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About This Project
The trouble with many do-it-yourself decorative painting systems is that they require more artistic skill than most of us care to develop for the occasional paint job. But some do-it-yourself painting systems can get you darn close to the high-priced expert effects.A system that worked well for us was Wall Magic (Wagner Spray Tech Corp.). You can find it at most home centers and paint stores (see the Buyer’s Guide— you can also find kits in other brands that work well). The kit comes with everything you need to achieve beautiful painted walls that will look like you hired a pro.
The $40 price tag includes a dual roller, a single roller, a split paint tray, edging sponges and a variety of roller covers with unique patterns. An instructional videotape is provided to get you comfortable with how each tool works and to show you what effects to expect. I was impressed by the quality. Even after the foam rollers and pan were used about a dozen times, they didn’t deteriorate but instead cleaned up intact and ready for the next job.
Using this decorative painting system is relatively fast. I found that it takes only about twice as long as conventional painting. An average-size room can be painted in about four or five hours. Your only costs are for paint and the kit, plus masking tape and a dropcloth to protect against splatters. If you compare it with wallpapering a room, you’ll find it will be a fraction of the cost and will require about half the time and effort. And best of all, if you’re unhappy with the results, you can paint right over it. Try doing that with wallpaper!
Dual Roller Method
How the System Works
It may seem like a crazy concept, but the pattern-cut dual roller lets you blend the two shades of paint over a base paint and leave the appearance of texture on the walls. The base paint can be an off-white flat or eggshell latex (we went over our existing white paint), or you can choose a complementary color for the base coat and allow it to show through the two colors used for the finished coat. A single application of the two topcoat colors gave us the beautiful blended results you see in our photos and hid our base coat completely.
It’s a whole different concept from using a traditional roller. You don’t try to hide the marks left by the roller edges; you want them to show, so the process is less tedious. I found the system pretty easy to use.
It’s up to you how much to blend the two topcoat colors. Back-and-forth diagonal strokes blend the colors by “weaving” one color with the other. Less rolling will give you the highest contrast between the color; more overlapping will blend the colors further, lessening the contrast. Of course, you can overdo the weaving process, but that takes considerable effort. The whole process is forgiving, relatively mess-free and fun. You can even go back once it’s dry and rework areas you’re not satisfied with.
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