Textured finishes which you can paint on walls or ceilings are an inexpensive way of covering up poor surfaces. They also give you the chance to exercise your ingenuity in creating relief patterns on them.

Textured wall and ceiling finishes can provide a relatively quick form of decoration. You don’t, for example, need to apply more than one coat and, unlike relief wall- coverings (another type of product commonly used to obtain a textured wall or ceiling surface), you don’t have to go through the process of pasting, soaking, cutting, and hanging and trimming; you simply spread the finishes on the surface with a paint brush or roller.

Textured Finishes

One of the advantages of using a texture on walls is that it will tend to mask the effect of any general unevenness in the surface Similarly, ready-mixed textures are often marketed specifically as a solution to the problem of improving the appearance of old ceilings. They are very suitable for this and can save a lot of tedious repair work.

However, there is no need to think of textures just as a cover-up. You may simply prefer a textured surface to a flat, smooth one. If you use patterning tools, the range of textured effects you can achieve is practically endless, depending only on your skill and imagination.

Choosing textured finishes

One of the factors which will influence your choice of finish is, obviously, how much you are prepared to pay. The traditional compound which you buy in powder form to mix with water is the cheapest type, but, like ordinary plaster, is rather porous and needs to be painted over. Even so, the cost of coverage, including over-painting, is very reasonable. Ready-mixed types are rather more expensive but you don’t normally need to paint over them, and some brands offer a reasonable range of colors.

The traditional powder type, thickly painted on a wall or ceiling, has a slow setting time, which makes it ideal for creating a decorative impression with a patterning tool.

Ready- mixed products can also be given a textured finish in the same way as the powdery type, but doing so will tend to vary the thickness of the finish so that over painting might be necessary. (If you lust paint them on without carrying out any follow-up patterning treatment, you will be left with a random textured effect.)

Some of the textured products suitable for exterior use can also be patterned with tools; check the manufacturer’s instructions for guidance here.