Hey Y'all!!
I know you've all seen the walls at "Olive Garden Italian Kitchen". You know those beautiful yet rustic Tuscan walls. I love those walls so much!!!
For years I have been trying to figure out how to do those walls!!
I finally decided after searching for a good tutorial without much success that I was just going to have to venture out on my own and try to do it myself. I first tried it in a small room....the Bathroom Makeover.
And now I've gone bigger. I'm doing my kitchen walls.
It's extremly easy. I mean it's just "mud" and if you make a boo boo you can just scrape it off and try again. I wish I had a video of it for you. I'm sure that would make it even better for you to understand and see just how easy it really is.
There's no real wall prep work to do unless you're like me and you have to take down wallpaper first. I know there's another post in there somewhere!! (wink wink). I would suggest that you get all the cobwebs down and dust the walls if you have had pictures hanging. That dust can find it's way into the smallest and sneakiest places!!
Okay, so the walls are ready and here are the supplies you will need.
A contain of Joint Compound. Some people call this mud and rightly so. Its looks and feels like mud. This product comes in several different size containers. When I did my bathroom I started with one of the small containers and had to go back and purchase another small container so I could finish my project.
When I went to the "Big W" this time I was going to go a head and purchase this big boy. He's 42 pounds. Well I bent over to pick it up and Oh My Stars!!!! That big boy was HEAVY!!! So I opted for another kind they had which was called "Light" (sorry I don't have a picture of it)...but it didn't go very far at all. So I asked my hubby, Bill if he would go with me and pick it up and get it to the truck for me. He is a sweetheart kinda guy!!
You will also need a Putty Knife. I suggest biting the bullet and getting the 6" Metal Putty Knife. If you get it any smaller it will you take for ever to get even one wall done. They make plastic ones but they tend to bend and crack fairly quickly. So go a head and invest in the real deal!
This time though I decided to just use the paint end of a paint tray. It was a little sturdier but also kinda big. But you're gonna need one for your paint later on. You can get them at The Home Depot fairly inexpensive.
Okay, so we have our supplies now we're ready to get started.
Open the container of "mud" and get you a good size blob but don't fill the "paint area" completely because this stuff is heavy. It will make the hand that's holding the paint tray get tired fairly quickly.
Now you can start on which ever wall you want to but I work around the room clockwise. Not sure why? Load your putty knife up just on the end like this.
You will be tempted to get too much just so you can get through quicker. But trust me less is more in this case.
Now go to the upper left-hand corner of your wall and at the edge where the wall and ceiling meet and possibly two walls meet place your putty knife at a 45 º angle and as you're pulling down gently change to a 25 º angle and then pressing almost flat to the wall, angle and just drag the putty knife down or across the wall so that the "mud" comes off the putty knife in a smooth streak. You may have some pits and bubbles. That's okay! You can take the putty knife again and drag it at a 45 º angle again to the right or left and make an X but you want to be sure and leave a ridge behind. This is not a perfectly smooth look we are going for. It is suppose to have ridges and some pits. Make X's, Lines, Squiggles, make it your own. There is a technique but it's going to be your own I suppose? I mean you will have to find and get your own groove and technique but I've given you the basics.
I'm going to throw some pictures on here so you can kinda get a better idea and feel of what I'm talking about.
Now I started working on my kitchen walls on Friday and didn't get done. I thought they looked good at the time and when I went back on Sunday afternoon to finish up I was a little heavy handed on purpose because I just wasn't as pleased with Friday's walls after they dried. So I'm going to go back today and apply just a little more "mud" today.
And there you have it! It is really very easy to do!
I hope to have this project finished sometime this week So check back to see the finished Kitchen project.
Have you ever wanted to try this technique on your walls? What kind have you done on your walls before?
Encouragement For The Soul ~ Where there is peace there is blessings!
Blessings ♥ Betsy
I know you've all seen the walls at "Olive Garden Italian Kitchen". You know those beautiful yet rustic Tuscan walls. I love those walls so much!!!
