I'm thinking about texturing the walls in our guest bathroom. Maybe thinking about isn't the right term -- I've already started to strip the wallpaper so something must be done to the walls now. Having never done anything like this before I've a few questions.

I really don't want to have to seal the wall, slap this mud stuff on the wall and then paint it. Ideally I'd just seal, then put on the mud already with the color mixed in. Is this possible?

Are there products that already made for texturing, or do I just use mud and go for it?

Can I use just about any tool to texture? I've seen it done with a trowel, and I hear you can roll it on, sponge it, but I'm thinking maybe a brush so that I can make swirls like the sea.

Lastly, I think I'd like to blend colors, like a really pale green and a pale blue giving it more dimension. Is it possible to do something like that?

Suggestions, ideas?
Thanks for any and all help.

You might want to use what's known as 'sanded paint' for your texture job.It can be tinted in any color you wish and goes on thick. It's tough on the hands, and will dry them out considerably, as well as wearing the top layer of hide right off if you choose to mud by hand![ I often do as this offers a little more control than a brush or roller, if you have a specific faux finish to create -[ a slightly raised brick outline, for instance.]But if you want a random pattern with no special control over the outcome, you can use a roller meant for sanded paint. Ask the clerk to help you.

I paint murals on a regular basis and sometimes use this technique to create the appearance of a stucco window frame. Trying to paint over textured surfaces is a nightmare, even with a textured roller and I don't recommend it! It's always best to do both the stucco and paint at the same time if you can find a store to mix it for you. Walmart will prepare the product for you at a reasonable price, if you live in the states.
Good luck.

By the way, your choice of a muted green and blue would probably look great togteher. In my upstairs family room, I created rolling cloud banks with stars in the open spaces.[ the randomly sized stars are wooden appliques bought at a hobby store and attached to the ceiling with white glue ] I cupped the mud [ ordinary plaster, in this case] in my right hand placed it on the surface and applied it in the motion of rainbow shape. It has slight grooves, and although it took a little practice, it looks good. I then painted the entire surface beige, and in the shadows, it looks as though there are clouds with stars peeking through. But it's subtle, since it's all one muted tone and only slightly raised.
Experiment and see what you can come up with. Any tool is the appropriate one if it gets the result you want!

Removes chin from chest.

Obviously this has to be one of those language things. Mud to me is soil mixed with water, not something you want in your bathroom, more something that you remove from the bottom of your wellies.

Come on, someone explain it to me, what the dickens is 'mud', and coloured mud at that?

ROTFL!

Sorry,Sue. Mud is only a kind of industry term [ maybe peculiar to the United States -I really don't know]
that applies to plaster, primarily, though sometimes used loosely to mean 'any kind of goo applied to walls with a putty knife, roller or in my case - one's own hands.It can be used as either a verb [ TO MUD something] or a noun [ I bought some MUD ].
Plaster is pretty much just white, since it is meant to be painted over anyway, but other preparations come in colours like buff, beige [ wood putty, spackle and so forth] The sanded paint I described, however, is latex based with a measure of extremely fine silica [ sand] mixed in. You can have this tinted in any colour you wish, to create textured walls without having to first plaster the wall, wait for it to dry, then paint it. A great time saving product. A bit tricky to work with since it balks at being put on with a brush. Even applying the stuff with a special roller meant for the purpose is not always easy. But with practice - you can do it.

Clear as mud - yes?

t

Hmmm, I am trying to think of a British equivalent. We certainly have plaster. I have searched on Google for building terms and have looked at several glosseries but cannot find anything which might fit.

Could it be 'stucco'? http://www.diydata.com/techniques/stucco/stucco.htm

That's the closest thing I can think of, Sue. I believe stucco usually involves cement if applied to an outside wall, but plaster [ mud] can only be applied indoors because it isn't weather proof.

In years gone by internal walls here used to be mud and strips of thin wood (lathe), real mud! They call that method of walling 'wattle'. A house my ex-husband bought for us needed complete gutting and when they stripped the upstairs internal walls they were mud and lathe, it was several hundreds of years old.

Have you ever seen a victorian era house burn - one constructed of plaster and horsehair lathe work? It's more like an explosion than a fire, and little can be done to stop it, -only contain it so's not to torch the whole neighbourhood.

In the town we moved from, we saw many such fires. The entire community is a tenderbox, and our fire ordinances were very strict.
But still, if you've got 90 year old wiring in a 130 old house, sometimes the inevitable happens, no matter how good the fire codes are!

