 Practically a uniform for kids and kids at heart, denim stands alone in its durability and versatility. It represents the merging of comfort and style. Although it could blend in almost everywhere, a faux-denim paint finish is a natural for children’s rooms, desks, chairs, dressers, and any space that calls for fun and functionality.
Roll a mix of decorator’s glaze and denim-blue semigloss on top of a pale blue base coat. Then run a denim faux-finish brush through the glaze horizontally then vertically, wiping after each pass. To establish denim’s signature crosshatch pattern of white lines, you need a check roller, which has notched metal disks.
The beauty of the faux-denim finish, decorative painter Patricia Mohr Kramer says, is it’s easy to further embellish. Consider adding hand-painted daisies, peace signs, and pockets, or paint drawer pulls to look like buttons. She also suggests experimenting with different colors. “You can do it in red and it turns out great,” she says.
After you master silk, linen, and denim, let the textures of other clothing and fabrics inspire new wall treatment ideas. You’ll discover painting is easier, faster, and less expensive than applying wallpaper or fabric to your walls. Plus, with paint, you have more control in creating effects. Best of all, you can change them as easily as you change you clothes.
Get the Look
Gather Your Supplies
- Level
- Ruler
- Chalk
- Painter’s tape
- Sherwin-Williams semigloss finish latex paints: Dazzle SW6962, Bewitching Blue SW6960
- Water-based glazing medium
- Mixing container
- Paint try
- 1/4-inch nap paint roller and roller frame
- 4-inch-wide check roller
- 7-inch-wide denim weaver brush
- Lint-free cloths
- Crafts knife
Start to Finish
- Base coat with two coats of Bewitching Blue, allowing paint to dry between coats.
- This technique is painted in alternating section. Allow the glaze to dry before proceeding to adjacent panels the next day. Using a level, ruler, and chalk, measure and mark the walls in even sections no more than 40 inches wide. Tape the outside edges of each panel being painted.
- Mix a glaze in a ratio of 4 parts glazing medium to 1 part Dazzle. Use a paint roller to apply a think layer of glaze over an entire taped-off wall section. Finish with light ceiling-to-floor strokes to even out the roller marks.
- Beginning at the top left-hand corner of the section, drag the dray denim weaver brush across the section from left to right in a smooth, firm stroke. Wipe the brush bristles with a lint-free cloth. Directly on top of the first stroke, drag across the section from right to left using the opposite side of the brush bristles. Wipe the brush again. Directly on top of the first set of strokes, repeat the left-to-right, then right-to-left strokes a second time. Continue down the length of the wall. NOTE: Start and stop each horizontal stroke on the tape. When working in a corner drag in one direction from the corner outward.
- For the vertical strokes start at the ceiling and lightly sweep down to the floor. The brush should skim the surface leaving vertical lines but not erasing the horizontal lines. Wipe the brush and continue the vertical strokes until the section is complete.
- Use the check roller to create a worn fabric look by rolling in horizontal and vertical passes over the entire surface of the section.
- Pull off the vertical stripes of painter’s tape immediately after check-rolling and while the glaze is still wet. Allow the first glazed sections to dry overnight before taping and painting alternate sections. After all sections are dry, remove the tape along the ceiling. Use a crafts knife to score along the edge where the tape and glaze meet before the tape.
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