Well, I tried the sponge texture idea. It didn't work very well for me. Not to say that it wouldn't work well for anyone, of course, but the texture of our walls is a bit smaller and more mottled. Let me show you what I mean, by means of pictures and words.
This is the stuff I'm using. It's really thick so I have to thin it out a bit with water. So far, I'm not really all that pleased with my ability to do this. I think, when I start doing larger sections, I'll get the powder and mix it up myself. Still, this is a handy size, and it's what I need.
I tried this sponge first. It's a natural sponge, sold for use in faux finishing. I thought that the larger, more random hole pattern would work well. It really didn't. I may try it again, but the result the first time was so bad I just scraped it off the wall without even taking a picture.
So then, I took one of our artificial sponges and tore the crap out of it with some scissors. This is actually Mark I, as I did roughen up the edges a bit and added more interior speckles for attempt #2. Neither of these worked well, though.
Here's the result. It isn't awful, I don't think. it's just way too many big splotches and not enough little speckles. I might be able to work some combination of this with a quick spritz from the can or something. I'm going to have to experiment with it. Or, I'm just going to have to suck it up and buy a hopper gun, which is what I'm planning to do today. That's what put it up there in the first place, that's what should be able to match it best, I think. I'm just going to have to practice at it a bit.
In other news, we have done this:
And then this:
Whee! The accent wall is complete, and we both absolutely love the color. It goes beautifully with the neutral of the front room, it'll look great with the wood floor we're putting in, and it even matches the big black table we're setting in front of it. I think it's a big win all around.
So there you have it. Not a ton of progress, but something. Tonight, my dad and I are going to mount the new kitchen cabinets on the wall, and maybe cut in the front room a bit more. Sweet! Thanks for reading!
you probally already know this but FYI...code requirements for upper cabinets are 17" minimum above the floor cabinets after counter top installed and 35" for wood cabinets above the stove. That also leaves you enough room to install a combo microwave/exhaust fan leaving you a total clearance of 18" above the stove/range.
ReplyDeleteIt just sort of worked out for us, actually. We have 8' ceilings and 42" cabinets, so they end up being almost exactly 18" off the top of the counters. One of the cabinets ended up being pretty damaged when we pulled it out of the box so we didn't hang them last night, unfortunately.
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