic component, which allows you to achieve an amazingly beautiful decorative effect. But the wallpaper will also help to create an original interior with an expressive pattern, so why risk it when choosing an unfamiliar finishing material? In fact, decorative paints have many advantages that make them more and more popular:

• The average service life of a coating created using decorative paint is 10 years (without repainting), while wallpaper usually lasts no more than five years. In addition, worn and burnt-out wallpaper will have to be peeled off in order to glue others, while a new layer of paint can be applied simply over the old one. This will significantly speed up the cosmetic repairs..
• Decorative paints, unlike paper wallpapers, do not fade in the sun, are not afraid of sharp claws of pets, blows, mold and abrasion.
• The surface painted with decorative paint has no joints, allowing you to create a single harmonious picture.
• Decorative paint is easy to clean, and stains on such a surface are much more difficult than on ordinary paper wallpaper, which traditionally gets dirty most quickly around switches and on protruding corners..
• The choice of shades and design effects for decorative paints is so wide that it will satisfy even the most discerning professional designer and amaze the inexperienced homeowner. By applying several layers of paint using special rollers and spatulas, you can feel like a real master and experiment with colors and textures. In addition, decorative paints, due to the variety of shades and unique design effects, fit perfectly into any interior style..
• Decorative water-dispersion paints will be an excellent option for a child’s room, as they are completely harmless to health. Environmentally friendly coating does not cause allergies and does not contain harmful carcinogens.
• Decorative paints are universal and can be used in the arrangement of a country-style kitchen, a respectable classic living room, and a bright, cheerful nursery. And their moisture resistance allows them to be used during facade work and on the walls of the bathroom.
• Anti-static coating will not collect dust.
• Each wall decorated with decorative paint is a unique surface. Unlike wallpapers that are produced in large quantities and look the same on the walls of different apartments, when decorative paint is applied, something new and original is obtained every time. And the use of special technologies allows you to achieve completely different effects with the same can of paint..
• Decorative paint on the wall looks rich and natural, turning an ordinary apartment into a cozy and beautiful home.

The only drawback of decorative paint is the need for careful preparation of the walls for painting. However, such a coating can be applied to the finishing putty, and to cement, wood panels, drywall, plywood, metal, chipboard and even glass. The surface should be even, although the paint will fill in small cracks in the filler itself. We will dwell on the preparation of walls for decorative painting in more detail in another section of our article, but in general, the process of decorating walls using decorative paint takes longer than wallpapering.

Applying decorative paint to walls is no more difficult than gluing wallpaper, although preparing the wall itself and creating a unique decorative effect will take longer

Is it possible to create a decorative effect using regular wall paint or why pay more

If you have already made a choice in favor of paint, the next step is to directly purchase materials. And here many homeowners, having learned about the rather high cost of decorative paints, think about how to save money and at the same time get not banal smooth walls of just yellow or green color, but an unusual design effect using ordinary cheap paint.

With the help of water-based paint, you can achieve the effect of “crumpled paper” if you apply another layer of paint of a different shade to the already dried first layer with a crumpled cellophane bag. Instead of a bag, you can use a sponge, which also creates the effect of a grainy and textured surface.

In addition, if you apply paint of different shades in several layers, walk over it with a stiff brush and apply wax, you can achieve a “marble effect”. Using a spray gun allows you to adjust the saturation of the hue and create a surface with different color densities. If you run a cloth over a layer of paint (the so-called “rolling cloth”), you can achieve the effect of falling folds.

Often, using ordinary water-based paint, it is possible to create an original interior. But nevertheless, it should be admitted that finished decorative paints look more interesting and representative on the wall..

Even ordinary wall paint already gives a lot of scope for the embodiment of design ideas and creativity. What can we say about decorative paints with their variety of unusual effects.!

The tools you need to create an unusual decorative effect when painting a wall

Before you start working with decorative paint, you should think about whether you can do it on your own? Of course, finding detailed instructions on how to apply decorative paint on the wall and achieve an effect, for example, “Eastern Night” is not a problem, but what looks easy and simple on the Internet is sometimes difficult for an inexperienced master.

