Faux Painting Technique "Ragging"

by Brittany
(Castaic, CA, USA)

I decided to redo my bedroom, but I knew that it's always best to pick your bedding before your wall color (easier to match that way). And I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do, no particular color, pattern, theme, or anything.

When shopping one day, I fell in love with a deep red suede comforter. No pattern, but when light hit the suede at different angles, I loved the look and texture it brought out. So I decided to paint one wall that amazing deep red.

But it seemed that just the plain red wouldn’t do the bedding any justice, and would look flat because of how multi-dimensional the comforter was. So we had the idea to do a faux treatment to match the feeling you get from the comforter.

We decided on ragging it with a cranberry color. On its own it looks like a deep blue-ish purple. But over the red it almost looks black, but a little more subtle.

We primed and painted the wall with the main color (be sure to tint the primer if painting a dark color over a very light wall). This was the first time doing any treatment on a wall.

When we began ragging, my mom started on one corner and I was on the other. After the first few rags I looked at my mom's side and they looked completely different: she had bundled up her rag into a messy ball (which is one way to do it, just not what I was looking for).

HINT: it's better for one person to do the whole wall so the pattern stays the same.

To get the look above, I basically got the whole rag covered in paint and rung it completely out so it was stiffer. I then scrunched up the cloth into a ball, to give it depth. Then dabbed the scrunched cloth into the paint tray. I opened up the cloth to a desired size (for me it was about 1/3 the size of the cloth when it's fully flattened). Then lightly dab the cloth on the wall 2 or 3 times. And repeat.

Practice first on a piece of cardboard or poster board, to get the technique right. Then when you’re ready to begin, start in the corner or the side that is least visible, to make sure you really do like it. Then have fun.

I love how it turned out in my room. I have also posted a picture of my whole room when it was completely finished, so you can see how it looks with the bedding and as an accent wall. The post is called “Accent Wall in a Girl's Bedroom” - it's on this site, check it out!

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