This week I was determined to have at least one wall looking nice so that was my mission. I decided to do a Roman Clay finish on the walls because I’ve been really eager to try this technique and am absolutely obsessed with the look. I chose to use Portola Paints because they seem to be the go-to for Roman Clay and Lime Wash finishes. I’m using the color “Nitty Gritty” which is a moody greyish green and the vibe I’m going for in the guest room/home office.
Here’s what the color looks like in the bucket. It looks and feels just like paint, maybe a little thicker. It is a bit misleading though because it will dry way lighter than it looks!
I primed all the walls first to prep for the Roman Clay. Portola Paints suggests only using Roman Clay on smooth walls. These walls are pretty smooth but have a slight texture from the paint rollers so we’ll see how it goes. I’ve never tried this technique before.
Here goes nothing! The application of Roman Clay is different than paint. It is applied to the wall with a putty knife rather than a paint brush or roller. You spread a thin coat of the product on the wall and smear it around in random motions with the putty knife. Portola Paints has a great YouTube video that explains how to apply it and that’s what I’m going off of.
The first coat looks scary and not very good but that is to be expected. The magic happens on the second coat which can be applied within an hour. It dries really quickly so you want to work in small sections starting from a corner and working your way across the wall. By the time I got to one end, it was dry where I started.
This is the point where you begin to question life choices. It looks horrible and takes a long time to apply. It’s much more time consuming than painting with a roller but the effect is worth it. Keep going!
You can really see the difference between what is dry and what is still wet. The lighter color is dry.
A close up of what the first coat looked like. You can see the white showing through which is the texture on the walls. If you have perfectly smooth walls, it wouldn’t look like this. Had I known this I probably would have sanded down the walls before starting. I definitely recommend skim coating if you have textured walls. I did this for another project which I will blog about later.
After each coat, you do a light sand to eliminate any ridges that you created with the putty knife. It sands really easily and you want to use a fine 320 grit sandpaper. Then wipe off any dust with a tack cloth and you’re good to go for the next coat.
I was relieved when the second coat looked MUCH better! I decided to do a third coat because I could still see little white flecks and I also wanted it to be a little bit lighter. Roman Clay is different than paint in that each coat makes the color lighter, not darker, which is interesting!
Me literally watching paint dry and admiring my work. It dries so fast you can almost see it changing right before your eyes. I’m loving it already!
This is the final result! I’m really happy with how it turned out. You can definitely see a lot of depth and movement in the color and it really elevates the look in a way that paint can’t. Obviously the door is not going to stay that color grey but that will have to wait for next week. One wall down. Mission accomplished!
A close up of the finished wall. You can see the cloudiness and depth of the color which gives it the appearance of plaster or concrete. I really like it! What do you think?
Be sure to check out the other ORC participants and their progress on the blog at: https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog
See you next week!
-Selene Builds Things