Just in case, if you decide to use the services of professionals: work on applying decorative paint – from preparing the walls to fixing the last layer – costs from 600 rubles per square meter. Not cheap, we agree, especially since you still need to purchase the materials themselves. Therefore, the desire to save money and do the work yourself is quite understandable..

If you think you can handle the decorative paint yourself, you will need the following tools:

• Rubber and regular fur rollers.
• Plastic, metal wide, notched and rubber spatulas.
• A hard sponge and a brush with a sufficiently hard bristle.
• Venetian trowel.
• Sanding block or sandpaper.
• Stencil.

Of course, not all of these tools will be needed if you do not plan to achieve an expressive and original design effect. For example, a stencil is needed only if you decide to apply a finished drawing or pattern to a layer of paint. You will need a Venetian trowel if you need to create a convex texture, and a brush with a hard bristle – expressive stripes on the surface of the paint. Therefore, before purchasing an instrument, think about what kind of decorative effect you want to create..

However, all these tools are quite inexpensive, and will last a long time (especially if you rinse them with warm water immediately after painting). Yes, and don’t forget about gloves – have mercy on your hands.

Roller, brush, spatula – these tools are indispensable when applying decorative paint

Preparing walls for work

The most unpleasant stage of decorative painting is preparing surfaces for work. But without this preliminary stage, it will not be possible to achieve the desired effect, so we free the room from all that is superfluous and proceed!

Before starting work, you should take care of protecting the floor covering, the film on the floor can be fixed with masking tape. The ceiling should be protected in the same way..

Remember that you won’t be able to paint over irregularities, so the surface of the walls should be almost perfectly smooth. The paint will only emphasize all the irregularities and protrusions, so the next step is to remove excess plaster and level the surface with putty.

The putty and primer should be chosen depending on the room in which they will be used (for rooms with high humidity, manufacturers offer special formulations), as well as the type of decorative paint. Experts advise to pre-treat walls with a deeply penetrating primer, which will significantly reduce paint consumption and increase hiding power..

Only after the wall has become smooth, and the primer has already dried, you can proceed directly to the application of decorative paint.

It is not easy to achieve perfect smoothness of the walls, so think again, it might be worth contacting specialists and save time and nerves?

Preparing the wall for painting will take a lot of time, but this stage cannot be neglected.

What effects can be created on the wall using ready-made decorative paint

Today, decorative paints are very popular, which can transform a room thanks to special design effects:

• Pearlescent effect paint. In our climate, which does not indulge in the sun in the autumn and winter months, such colors can make the room brighter. Under different lighting conditions, pearlescent paint can change color, for which it received the second name “chameleon paint”. Pearlescent paint can create the effect of silk-covered walls.
• Paint with a velor or velvet effect. It contains solid colored particles. After processing with such paint, the wall looks like a real velor fabric – the same deep, textured and soft. However, if you touch the surface, the soft effect disappears.
• Granite paint. There are no granite chips in it at all, as the name might seem. But acrylic bubbles of paint of various shades, which are included in its composition, when applied from a spray gun, break against the wall and create a complete impression of a granite texture.
• Decorative paints with fine sand, shell fragments, insoluble white flakes or particles, mineral particles with a metallic sheen and other additives. Each such type of finished decorative paint allows you to achieve your own, special effect, for example, a seascape, a coral wall, an embossed or shiny surface, a light wind, and so on..

All these ready-made decorative paints usually do not need additional tinting or the use of special technologies. You just need to properly prepare the wall and clarify how exactly – with a roller or spray gun – you need to apply paint.

Special paint technologies and additional materials

If in the previous section of the article we talked about the effects that can be achieved by simply applying ready-made decorative paint to the prepared wall, now it is worth paying attention to technologies that will make your interior even more unusual.

So, some decorative paints are not enough just to apply to the wall with a roller; here, in order to achieve a special design effect, additional tools and work technique should be used. A striking example of a creative approach to the creation of decorative paints is a series of new decorative paint “Magiko” produced by Tikkurila, which is sold in our country under the Teks trademark..