Sue, do they use the term Drywall or sheetrock there? That's the big pieces of wall stuff that you screw to the wall studs, and then you tape up the cracks and put a plastery stuff on and sand it down so it's all smooth... That's mud.

LMAO doh - I thought it was real mud too 'doesn't it dry and crackle?' I thought.

KT, I'd love to see your work, do you have a website?

They call it plasterboard. Then you apply a coat of plaster which has to dry out before you can paint it.

Yes, what Lothruin described is called 'hanging drywall'...but I didn't want to confuse you any more than nessessary! To 'mud ' something is to apply plaster with a joint knife to cover the tape which hides the seams in the wall board - bringing it all up to a smooth, even surface. A good drywall pro will make your room look as though it grew that way - with out a single seam.

It was after midnight by the time I finally got the last of the three sheets of wallpaper off two rooms. The concrete render underneath was in good condition and had been sealed previously as you would expect. As I didn't have the finesse to attempt anything flash, I just painted the walls. It was a simple solution but the result was very pleasing.


The term "mud" is used throughout the the drywall trades to mean joint compound, or any gooey material. Mud is also used to describe thin-set mortar for laying tile, and mortar for laying cement block. These guys call everything "mud".

Just got home from work and looked to see if I had any replies. My goodness! I'm so sorry Sue, since we all speak "English" I never gave a thought to the separation of oceans. Thanks everyone for explaining "mud."

I'm in the middle of stripping the wallpaper. I hesitated doing this as I figured when it was put up, it probably was not sealed to start with. However, I'm about 1/3 done and so far have had great luck. Just moistening a bit with water on a sponge and it's coming off in sheets. Cross your fingers it goes on in that manner.

Ktstew, thanks so much for the valuable information you have imparted. Now, just to make it a bit easier on me, can you just come and do my walls?

Guess tomorrow afternoon is the big day -- I'll go out and buy the stuff to put on the walls. However, I'm putting off the actual texturing for a week or so as I think I want a new electrical outlet put in near the vanity first. I'd hate to see the electrician screw up my good texturing!

By the way, when I was ordering the new top for the vanity I happened to mention to the man working with me what my intentions were for the wall. His response was that there is only "one way to do it" because that was the way he and his wife textured. Hmmmm... I seem to remember at one time men said bricks or paneling couldn't be painted either.

Thanks again.

Here's my last mural.

This was taken when the work was about three fourths finished.

(sorry to go off topic Jar!)
WOW! That is brilliant KT! Deeply impressed.

Very cool!

Very impressive ktstew! It amazes me what people can do with their hands.

Thanks, everybody!

You know, Jar, I have seen both brick and paneling painted sucessfully...just depends on how you do it, I guess. Paneling [ if it's that slickish photostatic kind, wants only to be roughed up a little by sanding it lightly. This gives the latex something to grab onto. The grooves only provide an interesting relief from a vast expanse of nothing, if they are well covered with two coats of paint. If there are seams, those need to be spackled [like plaster]and sanded smooth before you paint. And brick looks very nice when well painted. It makes a terrific backdrop for a wall of original art, or some nice framed photographs.

There's always more than one way to do things, though if you snoop around and look!

My mom put on the bathroom wall a print of a Virgin Mary painting as well as a craft she had made that has owls sitting on branches. It's kind of awkward, though, as they all seem to stare at you as you do your business.

Heh heh.

If it makes everybody squeamish, she should look for photos or paintings of owls and other things with their hands/paws/ wings covering their eyes!

spackle = filler, or often known by the proprietary name of Polyfilla (a bit like calling virtually all vacuum cleaners 'Hoovers').

Quote:

---

However, I'm putting off the actual texturing for a week or so as I think I want a new electrical outlet put in near the vanity first. I'd hate to see the electrician screw up my good texturing!

---

Er, do you mean a low voltage socket for an electric razor? We would just call that a shaver socket. In Britain that is the only type of electrical 'outlet' permitted in a bathroom. Also we are only permitted to have pull-switch lights.

That mural is spectacular, you are SO clever.

Thanks, Sue! I'm afraid it's more the thirty years practice than actual 'cleverness'...I'm doing the same work I used to do for greeting card companies...just a tad bigger!

Wow. Here in the states, even in this humble house we've got both a pull chain bathroom fan /light thing plus a double socket with a light switch. How lavish our setup is, apparently, compared to what you guys are allowed to have!

Nothing but shaver sockets allowd here, too. I think it's to keep idiots from playing the radio on the shelf over the bathtub.

Or touching electrical appliances with wet hands, or the condensation causing problems - water and electricity not mixing.