Faux Painting Technique "Splash Painting" or "Spattering"

by Margaret
(Ridgeland, MS)

Decorative splash painting/spattering finish

Decorative splash painting/spattering finish

My daughter wanted to try splash painting the walls of her room, after learning the technique in art class. Walls were painted a medium brown, and splash paint colors chosen were orange, bright green and turquoise.


Paints were purchased at a home improvement center. A gallon of brown covered the walls, and a quart of each of the splash colors was purchased.

After allowing brown paint to dry thoroughly, a paint brush (we used a medium sized one) was dipped into the splash paint. We practiced outside on newspaper before trying to splash on walls. Just a strong flick of the arm would give unique splashes on the wall.

The color combination looked very nice. We used less than 1/4 of each quart to complete the splash paint portion.

Each color of splashed paint was allowed to dry before we added the next. There was no dripping. We used a semi gloss finish for the splash paints.

We found this method gave a great updated look for a pre-teen or teen aged person. It was also not so meticulous or time consuming as something like painting stripes or circles, with a lot of room for creativity.

We had ages 7 through 40 helping with the project, successfully. We did splash a little on the ceiling so be careful about covering up the ceiling when splash painting near the top area of the wall.

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Covering Spatter painted wall
by: Nancy

My daughter was 10 when she spattered her walls. Now she is 18 and she wants to cover it with another colour.

How do you remove the spatter? Or what is the best way to cover it up?

Your painting options
by: Yelena

To cover the multiple colors, it's best to prime the walls first and then paint them as usual.

But if you are talking about covering up the actual texture of the spatter (the dried raised drops of paint), you will have to use textured paint over the old finish, or some decorative painting technique (glazing, ragging, etc) to camouflage it.

If you want to go back to flat walls and a solid paint color, one option is to skim-coat the walls with compound (to create a new surface), then sand, prime and paint them.

Author
by: Jan

We used a rotary sander with fine sandpaper on this project and that removed all the splatter that was raised. Just be sure to wear a mask. It went quickly.


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