The Enchanted Lake effect, for example, is achieved by stenciling a dry layer of finished paint. Moreover, the manufacturer immediately offers accurate instructions and three shades of paint. In this case, it is necessary to apply decorative paint with a fur roller, a plastic spatula is used for decoration..

To create the Golden Fleece effect, white paint is applied with a rubber spatula, then tinted paint with a regular roller, and then the surface is sanded with sandpaper until the bottom white layer appears.

Left to right, top to bottom: Enchanted Lake, Golden Fleece, Ancient Tower, Desire Waterfall effects

Similar special technologies are advised to be used with their paints by a French company that presents the PARITET DECOR series of decorative paints on the Russian market. For example, after applying Aquarelle paint from this series, you should walk over the surface with a hard bristle brush. And GraindeVerre paint should be pre-tinted and applied with chaotic multidirectional movements or diagonally.

Often, to enhance the decorative effect, manufacturers also suggest applying a layer of clear varnish over the paint.

As you can see, the technique of creating a unique decorative effect is not so simple and requires a careful approach. Perhaps, if you decide to paint the walls yourself with decorative paint for the first time, you should still limit yourself to just a ready-made composition, the application of which does not require special skills and special tools from you.

It is often not enough to simply apply decorative paint to the wall. Yes, you can simply paint the surface with a regular roller, but in this case, the decorative effect declared by the manufacturer cannot be achieved

The cost of decorative paint from different manufacturers

Let’s try to calculate how much it will cost to paint the walls in a room with an area of ​​20 square meters, if we use materials from different manufacturers. You should first calculate how much paint you need..

Experts consider decorative paint to be an economical material – usually the finished composition is applied in one, maximum two layers, and one can of paint with a volume of 2.5 liters is enough to cover 40 “squares”.

Wall area is calculated by multiplying the height of the room from floor to ceiling by the perimeter of the room. So, in our 4×5 room, the ceiling height is three meters, and the perimeter of the walls is 18 meters, respectively. In total, the total area of ​​the walls will be 54 meters. You can subtract the area of ​​doorways and windows from the resulting figure, but experts do not advise doing this – you will also have to spend paint on finishing the slopes, and a small margin will never hurt. Remember that you will have to paint in two coats, but the second paint usually takes 25% less.

Manufacturers always indicate the approximate consumption of paint per square meter of surface, so it’s pretty easy to calculate how many cans you need..

As for the prices, for example, the already mentioned paint “Magiko” is sold in containers of 7 and 14 kilograms. A 14-kilogram bucket of such paint costs about 1150 rubles, the consumption is about 1 kilogram per “square”. That is, for our room with a wall area of ​​54 square meters, we will have to buy four buckets of paint and spend 4.6 thousand rubles. This does not include work, primer and putty..

Many manufacturers, for example, the Italian company San Marco, indicate the price of paint immediately in terms of per square meter of surface. For example, pearlescent paint with Marcopolo sand from this manufacturer costs 475 rubles per “square”. Multiply by 54 and get an impressive figure of 25,650 rubles.

There are also more expensive options, for example, paint “Coralien” from the French company DuCourt. The cost of such a coating reaches 765 rubles per square meter of surface. That is, painting the entire room will cost 41,310 rubles if you work yourself. And the services of specialists, as we have already mentioned, will cost 600 rubles for a “square” or 32400 rubles for our room.

The cost of the putty should be added to the amount of expenses – 10 liters of acrylate moisture-resistant putty cost about 1 thousand rubles, as well as primers – five liters of a universal composition that is used before painting with water-based paints will cost 290 rubles.

Expensive pleasure? No, if you choose decorative paint at an affordable price – there are materials costing from 150 to 200 rubles per “square”. Given the long service life, resistance to dirt and damage, decorative paint pays for itself.

Before abandoning the idea of ​​using decorative paint in the interior, think – ordinary wallpaper will not give such an amazing effect. And your coating will last much longer

Do not think that decorative paint is too expensive, difficult, troublesome and suitable only for luxury mansions. This is a truly versatile material that will serve as a wall decoration equally well in a huge living room and in a tiny corridor. Thanks to its advantages, decorative paint deserves your attention and will be the best choice for arranging a modern interior..