Patching up another existing faux finish

I was asked earnestly to see if I could fix another faux painted wall that had been damaged by water.  I informed the customer that trying to match an existing faux finish was never an easy job.

What made this project even more difficult was that I didn't know what base coat colors the walls were originally painted nor what colors were used for the
faux finishing. In addition, the faux painting technique that was used was not known either.  But praise the Lord, He guided me through the steps I needed to do.  The customer was quite thrilled because I initially told him that it would be nearly impossible to get the areas to match the original faux finish since I wasn't the artist who painted them.

However, after seeing them in person (the customer only explained the problem over the phone), I was more hopeful that I could fix them. There was large areas that had been spackled with joint compound.  None of the areas had been sanded or painted.

As you can see in the photos, the faux finish was somewhat of an Old World look.  There seemed to be a mixture of faux painting techniques like color washing with a rag of some sort.

So initially I thought I would prime the area and paint it with an off white base coat but after testing a small area, I realized it would not look the same.

The reason was that it seems that the person who originally faux painted the wall, did so on a flat sheen base coat.  The sheen I had was satin, since that is the base coat sheen I usually faux paint with.   After praying a bit and asking for wisdom, I got an idea.  Since I didn't have any flat wall paint with me, I decided to add some white bottled acrylic paint to my colors so that the white would make the paint less transparent. This enabled me to make the section I was fixing blend better with the existing faux finish.

I remembered that once I had done a job where I needed to cover an existing base coat paint because the client hated it.  If I just faux painted over it, the base coat color would still show through. So I did a faux finish color wash but using only paint with no glaze.  That caused the paint I used on top to cover the existing base coat color because the paint was not as transparent because I didn't mix it with a glaze.  This is something you learn quickly when using faux painting glazes.

So I figured I would try to do somewhat of the same thing this time, but I did add a little bit of glaze.  Well, it worked and again, I give all the glory to Christ, who never lets me down.  Since I regularly ask that He alone would open the doors of opportunity to offer my services as a faux finisher, I know that even when it seems impossible, it's not.  Take this tip from me, and learn from a faux painting professional, who has been there, done that!

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, 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 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.