Patching up a wall painted with a faux finish.

Painter tested out new color for walls on faux finish....argh!

I had faux painted some walls and concrete columns at the church I serve at in an Old World Parchment faux finish.  The base coat I had used was an eggshell sheen.  I used the technique I have developed specifically for faux painting the Old World on Eggshell (video for Windows Media), since it is different than a satin base coat.  The leaders decided to paint the sanctuary again, leaving the walls that were faux painted as is.  Unfortunately, the painter decided to test out the new color on a couple of the faux painted columns.  I couldn't believe that he did that.  In addition, there were areas that were damaged due to moisture and they had to patch them with spackle.  I was asked faux paint the areas to match the original faux finish I had done.  "What a challenge" I said to myself.  "This is really going to be fun".

Sometimes it is actually easier to faux finish a whole wall over again than it is to patch an area.  The reason is that the edges tend to look harsh and you can see where the wall was patched up.  However, to paint these columns all over again would take time. To make matters more challenging, I didn't have the original paint that I had used to mix my glaze, either.  The reason being was that I had done the faux finishing many years ago, when I didn't do very much faux painting. Another person was in charge of the project and they bought the paint to mix the glaze and neither of us wrote the color down.

Well, praise God, after praying (which is the Most Important Faux Painting Tip) and relying on the wisdom I received, I am so happy to say that I believe the patch work was a success.  The pastor was very pleased and most cannot tell that there was any fixing done in the first place.

First I painted the base coat, leaving edges ragged

First I painted the patched area with a satin base coat that was similar to the original, since the church didn't have the original can. I left a ragged edge where it butted up to the faux finish that remained intact.  I did the same for the side of the column where the spackle was used.  Usually I would prime the area first but I didn't need to this time.

Next, I mixed my glaze and after pressing the poofy pad onto the palette, I pounced the color on the base coat, carefully blending the edges as best as possible.


It did one more layer of glaze to get the right intensity. I did have to add just a tad of another color on top to get the perfect color.  It took less time than I expected.

Finished patch of Old World Faux 

One thing I had to keep in mind was that the color does darken once the glaze is dry, so even though it seemed super light at first, I only had to add one extra layer.

There was a total of 3 columns that I had to fix and I have included before and after picture of 2 of the columns I had to patch up.  As you can see, the match was very close.  Pictures never do justice and I have to admit that in person, the patch work looks very similar to the original Old World Parchment I did.

  

The pictures above are the "before" and "after" of front and sides of the second column.  I probably could have painted over a larger section of the front and it would have been easier.  However, I just painted the small area that had spackle on it.  It came out satisfactory, though.  I remembered to do what I teach on my article, Faux Finishing Common Mistakes, to blend in the seams I knew I would get.


I was also asked to faux paint a large back wall to match the rest and although it ended up being slightly lighter than main front wall I had done, many have complimented on the beauty of how it came out. I had help from a young man who used to assist me many years ago. He was concerned that he would not remember how to faux paint correctly.  With just a reminder, he did a fabulous job. Thanks, Maurice.

The back wall matched some canvas panels that I had done years ago, too.  Now I would like to add some kind of art work to the canvases. That's for another time...soon, I hope.