Categories: Decorating & Design

How to Faux Leather Paint

Faux leather adds a luxurious and upscale look to interior walls. Leather painting is easy to do with 10 basic faux leather painting steps. Have very rich looking faux leather walls and gain self-satisfaction by doing the work yourself.

1. Get some hardboard to practice faux leather painting technique before moving to your walls. You can test the lighting and faux paint finish color by holding your sample to your wall at different times of the day. Know that any mistake you do can be undone by just painting over it.

2. Prepare your walls for leather painting. If your wall paint is in good shape, then consider using it as a base coat. Or if you need to repaint then do that first.

3. Patch any holes or cracks with a spackling compound to prepare for faux leather painting.

4. Measure your room by width and height and keep in mind the number of windows and doors. Paint calculator helps in calculation – http://www.behr.com

5. Gather materials you need to complete faux leather painting technique project. Needed supplies: Several plastic sheets cut a little bit smaller than a 3 ft. by 3 ft. square, rags, foam roller, good 4-inch quality natural bristle paint brush and smaller brushes for corners or around windows and doors, painter’s tape (blue), paint, glaze, and rubber gloves.

6. Tape baseboards, door facings, window casings, ceilings, and take off electrical covers.

7. Roll on your base coat and let dry overnight. Cover walls completely.

8. Next is mixing the glaze. Mix enough paint for the entire project for color consistency. Mix one part satin paint to five parts glaze. Follow manufacturer instructions. Dip brush in mixture and start in random, overlapping strokes in about three feet by three feet area and keep a wet edge so you don’t have a visible line in the faux painting. Leave glaze on for a minute or two. Take the 3 ft. by 3 ft. plastic and place over the glaze and brush over the plastic leaving some wrinkles. Wrinkles will give it a faux leather look. Keep repeating this procedure until entire wall is covered, 3 ft. by 3 ft. sections. Let walls dry completely dry before applying next coat.

9. For the next coat, mix one part satin paint to 10 parts glaze to have a more transparent look for a three-dimensional effect. For a more opaque look, use less parts of glaze. Dip brush in mixture and start in random, overlapping strokes in about three feet by three feet area and keep a wet edge so you don’t have a visible line in the faux painting. Leave glaze on for a minute or two. Take the 3 ft. by 3 ft. plastic and place over the glaze and brush over the plastic leaving some wrinkles. Wrinkles will give it a faux leather look. Keep repeating this procedure until entire wall is covered, 3 ft. by 3 ft. sections. Let walls dry completely.

10. To look professional, cover corners and edges as consistently as the rest of faux painting areas.