For years I have been trying to figure out how to do those walls!!
I finally decided after searching for a good tutorial without much success that I was just going to have to venture out on my own and try to do it myself. I first tried it in a small room....the Bathroom Makeover.
And now I've gone bigger. I'm doing my kitchen walls.
It's extremly easy. I mean it's just "mud" and if you make a boo boo you can just scrape it off and try again. I wish I had a video of it for you. I'm sure that would make it even better for you to understand and see just how easy it really is.
There's no real wall prep work to do unless you're like me and you have to take down wallpaper first. I know there's another post in there somewhere!! (wink wink). I would suggest that you get all the cobwebs down and dust the walls if you have had pictures hanging. That dust can find it's way into the smallest and sneakiest places!!
Okay, so the walls are ready and here are the supplies you will need.
A contain of Joint Compound. Some people call this mud and rightly so. Its looks and feels like mud. This product comes in several different size containers. When I did my bathroom I started with one of the small containers and had to go back and purchase another small container so I could finish my project.
When I went to the "Big W" this time I was going to go a head and purchase this big boy. He's 42 pounds. Well I bent over to pick it up and Oh My Stars!!!! That big boy was HEAVY!!! So I opted for another kind they had which was called "Light" (sorry I don't have a picture of it)...but it didn't go very far at all. So I asked my hubby, Bill if he would go with me and pick it up and get it to the truck for me. He is a sweetheart kinda guy!!
You will also need a Putty Knife. I suggest biting the bullet and getting the 6" Metal Putty Knife. If you get it any smaller it will you take for ever to get even one wall done. They make plastic ones but they tend to bend and crack fairly quickly. So go a head and invest in the real deal!
And you will need a container wide enough to get the metal putty knife in without any effort. When I did the bathroom I just used one of those rectangle Ziplock containers and it did good.
This time though I decided to just use the paint end of a paint tray. It was a little sturdier but also kinda big. But you're gonna need one for your paint later on. You can get them at The Home Depot fairly inexpensive.
You will also need something to stand on to get to the top of the walls. I use a step ladder and a short stool.
But you can use what ever you like just be careful and be sure it's sturdy enough so you don't fall down.
Okay, so we have our supplies now we're ready to get started.
Now you can start on which ever wall you want to but I work around the room clockwise. Not sure why? Load your putty knife up just on the end like this.
Now go to the upper left-hand corner of your wall and at the edge where the wall and ceiling meet and possibly two walls meet place your putty knife at a 45 º angle and as you're pulling down gently change to a 25 º angle and then pressing almost flat to the wall, angle and just drag the putty knife down or across the wall so that the "mud" comes off the putty knife in a smooth streak. You may have some pits and bubbles. That's okay! You can take the putty knife again and drag it at a 45 º angle again to the right or left and make an X but you want to be sure and leave a ridge behind. This is not a perfectly smooth look we are going for. It is suppose to have ridges and some pits. Make X's, Lines, Squiggles, make it your own. There is a technique but it's going to be your own I suppose? I mean you will have to find and get your own groove and technique but I've given you the basics.
I'm going to throw some pictures on here so you can kinda get a better idea and feel of what I'm talking about.
Now I started working on my kitchen walls on Friday and didn't get done. I thought they looked good at the time and when I went back on Sunday afternoon to finish up I was a little heavy handed on purpose because I just wasn't as pleased with Friday's walls after they dried. So I'm going to go back today and apply just a little more "mud" today.
And there you have it! It is really very easy to do!
I hope to have this project finished sometime this week So check back to see the finished Kitchen project.
Have you ever wanted to try this technique on your walls? What kind have you done on your walls before?
Encouragement For The Soul ~ Where there is peace there is blessings!
Blessings ♥ Betsy
I'd love to give this a try!
ReplyDeleteLori it is actual very easy. Once you find your own groove so to speak. It's great to hide wall issues and it's really very forgiving. Keep me posted if you do it...I want to see pictures!!!
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