You need not restrict faux painting to the walls only, as the same kind of paint finish looks equally good on the floor too, especially on concrete floors. Apart from being fun, this process of paining is economical too.

With sponge painting you need not necessarily have any design or pattern in mind. The process is easy and unique at the end of which you get a design that looks as though you had planned it that very way. None will ever make out the difference! In any case, a good number of fake floor paintings require matching a particular kind of design. That’s what makes sponge painting different from others, allowing you to make a pattern on floor without having to draw any plans before hand.

However, the floor preparation for sponge painting of your floor is as important and carried the same way as in any other kind of painting. So, the first thing is to thoroughly wash the floor using a strong cleaning agent. The intention here is to get rid of any accumulated grime and dust. It helps you getting rid of any marks or stains caused on the floor due movement of any furniture that had rubber feet.

At times you might be required to sand rough spots of the floor with a sander. The floor may not be cent percent flat, but making sure that it’s thoroughly clean with a leveled surface surely helps the real job of sponge painting. That way it becomes convenient and saves you a lot of time and strain.

Sponge painting needs two paints with different colors. Many people prefer using complementary colors or the same color in two different shades. For example you may like to have a brown colored floor. In such a case you use a lighter shade of brown followed by a darker shade on the top.

Having applied the base coat let it get dried for one full day before applying the next coat. In fact, sponge painting of floor works the same way as on the walls. However, make it a point to use the sponge for lifting off the second coat of paint from certain points, rather than using it for applying a coat of paint, otherwise you are not likely to get the desired effect.

You get a variety of tools for applying paint on any surface. Each tool is designed for executing a particular job. This article describes some of the basic tools and when are they best used.

The two important factors the help determining the right tool for the job are: the surface area to be covered and the material and texture of surface needing painting.

Brushes

A paintbrush is the most elementary tool for any painting job. You get them in a large number of sizes. While painting with emulsion paints, you should apply smooth horizontal strokes, but when handling oil based paints apply vertical strokes followed by light horizontal strokes. Do not overload the brush with paint; else the paint will start running down. Use a six to eight inches wide brush for applying emulsion on flat walls and half-inch brush for painting corners. For painting of small areas you should use a brush which has the same width or smaller in for getting a good finish.

Rollers

Large areas like ceilings and walls can be covered fast using rollers. But, you can’t use them for finishing of corners because they don’t deliver neat edges. These are available in many sizes, but seven-inch wide variety is the most popular. You also get different roller covers. For oil-based paints, short pile wool covers are most suitable, while the sheepskin variety is better used for painting textured surfaces. Foam covers are very frequently used but usually deliver a bubbly finish. While painting, dip the roller in the container of paint and start rolling it down from a raised area to get an even distribution of paint.

Sprayers

Sprayers are the best for quick covering of large areas, as well for painting of exteriors because they require adequate ventilation. For getting an even finish, maintain the same difference between the wall and yourself.

Sponges

Sponges are mainly used for getting textured effects on the walls, which is helpful for uneven walls and hiding imperfections. Sponge painting is typically applied on an already applied coat of paint.

Paint pads

Paint pads are available in many sizes. These comprise of foam strips with short mohair surfaces. Small pads are handy for painting at the back of radiators or small gaps.

Ever considered trying an affordable craft like sponge painting? Without spending a lot of money you can transform your old furniture and items like picture frames etc. into attractive pieces. You need some very basic materials for getting started with sponge painting. These are the items you’ll need:

Paintbrushes

Having a large variety of brushes in varying sizes helps. You may need to use household paintbrushes as well low cost watercolor brushes. You can use them for painting of printing blocks for subsequent use.

Scrap paper/ Kitchen Paper & Newspaper

These come handy for testing prints as well for assessing the print effects of decorative paints. Kitchen paper is of especial help for this purpose because of its rough texture.

Old Pots, Palettes & Jars

You need many of them for mixing of paints and trying the effects of different shades colors.

Masking Tape

This is best for dividing definite areas of the project. You may also use it for positioning any template cutouts and keeping them on your projects as well.

Assorted Pieces Old Cardboard

These are superb for making stencils and templates. Any household can offer this cheap resource for use on this project.

Pair Of Scissors

Surely, you are going to need something for cutting out designs of templates and printing blocks. Craft knife comes in handy for use with thinner cards.

Natural Sea Sponges Or Cheaper Alternatives

These work as your sponge pads while painting. You also need them for printing blocks.

Other Assorted Items For Paint Distressing

Sandpaper – Perhaps you might use it for distressing previously laid down paint, and add nicks and cuffs to the paintwork.
Plastic Bags – Using paint on their creases and folds gives random paint like effects.

Bubble Wrap – Their application gives bubble like prints.

