"We Put The Trick, In The Trompe Of Trompe L'Oeil"

How To Instructions

First size the wall as if you were going to wallpaper.

Helpful Hint:

Now For The Fun Part

Now tape up your basebaords, trim and ceilings as if you are going to faux.

Okay now you need your brown paper...We use those brown throw away dropcoths you get at Home Depot...they are cheap and easy to get. While you are at "the depot" you will need to get some paste...We use heavy duty clear wallpaper paste. You probably need to go ahead and get a five gallon bucket, its pretty inexpensive. You also need a roller and brush. A six inch putty knife and a razor knife...the kind you use for wallpapering. Don't forget you will also need some stain blocking acrylic sealer.

Okay now we can start. Tear your paper into 2 to 3 ft randomly torn pieces. ( Make sure you get rid of that ugly seam that runs through those drop clothes) Save some of the pieces with straight edges in a seperate pile. Wad the pieces up to make them crinkled.

Start in a corner if you want and work your way down. Roll the paste on the wall pretty heavy covering an area bigger the one of your pieces. Now Use one of the straight edge pieces, you can put the straight edge aganst the ceiling so you want have to trim later. Just lay it on the paste, trying to get the bubbles out with out stretching or tearing the paper, don't worry about the crinkles, some will go away and more will come.

Now take a brush with some paste on it and brush gently over the top of the paper helping to glue down some of the bigger crinkles and smooth out the bubbles. Apply extra paste to the edges where your next piece will overlap. now roll the area for your next piece....Don't worry how far you overlap, just make sure the overlaps are glued down. It is important to make sure that every little space on the wall is covered with a piece of paper.

Now this will probably take a day to dry, so you wait and worry...it will probably be pretty spooky looking, although many of my customers have liked the way it looks.

Okay now its dry...Prime it with the stain blocking sealer...and wait again, another day..........

Now the color for the basecoat depends on the faux and look you want....decisions decisions, decisions.

Basecoat , a satin or semi-gloss finish is best here. It is not necessary to wait a day for this to dry, but it woudn't hurt.

Time to faux...We usually wash on a dark glaze,

(One of those soft carwashing sponge works best to apply your glazes). Then again with another darker glaze.

Below are some Color Suggestions for a Brown Leather Look Taken From a Porter Paint Chart

First Glaze...Deep Dosinia or Leather

Second Glaze...Oiled Leather or Brown Log.

I suggest adding a little Ralph Lauren Gold to each of these glazes.

Here Are Some Alternate Paint Brands:

Sherwin Williams:

Base Coat... Fragile Beauty

First Glaze..Spice Trader or Praline

2nd Glase....Catskill Brown or Capuccino

Behr:

Base Coat... White Pidgeon

First Glaze..Cinnamon Suade or Maplebuff

2nd Glaze....Woodstained or Chocolate Cherry

I have given you two colors for each glaze so you can get a nice range you should be in for a rich leather look. Now I just hope my color charts aren't out of date. Those paint guys like to mix things up to keep their colors top secret.

Now remove the tape from around your trim... but you have to cut it like wallpaper. You will have overlapping paper and by now a pretty good seal around your tape, in other words it has been both pasted and painted in place, but it will trim up just fine.

Ta Da...hopefully now you have a breath-takingly beautiful room. Let me know and don't hesitate to ask "ME" to clarify anything.

...I lost myself in the first paragraph I wrote, so I have probably really confused you.

But please don't let my ramblings discourage you from trying this finish, it is fantastic.

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