I’ve been toying with the ideas of lime washing one of my walls in my living room, which spans two spaces separated with the arched doorway. I finally pulled the trigger. This is not my first time trying to DIY a faux lime wash, I did that in our bedroom and loved the result. However, I wanted to try a new method to faux lime wash this accent wall.
why lime wash an accent wall?
The living room is long and narrow, and we painted everything white a while ago with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White. I have been wanting to add a little more warmth though, especially as I have been redesigning the space that has a piano.
Because it is a portion of the living room with lower ceilings, and where there is also the wood burning stove with a view on the backyard, I wanted to make it layered, cozy and with various interest points. A lower ceiling is best used for creative spaces, which induces task specific behaviours and being able to play the piano or a game with the kids is perfect for this space. The kids wanting to learn the piano, the coziness of the fireplace in the winter and view outside make us want to sit and gather, and enjoy activities together. Sometimes, we’d bring in a game to play with the kids or each just sits there and does their own thing.
So, all this have been giving me the desire to add that interest and warmth. Additionally, the piano is black and the arched cabinet next to it is the same, and my thinking was that the limes effect will also break that black block.
New method to faux lime wash an accent wall
I still wanted it to be affordable, so this is why I went with the faux lime wash.
When I did our bedroom, I did it with drywall plaster, water and paint. the result is amazing and I still love it, but it was messy because it was quite liquid and the application had to be made quickly because of the plaster drying up. On top of this, if I ever want to change it, I would probably have to give the wall a light sanding because of the subtle texture on it.
I had seen other creators on Pinterest and elsewhere use a different technique, without the water nor the plaster, and I was curious to try it.
So I took my paint swatches from Benjamin Moore and started looking through them. I was looking for something moody but not too dark. After looking at the greens, beiges and browns, I ended up considering three choices, that I ran by my wonderful community on Instagram, and here’s what I got.
my final choice was the Brandon Beige and Florentine Plaster combo, I loved the undertones, they are quite rich, warm without being too dark.
I picked a nearly mat finish to mimic the lime wash, and I went with one quart of each colour from their Ultra Spec® 500 collection in low sheen eggshell finish. It is VOC free and I did not have to worry about any toxic smell. Additionally, the quality of this line has an approximate 5 years life – which works great for me.
It is also washable and has a great coverage, so I don’t have to worry about cleaning when needed. I was happy to see that it also dries really quickly.
Tools you need
- 1 small pail
- 1 block paint brush
- Frog tape
- Long trowel if you don’t want to tape everything
- Your paint
Method
Pour the paint from each side of the pail simultaneously so that each colour is on each side and will touch in the middle. Don’t worry about the colours mixing up, it won’t as long as you don’t shake the pail. You will need to dip your paint brush in a way that each half of the paint dip in each of the course you have. Make sure you don’t over dip your brush, just the tip.
Then, start applying the paint in random strokes, in X shape and other. You want to achieve an imperfect and textured look where the colours mix together and show off various tones and intensities.
Pouring paint
Dipping the brush
Painting edges
Random strokes
I had to do two coats. Although from afar the second coat seemed good, when I’d get closer I could see streaks of white from the initial paint. You can repeat to get a satisfactory look. The good thing about faux lime wash is the fact that you can easily make touch-ups here and there since it is supposed to look imperfect.
That’s it, it’s really pretty simple – much more than the first technique I tried. However, it is less textured than the other technique.
So, depending on what you want you can try either one of the techniques. Let me know if you try it, and what you think of it!