Wax Polish – Its use helps getting a shining effect while preserving your final painting.

Assorted Junk Items – Cotton buds, paper clips, bottle caps, monkey nuts, almost anything you think can of for getting extraordinary paint effects on your project at hand.

Essential Paints-Emulsion paint proves useful as base coats for the projects. You may also employ acrylic paints for tricky decorative effects. You need not spend a lot; instead you should initially buy small pots of paint for trials. As you begin to enjoy this craft you’ll need more paints.

Then, you’ll also need primers for priming (starting) of your project and varnishes for their finishing.

All those items should certainly suffice a beginner to explore the art of sponge painting.

Though the most popular accessory used for applying paint on walls has been a paintbrush, another accessory that is gaining popularity is a sponge. Natural or synthetic sponges are used for getting different results. The use of a natural sponge for the said propose gives the surface a more natural appearance. Synthetic sponging necessitates the use of a low-density polyether, or PVA. By employing sponge-painting techniques we can get extremely textured abstract patterns with a lot of depth and color that gives looks which fairly resemble plastering or even marbling. This technique of applying painting gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.

The first step of painting with a sponge is the application of a neutral base coat of paint on the walls. Once this application is over, it is allowed to get dried totally before applying the next coat of a similar complimentary shade of color, which is a bit lighter or a little darker. Again, the second coat is allowed to dry absolutely. For getting a better blending of colors the two colors should be similar. It results to having a more natural and better blending on the surface.

The best way of applying the paint is to softly dab the paint on the surface of the wall. We know that sponge absorbs any liquid, including the paint to be applied. Therefore, one has to control the amount of paint released by sponge by the amount of pressure being applied to the sponge. It means you should not have too much of paint in the sponge, and remove the excess before lightly applying it on the wall. For getting the right effects, it’s very important that you allow first coat to get dried before applying the second coat.

Of late, two other ways have been developed for painting of walls with sponge. These are known as bagging and ragging. Though the process of applying paint remains the same as with sponge, the two methods give different textures to the walls. The texture created as a result of ragging looks like marbling, whereas bagging delivers a finer and sharper texture.

It’s quite feasible to combine both, the bagging and the ragging techniques together to get a fine blended look by applying a small quantity of paint on a rag and then dabbing on the wall. Subsequently, apply paint of the same color with a crinkled bag. Finally, apply a dry sponge to provide detail to the design at the end of bagging and ragging applications.

Should you have attended painting lessons, you would have known many new concepts for painting your home. These days wall need not be in just a single shade all over. Consider using sponge method to brighten up things.

Some of the new creative styles of painting include paneling, rag rolling, stippling and sponge painting, etc. If you are enthusiastic to paint your walls in very individualistic style, it will be helpful to know and understand some of these techniques.

At the outset you may find that sponge painting of walls requires different process, but the fact of the matter is that it’s very basic and can really make a dull wall look beautiful ad attractive. Once you get a feel of this technique you may like to paint your furnishings and accessories the same way.

Sponge Painting Solutions

There are different ways of handling sponge painting these days, but let’s have a look at one of the easy methods of applying paint on the walls using sponges.

Method 1: Using sandpaper, sand the walls and apply a cot of foundation paint on the wall using a roller. Let the base coat get dried before going for the next stage.

Method 2: In a vast pail transfer one part of sponging paint and mix it with four parts of faux glaze. Be careful while adding the volume of faux glaze content, as the more is its volume, the more transparent will be the layer of paint after sponging. That means for deeper colors smaller volume of faux glaze needs to be added.

Method 3: Moisten the sponge in water and squeeze out surplus water. Soon thereafter rinse this moist sea sponge into the pail containing mixture of paint and glaze. Get rid of the surplus paint in the sponge and gently press the sponge onto the wall.

Method 4: With a little bit of practice you’ll know how much force needs to be exerted. Moreover, it also depends on your preferences. Try with varying pressures and see what gives the best results. You should understand that the sponge is to be pressed on the wall in a random manner. Rolling the sponge on the wall would better help carrying it out. The sponging has to be done in such a way that only a thin layer of this paint is applied on the base layer.

Method 5: As the paint from the sponge will get used on the wall, you’ll need to frequently dip the same in the pail to fill up the sponge. Keep following the same way from one part of the wall to the next till the entire room is done. If you are able to avoid using paint with different shades that may result to having some blemished appearance, you will have a good-looking wall.

If you choose to attend LA Painting Lessons, you’ll become aware of many solutions for carrying creative painting like stenciling and two-tone painting of walls. In any case, sponge painting is already one of the easiest and most impressive tactics to learn. It just involves lightly touching a second color over the already existing plain color to get still more textured effect. In all probability you would have observed it in restaurants but you could also easily use it at home.