Faux suede is a decorative painting technique in which you rely on the paint itself for the decorative effect. Unlike most faux finishes, the craftsman is not the one who creates this finish by skillful manipulation. Instead, faux suede is a faux finish in a can, for the most part. However, you can’t just roll the paint on the wall and get a suede finish. There are a few things that the individual applying the treatment must do, which I will discuss in this article.
Faux suede works best in a well-lit room. Don't use it in a windowless bathroom or hallway, because you will not see any mottling. It will look like a solid color (expensively) painted wall—wasting the time and effort that you put into the technique. Suede paint is also not well suited for kids’ rooms or high traffic areas where it may pick up dirt from handprints, etc., since it is a flat paint.
The Paint
There are a few manufactures making suede paint, including Sherwin Williams, Ralph Lauren (sold at Home Depot stores), Valspar and McCloskey. I have experience with the Sherwin Williams and Ralph Lauren versions and will describe how to apply these in the following paragraphs.
Both Sherwin Williams and Ralph Lauren suede paints apply similarly, and these instructions work for both brands.
Base Coat
If you haven't checked the price yet, let me tell you that suede paint is expensive. One way to keep the cost under control is to use flat latex paint tinted to match as a base coat. I found that this actually looks better (at least to me) than two coats of the suede finish, which tends to be too subtle for my liking. I tint a flat paint at about 75 percent strength so that it is almost a perfect match to the suede paint color. Don't match it exactly, but closely. The flat paint should be slightly lighter and will give the finish a bit more action, making the mottling more noticeable.
Apply the tinted flat base coat to the wall in the standard brush and roll method that you would use to if you were only painting a solid color. Allow this coat to dry properly and according to the manufacturer’s label. When finished, the room should have a uniform finish be a bit lighter than your suede paint.
Application of the suede paint
Mask off the baseboard and the ceiling so that you can freely bump into them with your brush without concern. Run masking down the inside corner of adjoining walls that you don’t wish to paint so you can freely bump these walls without getting paint on them.
The suede paint is applied with a latex wall brush and in a cross hatch method resembling X's and short intersecting arcs. I use a three-inch wall brush and have no problem keeping a wet edge with this size brush.
Apply the paint in ragged four by four-foot sections, while maintaining a wet edge. By "ragged" I mean that the borders of your sections should not be clearly defined. This will help to blend the sections together.
See related articles: "Suede Paint Questions and Answers"
Tips:
1. Don't stop in the middle of a wall. This paint will show lap marks.
2. Pull away from inside corners as well as parallel with the corner, and arc into the corner. If you mix these strokes well at the inside corners, doorjambs and other obstacles, they will look good and flow naturally with the rest of the wall. Covering inside corners and edges at wall obstacles is the hardest part of applying suede. There may be small areas where you will need to revert to a smaller brush for some of the strokes.
3. Look your work over as you go. Try not to have big skips where you dry brushed the suede paint and didn't cover the substrate well. Small skips are usually okay, but not big skips
Suede paint does not touch up very well, so be careful with your walls. If you have to touch up for some reason, you will have to blend it in well below eye level or go from breaking point to breaking point.
Suede Faux Finish
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